Book Review: Vintage Magazine's Quatrième Issue

Vintage Magazine: Quatrième Issue
Vintage Magazine, 2013
Paperback, 104 pages


[All photos courtesy of Vintage Magazine]

Even before opening the fourth ("Quatrieme") issue of the biannual Vintage Magazine, it's obvious that something special is inside. The cover, designed by Chip Kidd, is a tile-like layering of progressively larger covers meant to recall linoleum, an intention aided by the smooth yet sticky coating on the paper. Inside, the magazine is a roller coaster of textures, colors, and formats that goes so far beyond the confines of the word "magazine" that if Vintage didn't call itself such the reader would assume it is a one-of-a-kind publication: a curio lovingly, and artistically, stitched (and glued and folded and pocketed) together. How many magazines, after all, come with a pop-up, much less one mounted on a removable chip-board booklet that can become a display object in the reader's home?


[Novogratz house and pop-up]

Vintage Magazine calls its fourth issue an "homage to architecture and home décor." This theme is filtered through Ivy Baer Sherman's overarching intention to "bring aspects of the past to the fore" (from an interview at UnBeige). The tour of Robert and Cortney Novogratz's pop-up townhouse at 400 West Street (a half-block from Richard Meier's tower at 165 Charles Street) is a good case in point. The modern (if unexceptional in that regard) building is transformed by the famous owners through the collision of old and new; most overtly, the facade is collaged with salvaged wood to subtly transform its street presence.


[Joseph Cornell spread]

Other highlights that insert the past into the present include Lisa Birnbach's argument for "living with books" in the age of the eReader, Joe Haddad's peek into Joseph Cornell's basement, Kristen Frederickson's love letter to the AGA stove, and Cathy Kaufman's investigation into "the vanishing dining room." Reading these and other gems in the Quatrième Issue is like a voyage of discovery, hardly the straightforward front-to-back experience of a traditional magazine. Surprises await on each flip through the issue (I didn't see the careful colored stitching, most noticeable between pages 88 and 89, until the third or fourth time), making it a reward to open, look at, touch, and occasionally read.

Today's archidose #700

Here are some photos of Stade Jean-Bouin (2013) in Paris, France, by Rudy Ricciotti, photographed by JP2H.







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Wednesday, Wednesday

A Weekly Dose of Architecture Updates:

This week's dose features the Modern Ruin in Sante Fe, New Mexico, by Autotroph Design:


The featured past dose is the House at Punta Chilen in Chiloé Island, Chile by dRN Architects:


This week's book reviews are Art Parks: A Tour of America's Sculpture Parks and Gardens by Francesca Cigola (L) and Guide to New York City Urban Landscapes by Robin Lynn and Francis Morrone (R):


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**NOTE: The next weekly dose update will be 2013.09.09.**

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American-Architects Building of the Week:

Art D' Maison in Fargo, North Dakota, by Stahl Architects and Builders:

Today's archidose #699

Here are some photos of The Interlace (2014) in Singapore by OMA and Buro Ole Scheeren, photographed by Jonas Klock.







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Spaces for Learning

The "Insight" feature in this week's World-Architects eMagazine looks at 10 schools of architecture. Given that many schools are starting up this week, it's a good time to take a look inside some of these "Spaces for Learning" and see how they can help influence the education of students.


[Cornell University Milstein Hall background photo by Brett Beyer]

So You Want to Learn About: The Basics

The "So You Want to Learn About" series highlights books focused on a particular theme: think "socially responsible architecture" and "phenomenology," rather than broad themes like "housing" or "theory." Therefore the series aims to be a resource for finding decent reading materials on certain topics, born of a desire to further define noticeable areas of interest in the books I review. And while I haven't reviewed every title, I am familiar with each one; these are not blind recommendations.

It's late August, meaning that students are heading to architecture schools, either returning or going for the first time. The books collected below are geared to the latter, though it's a long enough list that all architecture students in their early years should find something of value. With sufficient interest, architecture can take hold of a person for a lifetime. Therefore it's beneficial to start off on the right foot with some quality books establishing architecture's basics.

Classics:


Architecture: Form, Space, and Order
By Francis D.K. Ching
Wiley, 3rd edition 2007 (Amazon)
The form and layout (from landscape to portrait, and from handwritten to a Ching-like font) may have changed since the first edition since 1979, but the focus on "the basic elements, systems, and orders that constitute a physical work of architecture" remains. Like Ching's Building Construction Illustrated, this one is indispensable for beginning students in architecture.

Experiencing Architecture 
By Steen Eiler Rasmussen
MIT Press, 2nd edition 1964 (Amazon)
Ideally a good architecture book for students is intelligent and accessible. In the preface Danish architect Steen Eiler Rasmussen states, "I have endeavored to write the present volume in such a way that even an interested teenager might understand it." With depth of history and clear prose, he ultimately promotes deriving pleasure form architecture, something all architects should try to achieve.

A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction 
By Christopher Alexander, et. al.
Oxford University Press, 1977 (Amazon)
When I was in undergrad architecture school in the early 1990s—the heyday of Deconstructivist architecture—Christopher Alexander's bible-like Pattern Language was out of fashion. Many architects still find the book overly prescriptive, but the methodical insight into people's use and appreciation of architecture at all scales is still influential, giving students an understanding of the impacts of design and space on people's emotions and actions.

Precedents:


Key Buildings of the 20th Century: Plans, Sections and Elevations 
By Richard Weston
W. W. Norton, 2010 (Amazon)
Considering that architects reappropriate rather than invent, it's important to learn as much as possible from historical and modern precedents. Norton's Key Architecture Series presents modern and contemporary buildings as photos but more importantly as the two-dimensional drawings architects still depend on for learning and for expressing their designs: plans, sections, and elevations. Each book also comes with a CD-ROM for looking at the drawings in PDF and CAD.

Precedents in Architecture: Analytic Diagrams, Formative Ideas, and Partis 
By Roger H. Clark
Wiley, 4th edition 2012 (Amazon / Review)
Early architecture studios teach analysis, not just rote redrawing of precedents. This book is like an analytical cheat sheet as it compares historical and modern buildings via circulation, hierarchy, symmetry, geometry, and so forth. It would be great if the diagrams were larger, but the breadth of buildings in one place makes up for that deficiency.

Buildings Without Architects: A Global Guide to Everyday Architecture 
By John May
Rizzoli, 2010 (Amazon / Review)
Ideally architects are influenced by buildings that fall outside of the traditional confines of architectural culture—prehistorical buildings, vernacular architecture, aboriginal dwellings, what can be called buildings without architects. (Bernard Rudofsky's earlier, visually rich Architecture Without Architects is of course also valuable in this vein.) May's guide is set up like a dictionary or encyclopedia, with clear drawings highlighting the myriad of examples around the world we can learn from.

History/Theory:


Understanding Architecture 
By Juhani Pallasmaa and Robert McCarter
Phaidon, 2012 (Amazon / Review)
Even though many schools of architecture have reduced history classes, learning about what became before us is crucial, as is learning about architectural history beyond authorship, dates, and other rote memorization. Pallasmaa and McCarter focus on a thematic approach to architecture rather than a chronological one, prioritizing experience over everything else; this is accentuated by the way the photos are keyed to plans, so readers can get a sense of how one moves through the buildings.

Thinking about Architecture: An Introduction to Architectural Theory 
By Colin Davies
Laurence King, 2011 (Amazon / Review)
Architectural theory (or what has come be known by that phrase) can be incredibly dense, often to the discouragement of students and professionals interested in architectural ideas. By focusing on the ideas rather than the people expressing them, Davies made a highly accessible introduction to different ways of thinking about architecture's relationship to people and the earth we occupy.

What Is Architecture? An Essay on Landscapes, Buildings, and Machines
By Paul Shepheard
Museum of Modern Art, 1994 (Amazon)
What follows from the apparently simple question of "What is architecture?" is typically more questions. It is the type of philosophical question that prompts discussion more than a definitive answer. Shepheard wrote the book when the prevailing answer to the question was, "everything," but he opts for an alternative through a fresh and intriguing narrative.

The Elements of Architecture:


Chambers for a Memory Palace 
By Donlyn Lyndon and Charles W. Moore
MIT Press, 1996 (Amazon)
One way of understanding architecture is through elements—physical constructions that exhibit similar formal and spatial tendencies. This book explores architecture through the correspondences of Lyndon and Moore, as they discuss how architectural elements make places memorable, and how we use our imagination to structure our own environments for remembering.

How Architecture Works: A Humanist's Toolkit 
By Witold Rybczynski
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013 (Amazon)
In this forthcoming book, Rybczynski (pronounced Rib-chin-skee) presents a layperson's guide to architecture, moving from the general (ideas and the setting) to the specific (details and taste). The author embraces all types of architecture, though his favored positions can be hinted throughout and are made clear in the last two chapters. Regardless, he gives readers a toolkit for understanding and appreciating the buildings around us.

Opening Spaces: Design as Landscape Architecture
By Hans Loidl and Stefan Bernard
Birkhauser, 2003 (Amazon / Review)
Defining space through elements is hardly the sole purview of buildings, and this graphically rich guide to landscape architecture is particularly helpful in explaining how space is abstractly defined both inside and out. It's a hard to find, out-of-print book worth searching for, but one that the publisher should really consider publishing again, 10 years after its release.

Series:


Architectural Drawing 
By David Dernie
Laurence King, 2010 (Amazon)
Many publishers gear books specifically to students, presenting them in series that tap into various practical areas. Laurence King's Portfolio Skills series touches on modelmaking, CAD, landscape architecture, and drawing. The titles benefit from clarity, helpful step-by-step illustrations, and a variety of examples illustrating how to do this or that.

Model Making 
By Megan Werner
Princeton Architectural Press, 2011 (Amazon / Review)
PAPress's Architecture Briefs series runs the gamut from philosopy and writing to sustainable design and material strategies. Megan Werner's title on making models is particularly good example, highlighting how different materials can be shaped to achieve different ends. Computer renderings be damned! Architectural models are still an integral part of architectural education and expression.

The Fundamentals of Architecture 
By Lorraine Farrelly
AVA Publishing, 2007 (Amazon / Review)
AVA's Fundamentals series focuses on the process of architecture, how a project moves from concept to design development and beyond to completion. The books look at architecture but also landscape architecture and urban design. Since spring 2013 AVA's books are published under Fairchild Books, an imprint of Bloomsbury Press.

Sperone Westwater's Moving Elevator

I've never seen the red elevator/gallery behind the facade of the Norman Foster-designed Sperone Westwater gallery on The Bowery actually move, but this short film from Foster + Partners captures the slow ascent and descent through some time lapse photography.



Check out the Foster + Partners channel on YouTube for many more recently uploaded videos.

MVRDV's "Window to Weight Gain"

I'll admit this is pretty shallow, but I can't help thinking of The Simpsons' "window to weight gain"* when I see photos of MVRDV's Glass Farm.


[L: MVRDV's Glass Farm | R: Still from The Simpsons' King-Size Homer episode, in which Bart rubs a Krusty burger on the wall to see how fatty it is]

*In the King-Size Homer episode Homer tries to gain weight to go on disability, so he can work from home. Dr. Nick gives him this advice about what foods to eat, as he rubs a piece of fried chicken on a piece of paper: "And remember, if you’re not sure about something, rub it against a piece of paper. If the paper turns clear, it’s your window to weight gain."

Hunters Point South Waterfront Park

The other day I hopped on the 7 Train to Long Island City, Queens, to check out the just opened Hunters Point South Waterfront Park, designed by Thomas Balsley Associates and WEISS/MANFREDI. The park is one of the first components of the larger Hunters Point South development, which will include affordable housing, schools, and a future extension of the park. Here is a slideshow from my visit.

Today's archidose #698

Here are some photos of Cultural Center of Viana do Castelo (2013), Portugal, by Eduardo Souto de Moura, photographed by José Carlos Melo Dias.







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Monday, Monday

A Weekly Dose of Architecture Updates:

This week's dose features the Saint Louis Art Museum East Building in St. Louis, Missouri, by David Chipperfield Architects:


The featured past dose is the Messner Mountain Museum in Bozen, Italy by Werner Tscholl:


This week's book review is Young Frank, Architect by Frank Viva (L):

(R): The featured past book review is The Three Little Pigs by Steven Guarnaccia.

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American-Architects Building of the Week:

James B. Hunt Jr. Library in Raleigh, North Carolina, by Snøhetta:

Today's archidose #697

Here are some photos of The Blue Planet (2013) in Kastrup, Denmark 3XN, photographed by Ximo Michavila.













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Book Talk and Review: A Country of Cities

A Country of Cities: A Manifesto for an Urban America by Vishaan Chakrabarti
Metropolis Books, 2013
Hardcover, 252 pages



On Monday, Vishaan Chakrabarti gave a book talk at the Center for Architecture on A Country of Cities: A Manifesto for an Urban America, published by Metropolis Books. The SHoP Architects partner and Columbia University professor presented the major arguments from the self-described manifesto, accompanied by illustrations from the book. Those in the full-house crowd left with a fairly good understanding of what Chakrabarti envisions for America: dense urban environments served by local and regional rail infrastructure. The basic treatise of the book is "it's all about density," based on the assertion that environmental sustainability and economic opportunities are greater in cities.


[Photo courtesy of Center for Architecture]

For a city dweller, like me, who won't need much convincing that cities are better (healthier, more diverse, more interesting) places than suburbs, the book's value lies in how it convinces others of urban benefits and what it proposes for shifting the focus of American development, infrastructure, and subsidies from the sprawling suburbs and exurbs to compact cities. Attempts at convincing can be found in how Chakrabarti writes the book: "economics, environmentalism, joy; all under one umbrella that laypeople can understand" (to paraphrase what he said in the book talk). The accessibility of the text can be found in now only how he writes, but in what he references to help people understand his position.

Most memorable is a discussion of an episode of Bob the Builder, which pits Bob and his 1-house-per-4-acre plan against an architect's city of towers for Sunflower Valley. Bob's winning scheme says a lot about what Chakrabarti calls the "American Scheme," in which the "American Dream" of opportunity has been replaced by that of home ownership and inefficient land use. Another way that the book is geared toward laypeople is through the illustrations. These are quantitative visualizations in most cases, yet many of the diagrams are more polemical (the sprawl-vs-city illustration below is a good example)—all of them do a good job of paralleling the text and explaining often complex concepts.


[Photo via Design Observer]

So what does Chakrabarti propose for enabling the shift from what he calls a country of "highways, houses, and hedges" to one of "trains, towers, and trees"? Following from his desire to make things understandable to a wide audience, he gives one of his proposals an acronym, ASIA (American Smart Infrastructure Act). (The irony of referring to the continent that is fast becoming the world's largest polluter is not lost on Chakrabarti, especially considering they are the most innovative corner of the globe when it comes to infrastructure.) His basic proposal reorients the subsidies that now are funneled into the suburbs so they serve cities.

In order to achieve the magic density of 30 dwelling units per acre (what he considers the baseline for sustaining a subway), cities require decent public transportation, which in turn require subsidies; they also need affordable housing, not mortgage interest deductions for single-family houses. These are big ideas and bigger plans that require substantial political and economic muscle to implement. It's understandable that one reviewer interprets the book by the architect/academic/one-time developer/former director of city planning as "the groundwork for another career switch, into New York City politics."

Speaking of NYC, underlying the whole book is the notion that the city, Chakrabarti's home, is the model for an American "country of cities." This arises from the numerous examples used throughout the book (many by SHoP Architects, like Barclays Center in Brooklyn and the East River Esplanade near the South Street Seaport) and the way many of the ideas seem rooted in the city's built environment and infrastructure. As someone who also lives in NYC—in Queens, rather than Manhattan—I can appreciate the positive qualities of the city, but I also find the massive inequalities and catering to the rich to be characteristics of the current NYC not worth replicating.

That said, the core of Chakrabarti's book—that "hyper-dense" cities are environmentally sustainable, rich in economic opportunity, and full of joy—and the way he explains how to "make a good city" are general lessons that need to be told. Through his accessible text and illustrations the arguments for density go down easy and convincingly—good medicine for a sustainable and equitable future.

US: CA: UK:

Archidose Be Tumbling

I've taken the plunge and started a Tumblr blog that can be found at therealarchidose.tumblr.com (archidose was already taken). It's only been a few days, so I've yet to really define how I'll be using the platform. Right now it's a way to follow the numerous architecture, design, and other interesting blogs that use Tumblr—and to occasionally reblog—and create short content, such as the screenshot below. What it won't be is a syndication of A Daily Dose of Architecture; I'd rather create something new that takes advantage of the microblogging platform.



Check it out and feel free to follow.

In Pursuit of Architecture

On Saturday, September 21 (10am - 5pm), at the Museum of Modern Art, Log Journal is hosting In Pursuit of Architecture, a conference on buildings and ideas. Details are below.

To mark its 10th anniversary and 29th issue, Log presents In Pursuit of Architecture, a conference featuring recent built work selected from an open, international call for submissions. Join architects and critics for a daylong discussion of architectural ideas, what it takes to build them, and how we measure the cultural value of architecture.

Participants include: 51N4E, Barkow Leibinger, C+S architects, LAN, MOS, Neil M. Denari Architects, OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen, Preston Scott Cohen, Reiser + Umemoto, and UNStudio discuss their buildings in Albania, Belgium, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, UAE, and USA with critics Sam Jacob, Sylvia Lavin, Emmanuel Petit, and Sarah Whiting.

Free admission. Reservations required.

Today's Archi-Meme from Above

The architecture news spreading like crazy around the Internet today concerns a rooftop structure in Beijing that local officials have demanded be tore down. Here is the story at South China Morning Post. Professor Zhang Biqing spent six years building what's referred to in the article as a "rooftop garden villa," with fake rocks and real vegetation above his penthouse apartment. His concerned neighbors are now getting their way, as he has 15 day to demolish the illegal structure.


[Photo from Colossal | aerial from Bing Maps]

None of the coverage I came across located the building in question. After some sleuthing and aerial browsing, I think I found it. Click the image above to see the building and its surroundings at Bing Maps (here is the link to Google Maps).

Today's archidose #696

Here are some photos of the RMIT Design Hub (2012) in Melbourne, Australia, by Sean Godsell Architects with Peddle Thorp Architects.

Photographs by Christopher Brown:








Photographs by phunnyfotos:














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