A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

Natwest Media Center in London, England by Future Systems, 1999 Recipient of the 1999 Stirling Prize (the highest yearly honor awarded by the Royal Institute of British Architects), the Natwest Media Center at Lord's Cricket Ground in London, by Future Systems , extend's the Marylebone Cricket Club's patronage of innovative architecture. Though, instead of a relatively public structure, like Michael Hopkin's well-known facing stands, the Media Center is limited to journalists. But where Hopkin's structures create space by providing shelter, the Media Center acts as an object to be seen by the public, either at the grounds or on television. The interior is secondary (though impressive): the strength of the design lies in its unabashed object fetish; a sensual, alien form landed on the g...

Water Tower in New York, NY by Rachel Whiteread, 1998 British artist Rachel Whiteread's first U.S. commission, Water Tower , is a translucent resin cast of a wooden water tank, raised seven stories above the streets of Soho. Recipient of the Turner Prize in 1993 (the first woman to do so) for her installation House , a concrete cast of the interior of a soon-to-be-demolished East London house, Whiteread continues her investigations into the relationship between art and urban society. Her reversal of matter and space in House gave the interior space a physical presence, a tangibility. Water Tower is not a simple inversion; its untouchable presence on the skyline provoking thought on it, and art's, place within the city. Erected from an old wooden water tank, reinforced with three-inch-thick walls, the resin tank sits between two working water towers, the insp...

SoHo Loft in New York, NY by Architecture Research Office (ARO), 1999 The following text and images are by the New York firm Architecture Research Office for a 7,000 square-foot SoHo loft, completed in 1999. This residence, which occupies the 6th floor, 7th floor and roof of a former SoHo warehouse, is flooded with natural light from several exposures. The design responds to the daily and seasonal cycles of the sun; new openings in the existing walls, floor and roof connect the levels, allowing increased light, views and movement throughout the interior. New walls create intimate areas for private activities while retaining the loft's essentially open plan. The position of the sun during the day determined the distribution of the main living spaces on the 7th floor. The master bedroom receives morning light from the east; the kitchen and dining room face south; west lig...

United States Courthouse in Central Islip, New York by Richard Meier & Partners, 2000 When critiquing the building's of Richard Meier it is difficult to find a fresh perspective, as his building's have not changed much since he appeared on the architecture scene, as part of the New York Five, in the mid-70's. From the onset he created glass and steel boxes (an occasional piano curve added for variety), covered in white aluminum panels. The emphasis was and is geometry and light, the building acting as an illustration and backdrop, respectively. The United States Courthouse and Federal Building on Long Island continues Meier's regimented design approach, though on a scale the firm has grown to accomplish. Though the courthouse illustrates the negative aspects of Meier's designs (repetition, geometric reliance & contextual ignorance) it also is an example ...

Here are four winners of 2000 AIA Chicago Design Excellence Awards and Interior Architecture Awards . Text and images grabbed from the awards web page. Wilmette Public Works Facility in Wilmette, Illinois by A. Epstein and Sons International This is a small project with a big purpose: by linking two mundane buildings with a lively design, it changes the work environment for the employees and provides an attractive street façade for the public works complex. A single-loaded corridor plan, with circulation on the yard side and occupied spaces on the street side, allows natural light to penetrate the building. The corridor splays out to provide access to an employee patio/courtyard. A large steel and fabric canopy runs from the courtyard to the parking lot, providing covered access to the entrance and creating a sheltered outdoor dining space on the patio. The jury felt that the project set...

Eastern Scheldt Storm Surge Barrier in Zeeland, Netherlands by West 8, 1992 This submission is from Jim Counts , who received his graduate degree in architecture from Columbia University and his Bachelor of Architecture from Kansas State University. He has been a guest critic at SCI-Arc and UC-Berkeley and was an Editor of Oz, Volume 18 , Kansas State University. He currently lives and works in New York City. In 1952, the province of Zeeland, in the Southern part of Holland, was an archipelago of islands in a large-scale tidal region. In 1953, these lowlands suffered a disastrous flood killing nearly 2,000 people. To avoid another such catastrophe, the Netherlands implemented the Delta Plan. This ambitious public works program shortened the country's coastline by 700 kilometers. It closed off the sea by using a series of dikes and da...

Rooftop Office in Vienna, Austria by Coop Himmelb(l)au  The Viennese architects Wolf Prix and Helmut Swiczinsky, aka Coop Himmelb(l)au , made their reputation on blind, gestural sketches that, sometimes, became buildings. These sketches accomplish many things, three that I would like to focus on: capture a feeling, create a unique design process, and lead to complex structural and design solutions. The accompanying images are Coop Himmelb(l)au's design of a rooftop addition, focusing on a conference room, to a law firm's office. Wolf Prix and Helmut Swiczinsky's desire to capture a feeling or emotion regarding a project through their blind sketches raises more questions than providing answers. One can see that the sketch on the previous page is similar to the view on this page. But why? What is to determine the sketch's translation? In this case ...