A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

Fans will be relieved that the latest book by Haruki Murakami, author of the well-known boooks The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles , Underground , among others, is being released in the US next Tuesday, titled Kafka on the Shore . From Publisher's Weekly (via Amazon ): Previous books such as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Norwegian Wood have established Murakami as a true original, a fearless writer possessed of a wildly uninhibited imagination and a legion of fiercely devoted fans. In this latest addition to the author's incomparable oeuvre, 15-year-old Kafka Tamura runs away from home, both to escape his father's oedipal prophecy and to find his long-lost mother and sister. As Kafka flees, so too does Nakata, an elderly simpleton whose quiet life has been upset by a gruesome murder. What follows is a kind of double odyssey, as Kafka and Nakata are drawn inexorably along their separate but somehow linked paths, groping to understand the roles fate has in store for them. ...

After battling a cold for the last few days, I'm trying to catch up on the wealth of posts in my Bloglines feeds, about 200 earlier today. Instead of clicking "mark all read" and ignoring them entirely, I whittled down them to the following list: Architecture: [25] the essay A functional look at Herzog and De Meuron's Laban Centre. Archinect T-Shirts! But it's Art! David Sucher picks on Frank Gehry and his BP Bridge. Magic Salt De-Ices Roads with Distillery Waste Perhaps a solution to Sucher's concerns? Royal Homes Q Prefab House Optibo Multifunctional housing for DINKs...you know who you are. Frei Otto to Talk at RIBA Finland Summer House Rear Window Stylings at MOMA Design & Related: Rishi Tea Sustainability Planning: First, Do No Harm A paper by Peter Gordon with links to other papers by the USC professor. Art of the Skateboard Deck The Gates Start to Grow Christo & Jeanne-Claude...

Thinking Architecture by Peter Zumthor, published by  Lars Müller Publishers , 2000. Hardcover, 64 pages. ( Amazon ) A recent discussion at Archinect prompted me to pick up my copy of Zumthor's out-of-print, 64-page collection of four lectures ("A way of looking at things", "The hard core of beauty", "From passion for things to the things themselves", "The body of architecture") and an essay " Teaching architecture, learning architecture ". While the words span eight years, the ideas are consistent, particularly the importance of image. Zumthor culls imagery from his past, especially his youth, recalling places like his Aunt's kitchen, "a kitchen that has imprinted its memory inde...

Treehouse in Bainbridge Island, Washington by Mithun IslandWood (formerly the Puget Sound Environmental Learning Center) is a 70,000 sf (6,500 sm) environmental education center located on 255 acres (84.3 hectares) on the south end of Bainbridge Island, Washington, USA. This complex undertaking has preserved a variety of wetlands, streams and ponds, while restoring an earthen dam and salmon habitat. The school provides young people with a deeper understanding of the natural environment through hands-on project and outdoor field experience. Fourth and fifth grade students spend four days at the center exploring the natural features of the site through a curriculum combining science, technology, and the arts. Inspired by the shapes of tree ...

A new addition to the Architecture Blogsphere is Nancy Levinson's Pixel Points , over at ArtsJournal . With nine posts since October '04, Levinson's posts are long, but well worth the read. Her latest post, Yesterday and Today , recaps last year's architecture from a unique point of view: the obituary page. A welcome addition to online architectural discourse.

The AIA announced its 2005 Honor Awards, in three categories: Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Regional and Urban Design. A couple local projects and other highlights. Architecture : Contemporaine in Chicago by Perkins + Will A great mid-rise residential project in the River North area of the city. The generous glazing, exposed concrete (rare in the city that loves to paint the stuff) and the articulation of the two materials make for a bold expression for where the city's residential architecture might head. Holy Rosary Church Complex in Amant, LA, by Trahan Architects Featured on my weekly page in July last year, this complex is simple yet poetic, focused inward to its chapel and its beautiful interior. Mill City Museum in Minneapolis by Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle A renovation of a landmarked - though gutted by fire in 1991 - flour mill that is amazing for its addition as much for the existing structures. Mountain Tree House in D...

The Chicago Sun-Times reports on six additions to everybody's favorite park of 2004, Millennium Park: a new gift shop and welcome center (both in the pavilions behind the bandshell), two Gehry-designed concession stands under the trellis, and grass areas at the North and South Terraces will be replaced with granite and sycamore trees (more a change than an addition). Half seem geared towards making money, the other half in response to pedestrian patterns on opening day and the need for help orienting the Park. (via Archinect )