Books: Cosmic Communist Constructions Photographed

Photographer Frédéric Chaubin reveals 90 buildings sited in fourteen former Soviet Republics which express what he considers to be the fourth age of Soviet architecture. His poetic pictures reveal an unexpected rebirth of imagination, an unknown burgeoning that took place from 1970 until 1990. Contrary to the 1920s and 1950s, no “school” or main trend emerges here. These buildings represent a chaotic impulse brought about by a decaying system. Their diversity announced the end of the Soviet Union.

Taking advantage of the collapsing monolithic structure, the holes in the widening net, architects went far beyond modernism, going back to the roots or freely innovating. Some of the daring ones completed projects that the Constructivists would have dreamt of (Druzhba Sanatorium, Yalta), others expressed their imagination in an expressionist way (Palace of Weddings, Tbilisi). A summer camp, inspired by sketches of a prototype lunar base, lays claim to Suprematist influence (Prometheus youth camp, Bogatyr). Then comes the “speaking architecture” widespread in the last years of the USSR: a crematorium adorned with concrete flames (Crematorium, Kiev), a technological institute with a flying saucer crashed on the roof (Institute of Scientific Research, Kiev), a political center watching you like Big Brother (House of Soviets, Kaliningrad). This puzzle of styles testifies to all the ideological dreams of the period, from the obsession with the cosmos to the rebirth of identity. It also outlines the geography of the USSR, showing how local influences made their exotic twists before the country was brought to its end.

Frédéric Chaubin Cosmic Communist Constructions Photographed, by Frédéric Chaubin, Hardcover, 26 x 34 cm (10.2 x 13.4 in.), 312 pages, ISBN: 9783836525190, Multilingual Edition: English, French, German, Published by: Taschen

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Books: Cellophane House™ by KieranTimberlake

With 110 illustrations and detailed commentary by the architects, the book chronicles the design and execution of a five-story, off-site fabricated home assembled on-site in just sixteen days as part of the Museum of Modern Art exhibition, Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling. Through a series of questions, the book explores several of KieranTimberlake’s ongoing research agendas including speed of on-site assembly, design for disassembly, a holistic approach to the life cycle of materials, and the development of a lightweight, high-performance, energy gathering building envelope.

Cellophane House™ takes a holistic approach to factory fabrication, reinventing the way a building is assembled, its materials, and spatial experience. An innovative aluminum frame enables mass-customization of the home in multiple configurations, rapid assembly, and adaptability to different sites and climates. Disassembly, rather than demolition, is inherent as an end-of-life option to successfully preserve the embodied energy in the recyclable house materials. More than a building experiment, it suggests a new way forward in an approach to mass housing.

Cellophane House™ by KieranTimberlake, Paperback, 156 pages, 5.875″ x 8.25″, 110 color illustrations, ISBN: 9780983130130
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Monograph: Allied Works Architecture: Brad Cloepfil Occupation

With some of their best work yet to be built, the new monograph on Allied Works Architecture, takes an in-depth look at their work to date. Including some of their best known work: the offices of advertising giant Wieden + Kennedy in Portland, Oregon.

This exhaustive publication documents all of the projects to date of American architect Brad Cloepfil (*1956). The first monograph on Cloepfil and his office, Allied Works Architecture, it presents in-depth accounts of his works, many of which include photographs, architectural drawings, models, as well as project descriptions. Featured projects include the Seattle Art Museum, the Museum of Art and Design in New York, the University of Michigan Museum of Art, the Clyfford Still Museum, and the National Music Centre of Canada.
Architectural historians Kenneth Frampton and Sandy Isenstadt contribute texts that include detailed analyses of several of the buildings. An important element of the book is a series of extended conversations between Cloepfil and artists Doug Aitken, Ann Hamilton, and Ben Rubin, landscape designer Douglas Reed, ecologist Eric Sanderson, theologian and philosopher Mark Taylor, and engineer and manufacturer Jan Tichelaar.

Allied Works Architecture: Brad Cloepfil: Occupation, Published by Hatje Cantz, English, 2011. 440 pp., 481 color ills., 12 foldouts, 25 x 31.4cm, hardcover, ISBN: 9783775728386, Buy it here: Amazon

Books: Ivan Leonidov

Ivan Leonidov (1902 – 1959 was a constructivist architect, but also a painter, urban planner and a dreamer. He realised only one project in his lifetime: a staircase on a hillside in Kislovodsk.

“It is sad that the vast majority of sketchbook plans and competition entries reproduced in this album were never built. Ivan Leonidov was surely one of the most innovative and humanistic architects to come out of early Russian modernism. His Constructivist-inspired projects embody the same revolutionary spirit as Vladimir Tatlin’s celebrated 1919 tower. In his later buildings, medieval Russian motifs mingle with pyramids, amphitheaters, pagodas, to reflect his love of Eastern and classical cultures. Many of his visions were quixotichis United Nations headquarters, for example, or the Island of Flowers park in the Dnepr River but all are inspirational. Vilified in the 1930s, Leonidov has lately undergone a “rehabilitation” in the Soviet Union.”

In the first half of his life, Leonidov’s work quickly became widely known. Even Le Corbusier and Niemeyer had fell under the charm of the strong so-called leonidovskogo “definitive breakthrough”. Then the Soviet coined the term “leonidovschina” and the great architect of the Iron Curtain was isolated from the world of architecture. After the war, Leonidov developed with his sketches some grandiose projects of the utopian City of Sun. The conception of this ideal city began to emerge in Leodinov’s thinking during the thirties. It took shape during the war years, and was inspired by Campanella’s book of that title and the Italian socialista-utopian’s concepts.

Russian Utopias, Ivan Leonidov, via: dpr-barcelona

Leonidov, by Andrei Gozak and Andrei Leonidov, 216 Pages, Published by Rizzoli, 1988, ISBN: 084780951X
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Books: Piero Lissoni: Recent Architecture

“I am a humanist. To me, a chair is just as important as a tower.”
- Piero Lissoni

The products of the Italian architect and designer Piero Lissoni (* 1956) are all objects of desire: He has a number of timeless, modern private villas designed, set up sophisticated hotel, designed incredibly elegant yachts and uncompromisingly clear furniture, kitchens, bathrooms and objects for business such as Alessi, Boffi, Cassina, Flos, Fritz Hansen, Kartell, Knoll, Living Divani, and Tecno Thonet developed. “In the Milanese tradition first one is an architect, then it is also an engineer or designer. You will be able to design a spoon but also a whole city,” said the great artist.

Lissoni sensual minimalism requires quality materials, perfectly crafted details and excellent feel. This is also reflected in this monograph to his architectural and design work that was put together by Lissoni.

Piero Lissoni: Recent Architecture, by Giovanni Gastel, texts by Stefano Casciani, Birte Kreft, Deyan Sudjic, Published by Hatje Cantz, 224 pp., 137 color ills., 28.70 x 28.70 cm, hardcover, ISBN 9783775724623

Edition29_ARCHITECTURE iPad App

“Best iPad Apps as recommended by the iPad head at Apple”, is the headlines that blared from the seminal gadget site Pocket-Lint and later flashing through Yahoo News and other assorted online blogs. Edition29 Architecture for the iPad has been winning fans among its users and now after months of user feedback, the mother ship has responded favorably, choosing it as one of handful of apps recommended by the head of iPad Marketing and co-creator of the original Apple Newton.

Edition29_ARCHITECTURE is a visually stunning collectable magazine that focuses on showcasing the new generation of modernist architects and their creations through cinematic photographic storytelling. With over 100 pages of full screen photographs, audio commentaries, video, text and pages that are in motion. A must buy for readers of Wallpaper, Dwell and any collector of Phaidon or Taschen books.

Each issue has bookmark capabilities, set soundtrack capabilities that allow you to listen to a narration, sound or music while leafing through the magazine. All the content pages will be part of the download, while connected iPads will have access to community and GPS features, with additional online supplemental materials that make this a vibrant living download to collect.

Edition29_ARCHITECTURE, Available for Download on iTunes

Books: Guggenheim: Frank Lloyd Wright and the Making of…

In this first-ever book to explore the process behind one of the greatest modern buildings in America, The Guggenheim: Frank Lloyd Wright and the Making of the Modern Museum examines the history, design, and construction of Wright’s masterwork. Fully illustrated with preliminary drawings, models, and photographs, the book includes three major essays that consider the building in three important contexts: Hillary Ballon discusses the obstacles Wright faced in getting the Guggenheim built and how his complex relationship with New York City was reflected in his design; Neil Levine explores why Wright’s Guggenheim had a much greater impact on museum architecture than museums designed by Le Corbusier and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe; and Joseph Siry writes about the museum’s novel construction and how it impacted the work of a later generation of architects including Frank Gehry, Louis Kahn, and I.M. Pei. Through archival letters and a richly illustrated timeline, the book also traces the relationship between the architect and his clients during the sixteen-year construction process. This book is published on the occasion of museum’s fiftieth anniversary and in association with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. With contributions by Hilary Ballon, Luis Carranza, Pat Kirkham, Neil Levine, Scott Perkins, Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer, Nancy Spector, Angela Starita, and Gillermo Zuaznabar.

The Guggenheim: Frank Lloyd Wright and the Making of the Modern Museum, 8.25 x 12 inches, 248 pages, Book Design by Pentagram for the Guggenheim Museum
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Books: Ando. Complete Works, Updated Version 2010

Tadao Ando is considered one of the greatest living architects, but until now it has been nearly impossible to find a good comprehensive monograph on his work, thankfully Taschen has just published an enormous coffee table book on this world-renowned Japanese Architect. Tadao Ando always works within the constraints of landscape, and is known for his use of concrete and its interaction with natural light. The book is lavishly illustrated with brilliant color and black & white photography, as well as large drawings, sketches and scale models of his buildings. Each project is examined and presented in a way that clearly shows Ando’s unique genius.

Philippe Starck describes him as a “mystic in a country which is no longer mystic.” Philip Drew calls his buildings “land art” that “struggle to emerge from the earth.” He is the only architect to have won the discipline’s four most prestigious prizes: the Pritzker, Carlsberg, Praemium Imperiale, and Kyoto Prize. Combining influences from Japanese tradition with the best of Modernism, Ando has developed a completely unique building aesthetic that makes use of concrete, wood, water, light, space, and nature in a way that has never been witnessed in architecture. His designs include award-winning private homes, churches, museums, apartment complexes, and cultural spaces throughout Japan, as well as in France, Italy, Spain, and the USA. This book, created at the height of Ando’s illustrious career, and thoroughly updated for this new 2010 edition, presents his complete works to date.

Ando. Complete Works, Updated Version 2010, Jodidio, Philip, Hardcover, 30.8 x 39 cm (12.1 x 15.4 in.), 600 pages, Published by Taschen, ISBN: 9783836509497
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Monograph: Vincent Van Duysen: Complete Works

For more than two decades, Belgian architect Vincent Van Duysen has created a series of exquisite buildings and residences, from the Low Countries to New York, with profoundly elemental spaces enriched by a refined palette of materials. The results are sublime, rich, minimal yet tactile.
This is the complete monograph of Van Duysen’s work, including his domestic architecture, office and commercial spaces, as well as furniture and decorative objects for such leading international manufacturers as Tribù, B&B Italia, Poliform and Swarovski. Van Duysen celebrates the essence of form, the elegance of proportion and the refinement of hidden details. His is an architecture for connoisseurs, and this comprehensive publication reveals why he has become such a celebrated figure. Over thirty projects are presented in detail, each with a project profile, many accompanied by specially commissioned photographs, along with a complete project chronology.

Collected together in a large-scale format, the book includes an introduction by noted architecture critic Marc Dubois and tributes by architects David Adjaye, Alberto Campo Baeza and Michael Gabellini, fashion designer Ann Demeulemeester and furniture designer Patricia Urquiola, all of whom provide fascinating insights into Van Duysen’s inspirational output.

Vincent Van Duysen: Complete Works, Foreword by Ilse Crawford, Introduction by Marc Dubois, 29.50 x 23.20 cm, Hardback, 288pp, 382 Illustrations, 252 in colour,
ISBN 9780500342619, Published by Thames & Hudson

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Books: New Architecture in Japan

With a comprehensive overview of more than 100 projects built or designed in Japan over the past 10 years, New Architecture in Japan is an informative and beautifully illustrated book. Photographer Edmund Sumner manages to capture not only the power of architectural space, but he always allows a glimpse of the surrounding urban landscape by including neon signs, pylons, high voltage power lines and pedestrians into the images. Critical essays by Yuki Sumner and Naomi Pollock contextualize the work, and each project is described in detail with the required drawings.

Included in the book are museums, private houses, schools, shops, hospitals, airports and chapels. Both cutting-edge, emerging young practices – such as Sou Fijimoto and Junya Ishigami – and established, internationally known architects – among them Toyo Ito, Tadao Ando, Kengo Kuma and SANAA. This illuminating survey is essential not just for architects and designers but also for anyone fascinated by Japan’s unique – and increasing – influence on architecture worldwide.

New Architecture in Japan, by Yuki Sumner and Naomi Pollock with David Littlefield, Photography by Edmund Sumner, Published by Merrell, Hardback, 272 pages, 400 colour illustrations, 237 plans, 25 x 25 cm (9.75 x 9.75 in), ISBN: 9781858944500
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