Where the book disappoints a little is in it’s use of the graphic novel format. For me, the strengths of graphic novels lie in their ability to tell stories with minimal text. Here, many of the images are photographs and detailed renderings. Some of these do a good job of telling a story. Others are either too elaborate, or require excessive text to explain them. Another problem is that there is only one character: Bjarke Ingalls. While he always has something interesting to say, it could have been interesting to have, perhaps, an antagonist. Finally, the chapters are quite brief. Each chapter tells the story of the development of a specific project, but they usually end before they really get started. I would have favored longer chapters, even if they came at the expense of a few projects.

Despite a few shortcomings, I think the book will definitely be of interest to anyone who wants to learn more about this exciting office. But for architects it is a bit lacking in detail.

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“Yes is more is a popular and easily accessible manifesto for architecture as one of the most relevant aggregates of the 21st century in which we may epitomise and answer many of the global agenda-setting questions. In the exhibition and in the book, B.I.G. shows how they conceptualise the polymorphous demands, complex rules and highly specialised knowledge of society, creating tangible solutions through artistic processes; solutions which time and again attract the interest of the population at large as well as the respect of global aficionados. Yes is more is a communication created in this very spirit – combing elite and popular elements – allowing the sublime to shone through in the commonplace. Thus audiences are invited into B.I.G.’s processes, methods and results using the most approachable and populist means of communication available – the cartoon. -Kent Martinussen, Architect, CEO, Danish Architecture Centre”

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Koolhaas, Dutch architect, author (Delirious New York) and cult figure, wants architecture to be “a chaotic adventure,” and this massive tome certainly is. Created with Toronto-based designer Mau, it’s a huge collage splicing freewheeling essays, diary excerpts, photographs, architectural plans, sketches, cartoons and surreal montages of images. There’s also a running glossary of Zen-like definitions, plus fables and parables intended to shake modern architects out of conventional thinking and to dispel urban despair. In one essay, Koolhaas admires Japan’s metabolist movement, which fuses organic, scientific, mechanistic and romantic vocabularies. That approach seems compatible with his own innovative, eclectic vision as head of the Dutch firm Office of Metropolitan Architecture (O.M.A.), whose houses, villas, office towers, libraries, colleges, cultural complexes and other projects are showcased here. While some readers may be mystified by a nonlinear hodgepodge, architects, planners and designers will find this frequently outrageous assemblage a provocative repository of ideas. Author tour. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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With nearly 400 color and black-and-white illustrations, this stunning book investigates the distinctive architecture, interior decor, fashion, and fine arts created during the relatively brief but complex period between the death of Queen Victoria and the First World War.

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In this fanciful volume, Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, founder of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (O.M.A.), both analyzes and celebrates New York City. By suggesting the city as the site for an infinite variety of human activities and events–both real and imagined–the essence of the metropolitan lifestyle, its “culture of congestion” and its architecture are revealed in a brilliant new light. “Manhattan,” Koolhaas writes, “is the 20th century’s Rosetta stone . . . occupied by architectural mutations (Central Park, the Skyscraper), utopian fragments (Rockefeller Center, the U.N. Building), and irrational phenomena (Radio City Music Hall).” Filled with fascinating facts, as well as photographs, postcards, maps, watercolors, and drawings, the vibrancy of Koolhaas’s poignant exploration of Gotham equals the heady, frenetic energy of the city itself. Anyone who loves New York will want to own this book.

I can only speak for myself but I imagine that it’s hard for anyone who has lived in New York in a time when Rockefeller Center has always existed to appreciate the level of diplomacy, architecture, finance, and artwork that went into creating the complex, not to mention the somewhat scandalous occurrences, but Okrent captures it with a snappy prose style that also manages to blend in some fine observations and humorous analogies. Especially due to the continued presence of the Center, it is gratifying to be able to put into modern context the various descriptions and details and visualize them as they exist today.

The history of the Rockefellers, while obviously much broader and filled with much more intriguing information than is relevant here, is nonetheless captured more than adequately, particularly John D. Rockefeller Jr. and his second son Nelson. More than just the account of a building project, the book also marks the transition between old-time New York society of the Gilded Age and the modern New York of the twentieth century. The chapter regarding the controversial Diego Rivera mural seeks to set the record straight on a story that has taken on it’s own life over the years and the characters who have previously been given short shrift finally get their due.

Perhaps it’s fitting that the seminal word on the complex should come from the Gershwins – "They all laughed at Rockefeller Center, now they’re fighting to get in." And we still are. Great book for fans of history, New York, architecture, or just plain good writing.

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Those of us who love New York tend to love the city passionately, for its past as well as its present. Daniel Okrent’s Great Fortune: The Epic of Rockefeller Center is a book for New Yorkers from Ashtabula to Zimbabwe: a study of ambition, audacity, and deal-making on a grand scale that led to the construction of some of the most famous skyscrapers in the world. The cast of characters includes not only the many and diverse members of the Rockefeller family, but other powerful New York institutions such as Columbia University, the Metropolitan Opera, the Museum of Modern Art, and The New York Times–not to mention the radical Mexican artist Diego Rivera, the New Yorker cartoonist William Steig, the Marx Brothers, and a bevy of “Rockettes.” Okrent’s narrative neatly balances the epic and the intimate; he offers both authoritative pronouncements on modern architecture and reams of good gossip. Like New York itself, Great Fortune contains multitudes: densely packed, it remains surprisingly–and welcomingly–commodious. –Tim Page
–This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Originally from Vienna, Neutra came to America early in his career, settling on the West Coast. His influence on post-war architecture is undisputed, the sunny climate and rich landscape of California being a particularly suitable setting for his cool, sleek modern style. Neutra had a keen appreciation of the relationship between people and nature and his trademark plate glass walls and ceilings which turn into deep overhangs effectively connect the indoors with the outdoors. His ability to incorporate technology, aesthetics, science, and nature into his designs brought him to the forefront of Modernist architecture.

For the first time, all of Neutra’s works (nearly 300 private homes, schools, and public buildings) are gathered together in one volume, illustrated with over 1,000 photographs, including those of Julius Shulman and other prominent photographers. This is the essential reference book for fans of Neutra’s work.

The horizontal 11.5″ x 16″ format shows the buildings to extraordinarily good advantage. This special volume with a blond wood cover is both an architecture lover’s and book collector’s dream.

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“It’s worth its weight in wood…. This is a truly beautiful book.” – LA Weekly, Los Angeles”

I learned about domestic architecture to make a living, but even 20 years later still enjoy it as a hobby. If you’re a professional in the field, this book is essential. But I would strongly recommend it to amateur enthusiasts as well. Once you learn to recognize housing types, every drive becomes a history lesson.

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How to Use This BookPrefaceLooking at American HousesStyle: The Fashions of American HousesForm: The Shapes of American HousesStructure: The Anatomy of American HousesPictorial Key and GlossaryFolk HousesNative AmericanPre-RailroadNationalColonial Houses (1600-1820)Postmedieval EnglishDutch ColonialFrench ColonialSpanish ColonialGeorgianAdamEarly Classical RevivalRomantic Houses (1820-1880)Greek RevivalGothic RevivalItalianateExotic RevivalsOctagonVictorian Houses (1860-1900)Second EmpireStickQueen AnneShingleRichardsonian RomanesqueFolk VictorianEclectic Houses (1880-1940)Anglo-American, English, and French Period HousesColonial RevivalNeoclassicalTudorChateauesqueBeaux ArtsFrench EclecticMediterranean Period HousesItalian RenaissanceMissionSpanish EclecticMontereyPueblo RevivalModern HousesPrairieCraftsmanModernisticInternationalAmerican Houses Since 1940ModernNeoeclecticContemporary FolkFor Further ReferenceIndex

Each of the thirty-six houses is covered in the same way with:1 A short introduction by editor Smith2 The relevant editorial copy from Arts & Architecture magazine about the house.3 Photos, plans, diagrams, illustrations. Lots of the photos are by the brilliant Jules Shulman and I doubt you will see them this big anywhere else.4 Color photos of the house today.

Some of houses only have a spread or two (the unbuilt ones) while others have several spreads, Pierre Koenig’s famous Stahl House (#22) has twenty pages. I was intriqued by a photo on one of these, it shows the living room with a small table on which are the obligatory selection of magazines, two of these are ‘America’, the Russian language publication put out in the sixties by the US Information Agency, were these on display when the house was open to the pubic or did Shulman put them there just for the photo session?I have given this glorious book only four stars because it is not as complete as it should be, the focus is very narrow, essentially a visual history of the Study Houses and that’s it! What is missing is any historical and contemporary background and surely the reason the whole project was important was the influence it had on other architects, house builders, planners, the public and manufactures.

To get a perspective you will have to get Elizabeth Smith’s earlier book ‘Blueprints for Modern Living’ published in conjunction with an exhibition in Los Angeles in 1989-1990. As the sub-title to the book says…’History and Legacy of the Case Study Houses’ I found this a marvellous book telling me every thing I wanted to know, though there are only forty-two pages of text and photos on the actual houses. It is a pity that a lot of the information in the remaining 214 pages was not included in this huge volume.

Now that I have the book, where will I put it, who makes bookcases over sixteen inches deep anyway? Maybe I’ll just leave it on a table. I bet it will soon pop up in those house interior photos you see in glossy magazines where folk have piles of large art books neatly arranged on their coffee tables, the cover with its black and white diagonal design will make it very visible. Send me an email if you catch a glimse of it in a magazine.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click ‘customer images’ under the cover.

IMPORTANT UPDATE Amazon have also placed this review with the ninety-six page edition. Have a look at my Listmania ‘Case study houses made simple’ for an explanation.

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The first thing you notice about Case Study Houses: The Complete CSH Program, 1945-1966 is its size: it’s big. Contained within its 16-inch frame is the history of Arts & Architecture magazine’s famed program created to inspire the building of low-cost modern homes in America. The brainchild of magazine editor John Entenza, the program drew well-known architects including Charles Eames, Eero Saarinen, and Richard Neutra. Throughout the book are spectacular photographs of modernist glass- and patio-filled homes. Most of the homes were built in the Los Angeles area and make wonderful use of the surrounding scenery. A 17-foot-tall front door opens up onto a canal; streamlined Herman Miller furniture fills out a living room that overlooks a breathtaking panorama. While not all the projects were built, each received a detailed spread in the magazine, including drawings and models. Some of the architectural drawings are lovely, drawn with the movement and fluidity of a master. Included are short biographies of each architect, a provocative epilogue by photographer Julius Shulman, and the reprinted original magazine pages that announce the birth of the Case Study idea. This book is a true gem, and considering its size it’s the Hope diamond. –J.P. Cohen
–This text refers to an alternate

Hardcover
edition.

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Filippo Brunelleschi’s design for the dome of the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence remains one of the most towering achievements of Renaissance architecture. Completed in 1436, the dome remains a remarkable feat of design and engineering. Its span of more than 140 feet exceeds St Paul’s in London and St Peter’s in Rome, and even outdoes the Capitol in Washington, D.C., making it the largest dome ever constructed using bricks and mortar. The story of its creation and its brilliant but “hot-tempered” creator is told in Ross King’s delightful Brunelleschi’s Dome. Both dome and architect offer King plenty of rich material. The story of the dome goes back to 1296, when work began on the cathedral, but it was only in 1420, when Brunelleschi won a competition over his bitter rival Lorenzo Ghiberti to design the daunting cupola, that work began in earnest. King weaves an engrossing tale from the political intrigue, personal jealousies, dramatic setbacks, and sheer inventive brilliance that led to the paranoid Filippo, “who was so proud of his inventions and so fearful of plagiarism,” finally seeing his dome completed only months before his death. King argues that it was Brunelleschi’s improvised brilliance in solving the problem of suspending the enormous cupola in bricks and mortar (painstakingly detailed with precise illustrations) that led him to “succeed in performing an engineering feat whose structural daring was without parallel.” He tells a compelling, informed story, ranging from discussions of the construction of the bricks, mortar, and marble that made up the dome, to its subsequent use as a scientific instrument by the Florentine astronomer Paolo Toscanelli. –Jerry Brotton, Amazon.co.uk
–This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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“In 1985, Mr. Krier produced a monograph about Speer’s designs, which display a cold, grandiose, neoclassical style…. The Monacelli Press has reissued it in a lavish edition but this time with the added twist of an introduction by the renowned architect Robert A.M. Stern, the dean of Yale’s architecture school” —Wall Street Journal