Book Review: Behaviorology

The Architecture of Atelier Bow-Wow: Behaviorology by Atelier Bow-Wow
Rizzoli, 2010
Hardcover, 304 pages



Japanese architects Atelier Bow-Wow are known as much for the books they produce as for the houses they design. The two outputs are inextricably linked -- the former researching the urban conditions of Tokyo, where the duo lives, and the latter a fairly direct product of such research on hybrid conditions, small buildings and so forth. Made in Tokyo and Pet Architecture Guide Book are the most well-known products of their research, structured like guides but presenting unique takes on the city they call home. Behaviorology collects most of Atelier Bow-Wow's built work, art installations and their research on architecture and urbanism. In its pages one can see how the houses they've designed for themselves and other clients in Tokyo respond to the unique characteristics of the city, from its irregular plots and zoning requirements to seismic concerns and the social dynamic of families today. As well it's clear the duo's talents are not restricted to the single-family house in Tokyo, as their recent commissions take them into more diverse building types within and beyond Japan.

Alongside the documentation of Atelier Bow-Wow's output are essays by Terunobu Fujimori, Yoshikazu Nango, Meruro Washida and Enrique Walker. Each focuses on a different aspect of the practice, be it their architecture, research or installations. Fujimori's text on how their research has informed their architecture is most rewarding, extrapolating the idea of "behaviorology" set up by the architects in their introduction. In it he recalls "modernologist" Wajiro Kon, an architect who observed the city to such a great extent he left the profession to devote all his time to inquiries into temporary shelters and other modern phenomena. The author also discusses his own Roadway Observation Society (ROJO), practitioners of the "eccentric gaze," which Atelier Bow-Wow certainly embodies. Yet the duo have managed to observe and design, something neither Kon nor ROJO could manage. When we look beyond Japan today we find a plethora of practices balancing design and research -- Interboro, LAR, MAS Studio, to name a few -- a sign of the complexity of conditions today and the efforts to make sense of even a small portion of them. What sets Atelier Bow-Wow apart from many of their research/practice contemporaries is their sense of humor, their ability to find and express the absurd inherent in the places they study and build.

What is missing from this monograph on the Japanese duo are their distinctive and highly detailed drawings found in both their research and design work. Focusing instead on a photographic presentation of their architecture, one needs to use Graphic Anatomy as a companion to Behaviorology; in many cases the photos actually coincide with views penned beforehand. While the presentation of their architecture is therefore incomplete, the photographs do a very good job of conveying the spatial qualities of the primarily residential work; the inclusion of inhabitants in the photos is particularly helpful and refreshing. The photos work well with the large-format of the book, a well-made document of a practice that will surely continue to surprise.

US: CA: UK:

Book Review: The L!brary Book

The L!brary Book: Design Collaborations in the Public Schools by Anooradha Iyer Siddiqi
Princeton Architectural Press, 2010
Paperback, 176 pages



Memories of the library in my grade school are strong, even though what prevails is not the physical aspects of it but the time spent there looking at books, learning how to use computers, and being shushed for talking. I'm sure the importance of the library in my early education is a trait shared by many, so it's no surprise that the Robin Hood Foundation has focused its initiative with the New York City Board of Education on these spaces, hubs for learning both in school and after school. As the traditional aspects of the library -- books and other print media -- are being challenged by the digital, the design of libraries, big and small, is changing to encompass broader and more diverse ways of obtaining and sharing information. We find ourselves on the cusp of great changes, but the book, its storage, and what it stores are still the cornerstone of libraries in schools. That fact is evident in the pages of this book celebrating the results of the Robin Hood Foundation's first decade, from the ways casework actively shapes the different spaces in the libraries to the graphics that adorn the walls. Spaces for computers and classes are provided, but the bookcases are the defining elements for each library.

Twelve case studies are presented for libraries designed by Gluckman Mayner Architects, Leroy Street Studio, Rogers Marvel Architects, Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, and others, with graphic elements by 2x4 and Pentagram. The last play an important part in the success of the library designs, and about half the book is devoted to the murals and other 2d pieces that help shape the spaces in bright and captivating ways. For example, 2x4's contribution to a Gluckman Mayner library in Manhattan covers the ceiling and walls above the bookcases in a sky/cloud graphic further activated by light coverings designed with the architects to mimic the flight of birds. Many of the designers work pro bono for these commissions, but the results are not B-game. Their attention extends to selecting the location for the library (many are created by consolidating three classrooms into one space) with some great results, like a second floor space wrapping an entry stair and an attic gym complete with tiered seating and a stellar view of Manhattan. This book is also carefully crafted, thoroughly documenting the case studies with numerous photos and drawings. It makes me realize that if I would have grown up with one of these libraries I'd surely remember the space, not just the books.

Pardon the late warning: Tonight The Architectural League is hosting a panel discussion on the Library Initiative at the Scholastic Auditorium in SoHo. Panelists include Scott Lauer, Harold Levy, Henry Myerberg, David Saltzman and Lonni Tanner, with an introduction by Anooradha Iyer Siddiqi. It's moderated by Rosalie Genevro.

US: CA: UK:

Book Review: LEED Materials

LEED Materials: A Resource Guide to Green Building by Ari Meisel
Princeton Architectural Press, 2010
Paperback, 224 pages



For those not familiar with the workings of LEED -- the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification system for measuring sustainability -- the different certifications (Platinum, Gold, Silver, Certified) are determined by a weighted point system in various categories (Sustainable Sites, water Efficiency, Energy & Atmosphere, Materials & Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality), which also includes prerequisites that must be met. The system works so that certain points can be ignored, but achieving LEED-Platinum and, more importantly, trying to create the most sustainable building possible means that no criteria are overlooked or not considered. This guide to materials and their application is indispensable for practicing architects looking to maximize points, particularly because many of the materials featured can go towards categories beyond the obvious Materials & Resources.

Published by Princeton Architectural Press, Ari Meisel's book follows the format of the popular Transmaterial series by Blaine Brownell. Materials are arranged by constituency or application and include photos above a description of the material, advice on using it towards credits, and other information like the manufacturer's contact information. The most valuable text, the book's raison d'etre, is the list of LEED credits where each material work. For example, one see that Agriboard prefab panels can fulfill six points in three categories. A LEED credit index is also helpful for architects looking to fulfill one particular credit. Like the Transmaterial books and web page, Meisel's book has the potential to expand into a series, given the plethora of materials out there and the constant innovation, now in the service of LEED and other systems. It's a simple but smart idea to target material use in LEED; the product is a book that fits well alongside other LEED references in any architects' library.

US: CA: UK:

Book Review: Great Public Squares

Great Public Squares: An Architect's Selection by Robert F. Gatje
W. W. Norton, 2010
Hardcover, 224 pages



At a time when architecture books tend to focus on buildings, the objects that inhabit cities, it's refreshing to see a book squarely focused on public space, pardon the pun. Robert F. Gatje, a former partner of both Marcel Breuer and Richard Meier, has assembled plans, photos, stats and descriptions on forty squares, most in Europe. Inspired by Camillo Sitte and other authors of books on urban spaces, the CAD-generated plans are rendered consistently (per the cover) and at the same scale, accompanied by dimensions, areas and other data in an effort to make the book a comparative study. Lest the book get bogged down in top-down views of city plans, the photos and descriptions go a long way towards giving readers a sense of what each space is like, while also providing historical information on the mostly old spaces (the most recent is Pioneer Courthouse Square in Portland, Oregon, here marked by the construction start of 1981).

The lack of contemporary spaces makes me wonder if and why squares cannot be designed to the same effect as the ones presented here. Is it due to the quality and style of the buildings that overlook the squares? Is it the design of the spaces themselves? Or maybe the lack of decent spaces in cities for creating new squares? One need only look at the Project for Public Space's Hall of Shame to see that new spaces are perceived as lacking in a number of ways (empty, unsafe, uninviting, etc.). Most of the members of the less-than-illustrious list are modernist and later creations, many surrounded by newer developments or within the post-industrial landscape of cities. While PPS's list is certainly debatable, the apparent link between urban squares and the urban fabric around them is hard to deny. This is most strongly felt in Italy, from which 15 of the 40 squares in the book come. This link points to the importance of the larger context in the success of these urban spaces, not the comparative data that Gatje presents.

So Gatje has delivered a carefully and lovingly crafted book that can be seen as an homage to western history's greatest public squares, or as a lesson on how public squares can be created in a less "shameful" way. Living in New York City, I can't help but think that a number of potentially great squares exist, such as Gansevoort Plaza in the Meatpacking District and the pedestrian zones in Times Square. But as is, devoid of the care required to make them great as well as popular, the spaces merely set aside, not designed. Investments towards implementing more permanent and careful designs need to happen. When they do, Gatje's book is a very good place to learn from the successes of the past.

US: CA: UK:

NOTE: Gatje will present an illustrated talk on his new book at the Center for Architecture tomorrow, April 28 at 6pm. The event is free and open to all. RSVP here.

Book Review: Beyond No.2

Beyond no.2 - Values and Symptoms edited by Pedro Gadanho
SUN Architecture, 2009
Paperback, 160 pages



The second issue of Beyond, a twice-yearly "bookazine dedicated to new, experimental forms of architectural and urban writing ... in which an extended network of young and upcoming European architectural writers are given the freedom to survey the outline of themes and things to come," is built around the theme Values and Symptoms. Editor Pedro Gadanho asks, "in the face of permanent crisis, what are the symptoms and values that are leading the reshaping of cities and everyday life?" In the slim volume are fifteen responses to the theme, one of which is an excerpt from Douglas Coupland's upcoming Generation A. Its inclusion is perhaps an attempt at a wider readership but more likely an example of where these experimental forms of writing should find influence: fiction.

Architecture fiction is a tiny subset of writing around architecture, a recent trend that is gaining traction as more architects, critics and other writers venture into the hard-to-define realm, something of course evident in this bookazine's existence. It's a term that appears to have started with Wired's Bruce Sterling, who dabbled in some architecture fiction. In many ways it is similar to science fiction, in a preference for speculating on future constructions, but with a focus on those constructions and their potential over the people, relationships, internal states, and other more psychological aspects of fiction. Witness how the fiction in the pages of the second Beyond -- not all of the essays are fiction -- like a short story by FAT's Sam Jacobs built around the Kennedy assassination, shies away from incorporating dialogue or first-person narratives, instead opting for third-person, external perspective. This is not always the case, but something I noticed recurrently, indicative as much of the experimental nature of the writing as the refusal to adopt a traditional fiction structure.

So do the format and contributions to Beyond make it a more appropriate format for exploration than, say, traditional avenues like architectural criticism, monographs, or other writings? Adopting a general embrace of urban/architectural fiction, the results can only veer from these other avenues, meaning that they are appropriate for paving new ways in thinking about architecture, space and the city. But this shouldn't be confused with innovation on par with technology or its incorporation into architectural production. How architecture is affected by the ideas conveyed in Beyond's essays is more vague than how new software may change form in architecture, for example. The variety and openness is refreshing, like a poetic mish-mash where architecture is the underlies it all.

US: CA: UK:

Book Review: Storefront Newsprints

Storefront Newsprints: 1982-2009 by Storefront for Art and Architecture
Storefront Books, 2009
2-volume paperback with slip case, 1,000 pages



Anybody who has visited the Storefront for Art and Architecture has probably walked away with a folded piece of newsprint with details on the exhibition on display. Since my first visit in 1997 I've amassed quite a few, storing them in a shoebox with pamphlets from other museums and venues I've visited in New York City and beyond. The Storefront newsprints have a way of standing out from the rest, in large part from the material they are printed on as well as the monochrome graphics employed. They are anachronistic without being reactionary. They recall a time before ink-jet printers and digital publishing, a time of literal cut-and-paste graphic design and printing in local copy shops. Yet the newsprint is a consistent medium in the nearly 30-year Storefront history, spanning a time of great changes arising from digital technologies, be it graphic design, publishing, or architecture. That Storefront continues to use the format points to a desire to keep in mind the organization's origins, even as it grows in scope and influence beyond the confines of 97 Kenmare Street.



Storefront Newsprints collects over 150 of the newsletters from its early days on Prince Street to last year, reprinted in two volumes nicely packaged in a black slip case. This is book as historical artifact, focused on what could be considered Storefront's unintentional archive. Not all of the text in the reprints is legible (essays by Lebbeus Woods, Michael Webb, and Vito Acconci are reprinted in easy-to-read format), but it is the images, layouts, and most of all the subject matter that rises to the fore while perusing the collection.

Storefront Newsprints comes at the end of Joseph Grima's three-year directorship. Heading for Italy and Domus, he followed Sarah Herda, who is now at the helm of the Graham Foundation in Chicago after her eight-years at Storefront. Before them founder Kyong Park directed the space's exhibitions, and Grima's interview with him is particularly revealing about the organization and its newsprints. As the Storefront searches for Grima's replacement, the past tenuousness of its existence seems to have given way to a widespread appreciation of the organizations, its space (restored in 2008), and its place within the broader architectural community. The influence of its programs reaches beyond its 868sf home (PDF link), but the newsprints are unique artifacts for those able to visit the gallery in person...and now for those willing to spend $49.

US: or at Storefront Bookstore

Book Review: Ten Walks/Two Talks

Ten Walks/Two Talks by Jon Cotner and Andy Fitch
Ugly Duckling Presse, 2010
Paperback, 86 pages



Research for my guide to contemporary architecture in New York City includes the fairly obvious reading of other architecture guides, be it NYC or some other city. But of course these sort of guides offer an incomplete view of the city, so my research extends to other takes on the city in print form. Jon Cotner and Andy Fitch's short book focused on Manhattan is as far removed from architecture guides as can be, but it helps instill what is too frequently missing from books on buildings: the experience of the city.

The book, as is immediately apparent, takes the form of ten walks and two talks, "updates [on] the meandering and meditative form of Bashō's travel diaries ... a descriptive/dialogic fugue." Fitch pens the ten walks and the two authors' interaction becomes the two talks. For me the ten walks stood out for their stream-of-consciousness descriptions of almost everything within eye, ear and even nose shot, those things that become background for New Yorkers. "Fingers peeked from a homeless person's quilt. ... The fresh morning smell had changed to damp boots." It is as if the blurred edges achieve the clarity of what is actually being focused upon, like the Hiroshige prints that accompany the text; the detail of the horses' hooves is as important as the shop fronts.

Cotner and Fitch's two talks -- in Central Park and in Union Square's Whole Foods -- present a similar take on the city, somewhere between the external reality of it and the internalizations made up of past experiences. The dialogue form includes the stops, starts and interruptions that come with natural conversation, making me long for an audio companion. (Perhaps a visit to Unnameable Books on March 16 for a reading by the two is in order.) In both cases -- walks and talks -- a certain patience is required to fully appreciate the intricacies of the language and structure instilled in the text. (It is no accident the book is categorized primarily as poetry.) But even a cursory reading offers much to appreciate, a subtle shifting in the way one experiences the city. New York is the ultimate walker's city, a melange of objects and people interacting in unique and unpredictable ways. This book is a great "guide" to this aspect of the city.

US:

Book Review: The Transparent City

The Transparent City by Michael Wolf
aperture, 2009
Hardcover, 112 pages



Michael Wolf's photographs have an obvious and immediate appeal, especially his series focused on the building density and living conditions in China. The flattened elevations of high rises in the Architecture of Density border on the abstract; the repetition of windows and balconies is many times unrelieved, devoid of individual human expression. A much different, but no less beautiful result occurs in his recent Transparent City series shot in Chicago in late 2007, just as the economy started its downward spiral. This last fact is evident in the expressions of people found in Wolf's large-scale photographs, enlarged and pixelated as accompanying details.

The series was commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago and is wrapping up its exhibition at aperture gallery in New York City. The difference between the German-born photographers series in Asia and this one in the American Midwest is found in the architecture. Banal repetition gives way to variety, flat elevations become dynamic perspectival compositions. But it is the proximity of these photos that will attract people the most. Shooting from adjacent rooftops in the winter months (so people would still be in Loop office buildings when it was dark), Wolf is able to put the building occupants on display. This obvious voyeurism is humorously "critiqued" by a couple details: a man in a window apparently giving Wolf the finger, and a TV set displaying Rear Window with Jimmy Stewart pointing his camera and zoom lens towards his neighbors. Geoff Manaugh's essay focuses on these inhabitants, wondering about the potential in the scenes captured. Thankfully he keeps these speculations in check, and his requisite Ballard reference is fitting and insightful. It's a suitable companion to Wolf's stunning new perspective on downtown Chicago.

US: CA: UK:

Book Review: Negotiated Terrains

Negotiated Terrains edited by Nina Rappaport with Heather Kilmer
W. W. Norton, 2009
Paperback, 144 pages



In 2001 the Louis I. Kahn Visiting Assistant Professorship at the Yale School of Architecture was established as "an opportunity to infuse Yale with new ideas and new voices," according to Dean Robert A.M. Stern. The professorship, which is earmarked for young architects and can be seen as an antidote to Stern's reactionary views, has been documented so far in two books, 2007's Layered Urbanisms and this year's Negotiated Terrains. The first documents the studios of Gregg Pasquarelli (SHoP), Galia Solomonoff (SAS), and Mario Gooden (Huff + Gooden), and the second presents the studios directed by Jeanne Gang (Studio Gang), Sumil Bald (studio SUMO), and Mark Tsurumaki (LTL). Documentation includes an interview with the architects, their studio description, the project's program, and the student projects broken down into three broad themes explored or discovered in the studio.

The projects and locations are varied. Jeanne Gang sites a Labor History Museum in Chicago's West Loop, Sumil Bald heads to São Paulo, Brazil for the World Social Forum, and Mark Tsurumaki asks students to envision a Park Lodge in Florida's Everglades. Political, social, and ecological issues are dealt with in the respective projects, and one can see the students taking these issues seriously in their projects. But like any book collecting student projects, the images come to the fore, and it is via the renderings and other drawings that readers can determine if the ideas tackling the issues are carried through in the designs. It is evident in these projects that addressing the program in traditional terms (room sizes, adjacencies, functions) is less important than exploring alternative design methodologies and site relationships, both trying to address the larger issues.

Even though many of the designs illustrate unique approaches to dealing with site, more information on existing conditions could have been given for each studio. Capturing a sense of place for each project is difficult, except in more general terms, like Everglades or Chicago. As described in the book, site is less physical and local than historical, cultural, and global. Concomitantly, the projects can be seen as syntheses of local conditions and global concerns. What is also missing in the projects is a sense of exploration via physical means, be it sketches, concept models, or other means. I counted one hand sketch in the whole book with maybe twice that in model form. It's no surprise that computer renderings predominate (final, physical models are still found in abundance), but when designs are limited to the digital, one aspect missing are those early steps. A student can diagram their process, but these illustrations are labored and after the fact. This commentary is not nostalgia, it is a question about the changing process of architectural design: Are computerized/networked methodologies supplanting the common notion of design moving from the designer's mind to paper, model, or computer screen?

or

Book Review: Depending on Time

Depending on Time by Jennie Savage
Safle, 2009
Paperback, 152 pages



Cardiff, the capital of Wales, has a compact city center but an abundance of 19th-century shopping arcades. These Victorian and Edwardian passages are memorable and give the city a strong sense of place, something that isn't particularly embraced by most contemporary developments (HOK Sport's Millennium Stadium, Wales Millennium Centre by Capita Architecture) that opt to create objects rather than spaces within the urban fabric. Artist Jennie Savage uses another one of these developments, the recent construction of the massive Saint David's Shopping Center (SD2) -- covering almost a third of the city center -- as the impetus for "The Arcades Project: A 3D Documentary," of which this book is a part. Savage explains that she wanted to "explore Cardiff's Victorian arcades in light of this new 'globalized' space; to see them as two bookends of consumer culture through the prism of architectural manifestation." SD2 appropriates the parti of the old arcades but is unable to capture their spatial appeal, an indication of changes in consumer culture as much as of architectural style.

"The Arcades Project" consists of a short film ("A Million Moments," shown as part of a site-specific intervention in one of the arcades), ten audio walks, and the book. The last is a combination of audio transcripts accompanied by visual imagery, handwritten notes, and sketches. The film and the audio documentary are included with the book, though all three point to the fact that absorbing all or part is not a replacement for the actual experience of Cardiff's arcades. All of this output can be seen as a research project layered upon the actual place, generated from people's movements and activities within the city's spaces. My last visit to Cardiff in 2000 has been enhanced by the book, though one need not know the place intimately to appreciate Savage's analysis of the city's situation.

The author acknowledges the influence of Walter Benjamin's famous Arcades Project, evident in the project's title, though she admits it ends there: the 3D Documentary does not address Benjamin's seminal text, it uses archive material and interviews to examine the shifts in architecture and commerce. The interview transcripts do the most towards instilling a sense of place in the reader. They consist of quotes from shopkeepers, shoppers, writers, architects, and the SD2 developers, a diverse assemblage of voices that would ideally have predated SD2's construction to influence its design and ensure that as many contested interests are met. Of course this would be at odds with the developer's raison d'etre, maximum profit from minimal effort. That said, developers cannot exclusively dictate the shape of the urban fabric, but local governments can certainly cater to them. SD2 is indicative of the power of globalized commerce, good and bad qualities both. As an artwork, the various pieces of Savages's 3D Project are about exploring a place rather than creating a tangible artifact. As executed, and if the book can be seen as a final document in the project, what we learn can influence our thinking about other places, even though the project is about a very particular place.

or

Book Review: Pendulum Plane

Pendulum Plane: Oyler Wu Collaborative by Oyler Wu Collaborative, edited by Todd Gannon
L. A. Forum for Architecture and Urban Design, 2009
Paperback, 96 pages



At a 2008 panel discussion on The Future of Architectural Publishing, one response to a question from an audience member, "What do you know doesn't work?," was "books on individual buildings." Luckily another one of the panelists countered this position, pointing out the past successes of some book-length case studies on single buildings. I say luckily because I'm a big fan of books that document, present, analyze and critique one building; I agree that they can work well. A magazine article, a portion of a monograph, or a blog post are comparatively lacking in respect when compared to the huge effort of designing and constructing a building. In that sense, this pamphlet-size case study for Oyler Wu Collaborative's small-scale storefront intervention for the LA Forum's new headquarters on Hollywood Boulevard is just the right size: small like the project itself, but big enough to convey the multitude of ideas present in the project.

Architects Dwayne Oyler and Jenny Wu won a 2008 two-stage competition with a proposal that falls somewhere between the spatial fullness and serene bouyancy of the other two finalists, F-lab and Kuth/Ranieri, according to Mohamed Sharif's introduction. The winning design proposes an intervention that inhabits the ceiling and acts as an armature for exhibition displays, important given that the Hollywood Boulevard space is shared with the Woodbury School of Architecture. This occurs via a hinging of the aluminum pipe structure, one of the many aspects of the design and construction documented here with sketches, models, renderings, architectural drawings, and photographs. A conversation between Wes Jones and Oyler and Wu, and an essay by Todd Gannon round out the information packed into the book's 96 pages. Gannon's essay is particularly insightful, situating the design within the historical de-emphasis of the ceiling in favor of vertical surfaces, walls of glass and other materials.

The complex, alien-like intervention appears to be generated within a computer environment, especially given the renderings that accompanied the drawings in the competition boards. But the models and sketches complicate this assumption, one that is deflated in the conversation with Wes Jones, where Oyler and Wu situate the physical models above the virtual ones in terms of importance in shaping the design. Here the computer's presence is in realizing the armature's complex but repeating forms, whose bent corners simplify construction (fewer complicated and time-consuming aluminum welds) but also give the piece its particular presence: a dense overlay of lines and curves, ever-changing and challenging our preconceptions about what an architectural intervention should be.

The intervention fits into Oyler Wu's portfolio alongside two other aluminum installations (one at SCI-Arc, where they both teach, and one at Materials & Applications) that predate Pendulum Plane. These investigations activate their respective environments in similar yet unique ways, using structure to create a canopy, stairs and a ceiling, architectural elements typically constructed of planar materials. The most recent design throws the kinetic into the mix, extending the effects of the previous projects but making one hope this isn't the last we've seen of Oyler Wu's aluminum experiments.

Book Review: Extreme Architecture

Extreme Architecture: Building in Challenging Environments by Ruth Slavid
Laurence King Publishers, 2009
Hardcover, 208 pages



The term "extreme architecture" immediately brings to mind architecture that is formally aggressive, such as Deconstructivist architecture by the likes of Coop Himmelb(l)au. But for author Ruth Slavid it equals "extreme environments" and the architecture that responds to them. Her survey of close to fifty projects is divided into five sections (Hot, Cold, High, Wet, Space) that delineate the extremes architects must respond to. The selection ranges from variations on the vernacular to far-fetched proposals that seem to exist only to push the envelope by pushing the limits of human existence. What is constant is Slavid's exemplary writing, descriptive and informative to be sure, but also able to hold the reader's interest project after project. Be it a school for a poor community, a ski jump, a floating house, or even a dirigible, Slavid's perspective on how the architecture responds to its conditions is consistent, not seduced by the fastastical nature of the most extreme of the extreme.

A few projects in the book that have been featured on my web pages include the Primary School in Burkina Faso by Diébédo Francis Kéré (Hot), the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway by Peter W. Søderman/Barlindhaug Consult (Cold), and the SkiBox Portillo in Chile by Del Río-Núñez Architects (High). At the beginning of these and the other entries, Slavid provides consistent data (height above sea level, average annual rainfall, average high and low temperatures) as a means of comparison. One can see, for example, that the SkiBox is about 8,500 feet higher than the school in Burkina Faso, with over 20 feet more precipitation annually. So even though the environments of these buildings are extreme relative to mid-range places like Western Europe or the American Midwest, they are even more extreme compared each other. It's certainly not surprising to see such different approaches to building for these two examples, and many others. Materials, openings, forms, functions and other defining factors vary dramatically from pole to pole, be it hot to cold or underwater to outer space.

or

3 Magazines and 1 Comic

Conditions Magazine | Issue 0109 | 96 pages
My favorite cover of these four publications features a gorilla in a spacesuit, an appropriate image for an issue with the theme "Strategy for Evolution." Magazines with themes usually have a hard time in getting authors to stick to topic, but here the editors do a good job of presenting various viewpoints on the subject from people in a variety of disciplines. (Unfortunately the editors don't do such a good job with the English copy, though I'll only mention it as something to improve on future issues.) The independent Scandinavian quarterly on architecture and urbanism features articles by architects and urbanists, but also a landscape architect, artist, engineer, and a professor in psychology. So with this wide-spanning input, what are the strategies for evolution? Primarily they deal with issues of sustainability, certainly not a surprising revelation. Nor is the role of technology in dealing with the same and other issues. Many strategies are echoed elsewhere, so the value of the magazine is grouping different viewpoints together rather than finding novel solutions to big problems. And even though the magazine focuses on Scandinavia as a region and as the primary -- but not exclusive -- source for authors/architects, the choice of subjects and the tactics for exploration are more universal. The highlightss in this issue are the interviews, where the editors steer the conversations in directions that illustrate their own points-of-view, all the while taking advantage of the personalities involved.

eVolo Magazine | Issue 01 | 176 pages
The twice-yearly architecture and design journal by the sponsor of housing competitions launched last month at the Storefront for Art and Architecture. Given the background of eVolo, the topic of the magazine's first issue is not a surprise: housing for the 21st century. An image of Herzog & de Meuron's 56 Leonard Street project in Manhattan graces the cover. Inside are more projects by more big names, including BIG, Steven Holl, Asymptote, and OMA. To feature projects that have already littered architecture blogs, in many cases with PR text, would guarantee the magazine would receive short shrift from aware readers. But fortunately projects by Chile's Elemental, Terreform 1, Little, and others, as well as commentaries on housing accompany the superstars. And that 's just the first half. Making up the remainder are projects from eVolo's 07 Housing Competition, which explored new ideas for new housing using new technologies. While the "new" of the competition probably won't come close to having the same direct impact on the urban fabric as the projects in the first half of the magazine, at least here they share the same space and exposure.

Mark Magazine | Issue No.20 | 224 pages
Previously I featured issue No. 17 of the popular Dutch architecture magazine, the first with its new size, graphic design and price tag. The changes have been positive, making the magazine more attractive and affordable, focusing the content on the architecture instead of the graphic design. The diversity of projects and architects in No. 20 is basically what one comes to expect from Mark, with most continents represented and a mix of young architects and familiar names. My favorites include an interview with Pezo von Ellrichshausen Architects (featured previously), Lacaton & Vassal's "void-space" architecture school, Riken Yamamoto's mushroom-roofed laboratory building, and an accountant's office in Hiroshima by Hiroshi Sambuichi. The last, with its small footprint but striking profile, I probably would not have discovered outside of Mark Magazine. Like No. 17 and most likely all issues since, an interview about books on architecture is featured, this time with Yung Ho Chang, a Chinese architect now heading MIT's architecture department. Chang finds inspiration in books outside of architecture, minus Robin Evans, who he calls "the only theorist who has ever made sense -- to me." Now I'm geared to extend my reading of Evans beyond the one essay I've come across. I can thank Mark for that.

MetroBasel Comic | ETH Zurich | 304 pages
Using comics to explain and explore architectural and urban ideas is nothing new. Archigram immediately comes to mind, though the resurgence in the format's use is rooted in technology, the limits of architectural representation, and an appreciation of narrative comics/graphic novels more than the influence of the 1960's British group. ETH Zurich's study of Basel's metropolitan area (MetroBasel) is a good example of how Photoshop can be used to create a comic without artistic talent, at least the kind needed to draw people and action. Take stills of Patricia and Michel from Jean Luc Godard's Breathless, layer them over filtered pics of MetroBasel and drawings from the ETH studio, and a comic is born. Like BIG's Yes Is More, the format helps explain complex ideas to a wider audience. In this case the past, present and future of MetroBasel veers between perspectival views of the city in real and imagined states and presentations of studio projects. Not surprisingly the first is more successful in the comic format, even though the bulk of the work went into the latter. All in all the comic does a good job of conveying the wide-ranging information from the studio. By layering the usual comic elements (speech bubbles, people, etc.) over these other pieces, one can read the product in many ways, skimming the surface -- while still learning something -- or spending the time with the sometimes dense drawings and data to learn that much more.

Book Review: Three Books on Urbanism

Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Solutions for Redesigning Suburbs by Ellen Dunham-Jones and June Williamson
Wiley, 2008
Hardcover, 272 pages

Sustainable Urbanism: Urban Design With Nature by Douglas Farr
Wiley, 2007
Hardcover, 256 pages

Urban Design for an Urban Century: Placemaking for People by Lance Jay Brown, David Dixon, Oliver Gillham
Wiley, 2009
Hardcover, 304 pages



President Obama's nearly $800 billion economic stimulus package promised to spark a building boom, but one focused primarily on the construction and repair of highways, bridges, and other pieces of aging infrastructure that admittedly require attention. These short-term band-aids in the name of job creation raise questions about how the first urban president since Kennedy will address the direction of our cities and suburbs, specifically their unsustainable trends. Where few arguments remain for continuing the suburban sprawl that gobbles resources faster than any place at any time in the world's history, it does just that. And cities persist in paving over everything natural about a place and draining the assets of the rural surroundings, offsetting the benefits arising from their density and diversity.

If better alternatives exist to these American ways of living on the land, why aren't they being implemented on a wider scale to reverse the environmental, economic and social conditions that harm us and our surroundings? New Urbanism's attempt at being a singular fix is increasingly being questioned, as the auto dependency and homogeneity of the sprawl it tries to remedy persist in its traditionally-garbed neighborhoods. The movement is proving inadequate for addressing the greater concerns facing urban areas in the 21st century. These three books on urban design's role in shaping the evolving futures of cities and suburbs argue their own unique approaches to improving the public realm, as alternatives and syntheses of New Urbanism and other approaches.

The title with apparently the most potential is Sustainable Urbanism by Chicago-based architect and planner Douglas Farr, the current chair of LEED-ND, the system's Neighborhood Development component. The book's appealing-sounding moniker knits together smart growth, new urbanism, and green building, three movements that address the sliding scales of regions, neighborhoods, and buildings, respectively. Farr advocates for transit-served, walkable neighborhoods with high-tech buildings and infrastructure. Chapters on the implementation and thresholds of sustainable urbanism are a descent resource for what hopes to be a burgeoning movement, as are the diverse case studies that round out the book. Farr's Sustainable Neighborhood Diagram is the most telling illustration of sustainable urbanism's benefits and drawbacks: Transit and habitat corridors and other commendable ecological features barely conceal the top-down imposition of what Michael Sorkin calls "starbucks urbanism."

In Retrofitting Suburbia, architecture professors Ellen Dunham-Jones and June Williamson target the outdated, unsustainable developments of existing suburbs. With the reduction of vehicle miles traveled (VMT) as their goal, the authors see transit options and increased density as the key means for success. The changing demographics of suburbia – increasingly comprised of single and aging populations – are opportunities for techniques like retrofitting garden apartments on typically single-family lots and making over strip malls and big-box stores into mix-used nexuses of activity. As the suburbs have lost their homogeneity, the authors argue, the suburban morphologies that have resisted change for so long are ripe for these and other transformations. From Levittown to edge cities, the book leaves no suburban condition untouched. Not surprisingly, the examples proffered, like Farr's book, are rooted in New Urbanism, leaving one yearning for even fewer VMTs and more formal diversity.

Urban Design for an Urban Century – the product of New York-based professor and practitioner Lance Jay Brown, David Dixon of Boston-based Goody, Clancy & Associates, and the late architect and planner Oliver Gillham – lacks the polemical focus of the other two titles, instead looking broadly at the urban designer's role in creating places for people. A handful of principles for the next generation of work by urban designers evolve from their analysis of the 70 projects winning AIA Institute Honor Awards for Regional and Urban Design over the last ten years included here. After a concise, yet thorough history of urban design and the decentralization of cities, the authors call for the recentralization of cities. The case studies, ranging from streetscapes to regional plans, are aligned with this ideal, but their variety illuminates more potential avenues for urbanism's future than the other two books.

Although each book is similar, they also divert sharply from each other. Overlap in ideas and techniques certainly occurs, but the differences point to the improbable success of singular, top-down scenarios in today's social and political climate. Sustainable Urbanism comes closest in aspiration for the one-stop-shop of New Urbanism, but the diversity of Brown, Dixon and Gillham's compendium points to a more realistic unfolding of reality. All three books should be consulted by those shaping the increasingly urban realms in the United States, with each offering numerous examples of commendable urban design. President Obama should take note.

or for Retrofitting Suburbia

or for Sustainable Urbanism

or for Urban Design for an Urban Century

Book Review: Two New York City Guides

Public Art New York by Jean Parker Phifer, with photography by Francis Dzikowski
W.W. Norton, 2009
Paperback, 288 pages

10 Architectural Walks in Manhattan by Francis Morrone and Matthew A. Postal, with photography by Edward A. Toran
W. W. Norton, 2009
Paperback, 303 pages



In a recent review for publication I called two guidebooks for New York City part of a cottage industry. Beyond the usual tourist guides, a plethora of books try to carve a niche from the many layers of history, culture, art, architecture, landscapes and other conditions that make up the metropolis. How a book locates itself in this cottage industry is a good indicator of how successful it will be, of how useful a reference the guide will become for tourists and locals alike. These two guides, both published by W.W. Norton, each have a very clear focus, though also a good amount of overlap that make them fitting companions. Art and architecture in the eyes of the urban explorer are many times fused into one, the latter only varying the inclination of the gaze when tall buildings come into play.

Public Art New York by architect Jean Parker Phifer collects "the best public art in all five boroughs," though the majority is, not surprisingly, in Manhattan. Public, in Phifer's words, is meant in the broadest sense of the term, including indoor spaces open to the public, such as lobbies, a decision that recalls how Nolli rendered the interior of churches and other buildings as extensions of the public realm. The guide uses full-color photos by Francis Dzikowski for every selected artwork to help the reader/explorer determine what he or she will visit. Of course the inverse holds true, and like other guides it becomes a handy reference when coming unexpectadly coming across a sculpture or other artwork.

The 242 works are arranged geographically into 11 chapters, with reference maps that unfortunately omit subway lines and notable art-related locations in the area. (Testing the book on an Upper East Side walk, I felt like stopping by the Whitney, but I couldn't remember exactly where it's located; an anticpatory glance at the map failed to yield its location.) The artworks run the gamut in style, time period, medium, as well as geography. Descriptive text is brief but informative, elevating the importance of context, be it physical, political, economic, etc. Given Phifer's background as an architect, installations in and in front of buildings are found throughout, giving the guide a balanced view of what is considered art, in addition to what is considered public.

The Municipal Art Society's (MAS) 10 Architectural Walks in Manhattan puts down on paper what the organization has been doing since 1956, showing people the city on foot, rain or shine. Two of their knowledgable tour guides contribute five walking tours each; Francis Morrone (of 2Blowhards fame) focuses on the historical walks, while Matthew A. Postal (editor of the Guide to New York City Landmarks) deals with modern and contemporary architecture. My tastes veer to the latter, but finding myself at my old City College stomping grounds recently I brought along the guide as a companion to the campus and surrounding Hamilton Heights. It should be said that even though the walking tours have a start and an end (well-mapped at the start of each chapter, with subway lines to boot), they read well in reverse order or as separate buildings. References to other buildings are thoughtfully keyed, aware of the manner in which a book allows for the walking tour to devolve into something more personal, less scripted. Clearly the book cannot recreate the experience of listening to Morrone, Postal or another guide, even as it encourages an A to B route.

Returning to Hamilton Heights, Morrone's text is full of the formal and stylistic descriptions common to appreciations of historical architecture. Those curious about tracery, pediments, gargoyles and other features will be satiated, but thankfully Morrone brings a deep knowledge of the island and each building's past, situating the latter in the former's context. His tongue is especially barbed when it comes to recent architecture, particularly when it stands in strong opposition to something like City College's Shepard Hall, as the North Academic Center does. Of course this is an example of an overbearing Modernism that doesn't work on so many levels I'm inclined to share Morrone's ire. Postal is more sympathetic to modern and contemporary architecture, but he still pulls out the critical punches when he sees fit. His descriptions likewise focus on appearance mixed with history, blurring the authorship, so that only the historical/modernist dichotomy of the chapters indicates even a need for two authors. Or, in other words, this is a MAS guide first and foremost. It furthers their mission of celebrating the city's many layers and appreciating them firsthand.

or for Public Art New York

or for 10 Architectural Walks in Manhattan