All Book club articles – Page 4
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ReviewGoldberger's book explores architecture's deeper meaning
Why Architecture Matters has an excellent introduction stating clear aims, but leaves the reader wanting more on the exciting subjects introduced.
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ReviewThe driving force behind Maggie's Centres designs
Jencks and Heathcote explain how people and their real needs and feelings were put at the heart of the Maggie’s design process.
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ReviewJune 2010 titles for review
For June BD’s book club takes a closer look at Maggie’s Centres, discovers a no-nonsense guide to sustainability and mulls over why architecture matters.
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ReviewReview:Shaping London: the patterns and forms that make the metropolis, by Terry Farrell. Wiley, 288 pp, £39.99
This ambitious portrait of London has the best aspirations, but does not seem to know if it is trying to be a chatty historical run-through of some of the city’s highlights, or to provide a more focused, diagrammatic approach to understanding the capital.
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ReviewReview: Keith Williams: Architecture of the Specific. Images publishing, 224pp, £45,
The work of Keith Williams has been subtle. Instead of meteoric competition wins, the rise of the practice has been a gradual process of successful cultural and civic work across the UK. Indeed, its size and scale is somewhat modest and humble in a culture obsessed with iconography in architecture. ...
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ReviewReview: The National Gallery: A Short History, by Charles Saumarez Smith, Frances Lincoln, 192pp, £14.99
In this book, Charles Saumarez Smith recounts the history of the National Gallery of which he was director from 2002-2007.
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ReviewReview: London's Contemporary Architecture: An Explorer’s Guide by Ken Allinson, Architectural Press, 200pp, £14.99
Another guidebook for architecture in London? A quick search on Amazon shows more than 200 titles so there is enough competition. London’s Contemporary Architecture claims to be for people who enjoy experiencing architecture, whether Londoners or visitors.
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ReviewReview: All We Need Is Love: Save Buildings at Risk, 2009-2010, by Catherine Townsend. Libanus Press, 200pp, £15
In this age where converting or redeveloping building stock is the stuff of reality TV, some perspective is given by Save Britain’s Heritage’s 20th compendium of buildings at risk in England and Wales.
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ReviewReview: The Architecture of the Yale Center for British Art, by Jules David Prown. Yale University Press, 72pp, HB, £25
Jules David Prown was the first director of the British Art Centre at Yale at the time of its construction, and was instrumental in appointing Louis Kahn as architect. This beautifully presented book is a brief but insightful account of the design process and the BAC's construction.
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ReviewReview: Viñoly: Rafael Viñoly, by Joan Ockman and Rafael Viñoly. Birkhauser Verlag AG, 328pp, £63
Published in 2003, there are probably two reasons why you haven’t already added this weighty monograph to your collection. One, you’re not a passionate follower of the work of Rafael Viñoly; or two, you haven’t seen it discounted enough.
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ReviewReview: Eco Masterplanning: the Work of Ken Yeang, by Ken Yeang
Ken Yeang has been a successful advocate of sustainable architecture for many years, gaining his reputation on the efficient bio-climatic designs for tall buildings. After becoming a director at Llewelyn Davies Yeang, he grabbed the opportunity to broaden his scope from the individual building to urban masterplanning. This book aims ...
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ReviewReview: Twenty Minutes in Manhattan, by Michael Sorkin
A book based around the contemplative opportunity offered by the daily act of walking through the city to work was always going to be something I could readily relate to, having been able to do exactly that for all but one of my 14 years in London. But Michael Sorkin’s ...
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ReviewReview: The Architecture of Variation, edited by Lars Spuybroek
Digital design in recent times has become a necessity of most architectural practices. It has played an instrumental part in the process of design practice. This book has three parts made up of a group of essays by 16 leading thinkers on design innovation and their approach to producing variation.
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ReviewReview: Biopolitics and the Emergence of Modern Architecture, by Sven-Olov Wallenstein
The relationship between philosophy and architecture is tenuous. Both architecture and philosophy are expressions of thought, either explicit or subliminal. Architecture in particular, being a collective rather than an individual endeavour, can be seen as a carrier of values and aspirations more widely held within society. In addition, the building ...
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ReviewReview: Liverpool One, by David Littlefield.
Written in the euphoria of the opening of Liverpool One, a shopping centre that opened, ironically, just as we hit the worst retail recession for 80 years. All those moody shots of… shop fronts and escalators.
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ReviewReview: Eco-Urbanity: Towards Well Mannered Built Environments, edited by Darko Radovic
The word "Sustainable" is a frequently used term, but can be very vague and misleading and sometimes of little help when trying to understand the underlying factors of what embeds sustainability into a place.
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ReviewReview: The Complete Zaha Hadid, by Aaron Betsky.
The Complete Zaha Hadid is clearly intended as the budget option for those not able to afford Zaha Hadid: The Complete Works. It may be useful as a glossary, but it will leave frustrated those readers wanting to gain deeper insight into the work of Zaha Hadid.
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ReviewReview: Beyond the Bubble: The new Japanese architecture, by Botond Bognar
Botond Bognar's book attempts to explain why Japanese architecture is unique - not only in terms of the buildings' spatial qualities but also their use of materials – and how it has arrived at its current status. This overview of Japanese architecture offers a good starting point for novices.
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ReviewReview: Arata Isozaki, edited by Arata Isozaki and Ken Tadashi Oshima
This extensive monograph on the Japanese architect and theorist Arata Isozaki (1931) is a true tour de force.
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ReviewReview: Architecture Depends, by Jeremy Till.
I feel obliged to declare my interests: I am a “Till-ite”. Not a disciple, but a product of the University of Sheffield School of Architecture that Jeremy Till lead from 1999 - 2006, first as Head of School and then Director of Architecture.