A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

Last week the Obama Foundation unveiled the initial design by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects | Partners (TWBTA) and Interactive Design Architects (IDEA) for the Obama Presidential Center (OPC), located on a portion of Jackson Park on Chicago's South Side. The design consists of three buildings – two low and one tall – arranged about a central plaza that faces west. Images were limited to some model shots and a rendering looking north across the plaza toward the tall museum volume. Not surprisingly, much of the criticism of the initial design has focused on the museum "tower," which readers of Blair Kamin "are likening it to a Mayan temple, a pyramid or a mausoleum ... [and] view the design as an opaque and self-important structure, not a beacon of transparency." [Rendering of Obama Presidential Center by TWBTA  and IDEA ] One side effect of unveilings like last week is that, even if renderings appear clearly as renderings, people think that what the...

Last Thursday I ventured to Garvey|Simon gallery in Chelsea for the opening of Timothy Hursley: Tainted Lens , which is on display until June 10th. Hursley, who is based in Little Rock, Arkansas, is known to many architects for his documentation of Rural Studio projects as well as works by prominent architects in the South and Midwest. Yet in addition to his architectural photography , Hursley has consistently produced a diverse range of fine art, such as his many photos of the so-called  Broken Silo near Greensboro, Alabama. A selection of his fine art photographs make up the exhibition at Garvey|Simon. Hursley (at left in the above photo) usually presents the Broken Silo as four photographs side-by-side, rather than one individual photo; it's like he's portraying the four architectural elevations of the damaged structure. If the silo were intact and operational, only one photo would be necessary, since the cylindrical form would appear the same from all vantage points....

"Book Briefs" are an ongoing series of posts with two- or three-sentence first-hand descriptions of some of the numerous books that make their way into my library. These briefs are not full-blown reviews, but they are a way to share more books worthy of attention than can find their way into reviews on this blog . Ellen Kooi Above Rotterdam: One Glass Tower by Wiel Arets & Nine Situations by Katrien Van den Brande  edited by John Bezold | Actar | 2016 |  Amazon Wiel Arets Architects' B' Tower is the subject of this book, which is unlike any other architectural case study. A collaboration between Arets and artists Ellen Kooi and Katrien Van den Brande, the book presents glimpses into the tower's units through Kooi's photographs and Van den Brande's stories. I was drawn primarily to the photos. Although obviously staged, the images reveal scenarios that activate the modern and often bare spaces of the five apartments portrayed. Ironically both the...

Here are some photos of the Bâtiments de l'écluse (1960) in Kembs-Niffer, France, by Le Corbusier. I was not familiar with this Corbu work until today. According to the Fondation Le Corbusier website, linked above, "Le Corbusier was not involved in the work on the sluiceway proper. He designed only the two buildings; the first one, the tower structure, accommodates the lock-keeper's station along with the mechanical installations; the second building is reserved for the customs and navigation offices. It also comprises, on basement level, the personnel rooms, the garage and the heating plant." This quote from Oeuvre Complète  elucidates some of this little-known work by Le Corbusier: "At this juncture, there is no longer any discussion of whether we have to do with architecture or with engineering. This is a 'constructed work.' The administra­tion people and the engineers asked me to participate in their undertaking." The first building is cle...

Here are photos of a couple buildings in France's Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region photographed by Wojtek Gurak . Conservatoire Henri Dutilleux  (2015) in Belfort by Dominique Coulon & Associés: Monastery of St. Clare  (2011) in Ronchamp by Renzo Piano Building Workshop: To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the  archidose pool To contribute your Instagram images for consideration, just: :: Tag your photos  #archidose

[Studiolo by Diane Lewis Architect | Image source ] Yesterday architect and educator Diane Lewis died at the age of 65. She was known more for her decades of teaching at The Cooper Union, from where she graduated in 1976, than her New York practice. I reviewed books on both ends of her architectural life: Inside-Out , a monograph published in 2006; and Open City: Existential Urbanity , a large-format book on the "Architecture of the City" studio at Cooper Union that came out in 2015. My review of the latter resulted in me meeting Lewis and participating in an event celebrating the book. I was impressed by her intellect, passion and generosity. These and other sentiments are echoed in Dean Nader Tehrani's In Memoriam piece on The Cooper Union's website and Suzanne Stephens' obituary at Architectural Record . [Studiolo by Diane Lewis Architect | Image source ] Lewis built very little and what was built was limited (as far as I know) to NYC interiors. The be...

Yesterday I got an email with the 2017 winners of the North American Copper in Architecture Awards . Of the fifteen projects, the one at 210 Pacific Street in Brooklyn stood out the most, so I hopped on the G Train to check it out in person. Although not credited on the awards web page nor featured on their own website, numerous sources indicate that SBLM designed the residential project. The award-winning feature is the 120-foot-tall facade, which is covered in "15,000 individual pieces of pressed brass tiles 80/20 in 0.02 inch thickness," per the awards web page. Furthermore, "the individual brass pieces in two different sizes ... are fastened to 8,000 feet of stainless steel vented track system and steel tracks supporting ventilation, and custom pieces were made to fit around corners." One of the most striking aspects of the facade is the way it wraps the sides of the building, unlike old stone fronts that turn into brick on the sides. The devel...