XTREME Houses — A sharp reply to architects
XTREME Houses, by Courtenay Smith and Sean Topham (London: Prestel, 2002). Reviewed by John Winter (The Architectural Review, No. 1275, May 2003).
The authors of the book are not architects, and — not altogether unfairly — they are dispirited by the state of existing houses. In reaction to that state, they have gathered a collection of buildings and ideas that show a particular approach to the idea of the house. Each of the 45 examples has been chosen because it either challenges traditional ways or tries to find the answer to a problem. This book undoubtedly made me aware that we architects work within a narrow framework; Smith and Topham have gathered an alluring set of ideas that enchants you and opens your eyes to another reality. I truly enjoyed it. Some of the book's examples are genuinely foolish, many are masterly, and a few are beautiful. But in the end the “oughts of the ideal house” do not emerge; we have not yet found what everyone would admire. Where is the twenty-first-century counterpart of the Case Study Houses? There is nothing in this book that tempts me to leave the comfortable box of my own modernism.
Landscrapers: Building with the Land — Embracing the earth
Landscrapers: Building with the Land, by Aaron Betsky (London: Thames & Hudson, 2002). Reviewed by Sutherland Lyall (The Architectural Review, No. 1275, May 2003).
The recognized standard for publishing architecture books is this: a text of 15,000 to 20,000 words whose first quarter tells the general overview, followed by about 20 case studies — usually grouped by theme — that, with numerous photographs and captions, bring the book to a close. Thames & Hudson did not invent this standard, but this reputable publisher has for several decades been foremost in extending it. To criticize this method — which makes books resemble one another — is easy, especially if the author is not well known or is a beginner; yet the standard provides an easy framework in which both novice and professional authors can advance their work, and readers too have grown used to it. One way of coping with the monotony is to involve the author in the book's layout; another, much easier way is to employ professional designers to improve it. For Landscrapers, Thames & Hudson called on the Smith design studio in London, whose layout happens to share a family resemblance with the recently published Supermodernism by the Dutch author Hans Ibelings. In Landscrapers the basic standard has been altered with tiresome artistic flourishes in each thematic section — engineered utopias, caves and hollows, revealing the ground, and modified nature — so that the reader imagines the subjects were chosen at random, and must search wearily through the text to find an explanation of the drawings and photographs of each case. Maintaining the balance of such information is always a delicate task, and here the imbalance has grown greater. We are not saying that the buildings depicted are not magnificent, enchanting, creative and lovable, nor that you should not add Landscrapers to your library — even if you have already bought Supermodernism.
Building with Light — The pleasure of photography
Building with Light: The International History of Architectural Photography, by Robert Elwall (London: Merrell, 2004). Reviewed by Martin Charles (The Architectural Review, No. 1288, June 2004).
Some seventeen years ago an earlier book by Elwall on the same subject was published to accompany a RIBA exhibition. Although its scope was thought to be limited in time and geography, it managed to overlook its own borders and encompass almost the entire history of architectural photography. Elwall's new book tells the same story more magnificently. The abundance of photographs is the book's chief characteristic: Elwall has assembled an astonishing collection whose whole is worth more than the sum of its parts. The print quality of the images is excellent, with colour used in some of them — unexpectedly — to recall the quality of the old photographs of the collotype era. Photographically the book is superb. But it also has a problem: its text covers the international history of architectural photography, yet the words command an insufficient space compared with the photographs; the story rushes forward and leaves the reader longing for a moment's breath for deeper reflection. For instance, Elwall says that in the 1860s architectural photography was disdained — it would have been good if he had provided evidence for this, or, better still, given an idea of the state of other branches of photography at the time. To treat a subject that is in its essence so pictorial, the images and text ought to be interwoven; in this book, apart from a few very small photographs, all the photographs have been photographed, with a short text (only 84 pages) attached to — or rather, separated from — them. This no doubt pleased the marketing department, but made the book harder to read.
Newly published in Persian
Architecture and Reconstruction Planning, by Yasmin Aysan and Ian Davis, translated by Dr Alireza Falahi, edited by Azarmeh Sanjari and Forough Kazemi (Tehran: Shahid Beheshti University Press, 1382). Compiled as a training text for United Nations experts, governments, local authorities, students and researchers, it sets out the fundamental principles and approaches of the post-disaster relief and reconstruction period, and emphasizes the constraints and occasions arising in those stages in relation to the consequences of damage. The book has three chapters: (1) the domains of relief and reconstruction; (2) the relationship of the above stages to crisis management; (3) beliefs, difficulties and guiding principles.
Design of Prestressed Concrete Structures, by Mahmoud Naderi (Tehran: Haram-Pey Consulting Engineers, 1383). Five new booklets in this series, covering — among others — design for serviceability (Chapter 2), ultimate flexural strength (Chapter 4), design for shear and torsion resistance (Chapter 5), anchorage zones (Chapter 6) and composite members (Chapter 7). Also noted: Payam-e Mohandes, a bimonthly scientific–specialist–research journal, Year 5, No. 20 (Tir 1383), with articles on a new look at the World Trade towers, composite claddings, underfloor heating, new towns, linking Middle-Eastern traditions with the twenty-first century, the world's skyscrapers, and earthquakes and structural safety; and the journal Faslnameh-ye Me'mari-ye Iran (Iranian Architecture Quarterly).
