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The proceedings of the second Williams Symposium explore the phenomenon of curvature, together with other such "secrets" of classical refinement. Debated ever since the Renaissance, these stunning architectural subtleties are treated here for the first time in a combined effort of international experts.

Ranging from painstaking new technical observations to the wider issues of perception and art theory, this well-illustrated volume demonstrates why classical architecture was—and still is—deemed to be perfect.

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For the past few years, The Museum of Modern Art has been in the midst of the largest building project in its history. Designed by Yoshio Taniguchi, the new museum will open in midtown Manhattan in November 2004 - 2005 to coincide with MoMA's 75th anniversary. The 630,000-square-foot complex is nearly twice the size of the former facility, with dramatically expanded and redesigned spaces for exhibitions, public programming, educational outreach, and scholarly research. In his initial proposal, Taniguchi explained that his goal was "to create an ideal environment for art and people through the imaginative and disciplined use of light, materials, and space." His stated vision of "a museum that preserves and reinforces MoMA's unique character as the repository of an incomparable collection of modern and contemporary art, as a pioneer of museums of modern art with a unique historical inheritance, and as an urban institution in a midtown Manhattan location" has been resoundingly implemented.

Design for MoMA offers an affordable, concise overview of the new building and its master architect by Glenn D. Lowry, Director of The Museum of Modern Art.Essay by Glenn D. Lowry.Paperback, 5 x 7 in. / 60 pgs / 45 color. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Small but Concise and Visually Appealing Inside Look
For those of us who will have to wait until our next trip to New York to see the newly refurbished and designed Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan, this little book by Glenn D Lowry offers a fine history and background on the new museum as designed by architect Taniguchi.The book is filled with excellent photographs of the various aspects of the museum including views from inside to the outside, a sense of the ambience of the building, and a fine demonstration of how the space greets its mission of displaying art.

A fine addition to the book is an essay by Terence Riley with snapshots that takes us step by step through the process of building the edifice and in doing so presents a fine mini-history of the old vs the new building.

This well designed and beautifully illustrated book is a fine introduction to one of the more important museums of the world and appears to be a superb introduction to understanding the new landmark before visiting the New MOMA.Grady Harp, June 05 ... Read more

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The 132 drawings catalogued document most of the major examples of ancient Roman pictorial art known to seventeenth-century Rome. They include early finding such as the "Aldobrandini Wedding", the Nile mosaic from Palestrina, tha marble pictures from the Basilica of Junius Bassus, and later finds such as the Harbour Landscape (found in 1668) and the Tomb of Nasonii (1674). Detailed accounts are given of the discoveries, and a general introduction assesses the significance of the Cassiano assemblage within the wider context of contemporary antiquarian interest in ancient painting, its collectors and copyists. Cataogue entries describe and discuss the drawings in graet detail, relating them to the original mosaics and wallpaintings as they survive in their present state of preservation. All drawings catalogued are reproduced, mostly on a large scale and mostly in full colour. They are frequently accompanied by illustrations, also in colour, of the ancient originals. ... Read more

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A Publication of The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and Wexner Center for the Arts, Ohio State University

Perfect Acts of Architecture presents six sets of highly inventive drawings by the contemporary avant-garde architects Rem Koolhaas and Elia Zenghelis, Peter Eisenman, Bernard Tschumi, Daniel Libeskind, and Thom Mayne. Created between 1972 and 1988, when many architects turned to teaching because economic conditions had drastically curtailed building commissions, these works reflect the period's intellectual debates and demonstrate graphic experimentation as a proactive mode of research.

Each suite of drawings, fully illustrated with superb reproductions, offers great insight into the creative processes of six young designers, who went on to establish major international reputations. To put this "paper architecture" into a broader historical context, Kipnis and Riley provide introductory texts as well as concise commentaries on each of the projects.
155 illustrations, 48 in full color, 69 in duotone, 172 pages, 8 x 10" ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

I'm a sucker for good book design
This is a great book, awesome spine and cover design, and the typeset plays really well with the subject matter, especially for Rem and Elia's Exodus proposal.

Also you get pretty much all of the Manhattan Transcripts for about the same price as they'd be on their own.

Optimistic visions of what architecture "could be"
First what this book is not. This is not a book about buildings, in a traditional sense, although all the architects with work represented in the book are actually far busier these days building real buildings than creating the sort of explorations seen here. Don't confuse this book for anything other than avant-garde drawing exercises.

So what this book IS -- well, the possibility that these avant-garde drawings can be a good thing, even a visionary and optimistic thing, that they can inspire, and finally can stretch the possibilities of what we mean by architecture. The title calls these "acts" of architecture, which really is just a bit of jargon meaning ravishingly beautiful drawings that are riffs on architectural ideas. These ideas don't always boil down into words (you could for instance skip most of the text), or comprehensible buildings, but are irreduceably visual and all exciting.

The collection presented here is a work of a generation of visionary architects now our elders and respected and all that means (like building real stuff now), but at the time this work was done these architects were effectively scribbling in their attics with no real commissions. The group as a whole was, and continues to be, enormously influential. It's also interesting to see the development of such famous architects as Rem Koolhaas or Tom Mayne (although hard to single them out amongst this group) compared to their mature and more "mainstream" production now.

One star is cut from the rating for the quality of reproductions. This is a catalogue for the MoMA and Wexner show, and the original drawings at the show were far more subtle and ravishing that the printing here. Especially the Mayne and Libeskind work suffers. Finally, Terry Riley's introduction is pitch-perfect, as one would expect.

No Substance
Notwithstanding that these projects (thankfully) were never built, they shatre the commonality of lacking any substance.The drawings are obtuse and match the pretentious texts that typify what passes for academic writing today.In the main, however, they have nothing worthwhile to say.This book might best be described as a collection of self-important musings by architects who have made questionable contributions to the cities we live in.

Perfect Acts of Indulgence
The author notes that these works were produced in an economic slump when many architects were forced to turn to drawings and teaching to suplement their incomes.In a way, that period was the beginning of the end of architecture too.In place of real design, intelligent solutions, an interest in housing and other real-world problems, the architecture of academia took root.For some, this took precedence over real building and design.What we have here is a series of absurd propositions that Kipnis (perhaps he too was in an economic slump and needed to write a book), finds more fascinating than they really are.This was the period when it became popular (amongst a self-styled academic elite), to produce incomprehensible drawings as a way of distinguishing oneself from the pack.Great claims were made about the newness of this architecture and like much of what went before, we are suffering bthe urban degredation that Eisenman, Tschumi, Libeskind et al have reaped on cities across the globe.-Flack lackey Kipnis does little more than ingratiate himself into the circle.Like his subjects, however, he has little to offer sensible architectural commentary.Avoid.

Great drawings but limited explanations
The book shows exceptional stratigical drawing from a selection of famous achitects.Although some explanations about the projects is short, this book is great for architectural students because it simply provokes thought. ... Read more

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In the Fall of 2004, The Museum of Modern Art completed a major expansion and renovation of its famous midtown Manhattan building, doubling the Museum's size and introducing dynamic new galleries and public spaces. At the core of the remodeled Museum, designed by architect Yoshio Taniguchi, is the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden, newly restored to its 1953 dimensions. Described by Taniguchi as "perhaps the most distinctive single element of the Museum today," the Sculpture Garden, an oasis of water, trees and masterpieces of modern sculpture, has long been the Museum's signature space--as well as its social heart. This fully illustrated, affordable, pocket-sized book is designed to convey the beauty and elegance of the garden. It also features a photographic chronology of the many performances, exhibitions and events held in the garden over the years, as well as an introduction and a brief historical narrative. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Mistaken by the title...
What can one say but, dont judge the book buy its cover. In my case (and everyone else who buys from amazon) i did exactly this, expecting too much, i was BITTERLY disapointed in the content of the book. I love scandanavian architecture and for some stupid reason the author decided to write a book on 20th Century architecture but left out the all important 1970 - 2000 buildings. The author focussed far too much on Pre-20th leading to. overall i hated the book. (the first one mind you ever! since purchasing from amazon in 5 years) If your interested in the background of swedish architecture then fine it's probably a great book, however if it's great design your after then this is certainly not the one!. ... Read more

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Earth Mounds Exposed
Few people are aware of the earthmound remains of Precolumbian peoples in the US.William Morgan's little book does much to change that, and in a highly readable manner.Organized by epochs, this comprehensiveillustrated catalogue of over 100 important sites is a must forearly-history buffs. Most important, each site is "reconstructed"and illustrated with a clear to-scale map which is at the same scale as allthe other mapped reconstructions.The book is a model for such studies, assites of interest can be quickly compared in scale with the Acropolis, the Giza pyramid complex, and other more famous sites. Highly recommended. ... Read more

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This book gives an insider's look at the process of building one of the most exciting structures of our time: the Denver Art Museum's expansion building, designed by visionary architect Daniel Libeskind. From the time the project began, Libeskind's design for the Frederic C. Hamilton Building required new ways to visualize space, new ways to construct, even new ways of scheduling. The explosive structure pushed architectural boundaries and challenged everyone involved, from architects to construction workers to museum staff, to think differently.

Now rapidly approaching its Autumn 2006 opening date, the Hamilton Building will display the museum's modern and contemporary, western American, African, and Oceanic art collections alongside the groundbreaking educational programs the museum is renowned for. For visitors, it will be a building filled with new experiences and ideas. ... Read more

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Creating space for the display of works of art has intrigued Renzo Piano throughout his thirty-five years of architectural practice. Today he is acknowledged the pre-eminent designer in this field, entrusted with the collections of the most distinguished art institutions in the world.

Renzo Piano Museums presents a portfolio of eighteen museum projects, beginning with the revolutionary Pompidou Center in Paris and continuing to the most current designs for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sarajevo. Featured are the Menil Collection in Houston, the Beyeler Foundation on the outskirts of Basel, Switzerland, the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, and the Morgan Library and Museum in New York. Lush color photographs and handsome presentation drawings and plans convey the form and detail of these extraordinary buildings.

Complementing the visual presentation is an essay by Victoria Newhouse, which surveys Piano's museum work and places it in a historical context. In particular, she focuses on the key elements of Piano's aesthetic: natural light, transparency, and the piazza or gathering space. All were introduced at the Pompidou Center and continue to inform the designs.

Renzo Piano is the founder of the Renzo Piano Building Workshop, a multi-faceted practice with offices in Genoa and Paris.He has been awarded the highest honors in architecture: the RIBA Royal Gold Medal, the Pritzker Prize, and the Medaille d'Or, UIA.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Beauty is found in simple forms.
Great work from Renzo Piano. Modern Architecture seems to find the beauty in the details of its work. The engagement of light in the space to be created makes us wonder of the satisfaction and enjoyment of Architecture, and Piano does it well incorporating all the aspects of nature.

THE ELEGANT RENZO
I love Piano's work, it's elegant and functional.This book is fantastic, it is well researched and the images are very well presented.Though Piano designs all kinds of buildings for all sorts of functions, he is most famous for his museums.I am most familiar with his amazing buildings for the Menil Collection and his Nasher Collection, the are both quenticential Renzo Piano.The two builds at first glance, look little alike, but if you tour them, the are actually quite similar, Piano uses his amazing understanding of light to make the buildings come alive. This book includes these buildings of course, but also other musuems he created, all so different on the surface, but still so Piano.I saw him lecture at the Menil last summer and he was amazing, very funny and charismatic, he had the whole outdoor pavilion in the palm of his hand.He of course talked about his obsession with how light is going to play in his buildings and he discussed Mrs. Menil, and you realized why his clients love him so much.I dont usually call somebody a genius, but when it comes to architecture, Piano is indeed a genius, he is without question one of the most inventive and most admired architect of his era.As for this book, if you love Piano or just appreciate beautiful architecture, I cant imagine you not loving this book. ... Read more

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This beautiful souvenir book captures the visual delights, both man-made and natural, of the newly renovated Getty Villa, set to reopen in 2005. More than seventy color photographs artfully record the stunning architecture and grounds of the Villa. Visiting the new Villa will reap numerous aesthetic rewards, for all the senses. Seeing the Getty Villa will surely reward the visual one. The book is a tour guide in image and text, taking readers into and through the site, beginning with the cobblestone "Roman road" and the dramatic new entranceway, and then into the Museum entry court and sun-filled atrium. The visual narration continues into the refurbished Museum building, with stops for readers to admire the galleries of Greek, Roman, and Etruscan works of art before perusing the landscaped gardens, fountains, wall paintings, mosaics, and newly built outdoor amphitheater. In sum, the lush pictures and concise words compose a portrait of a place that will enchant and surprise. Seeing the Getty Villa will appeal to lovers of architecture, photography, and ancient art and will make a lovely gift book as well. ... Read more

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complements your memories of the Villa
If you have the luck or good taste to visit the renovated Getty Villa, you might well be tempted to buy this book. It has professionally taken photographs of many parts of the Villa. Including the gardens and the exteriors of the buildings. Set against a heavy backdrop of trees, with occasional glimpses of the Pacific Ocean. A nice complement to your memories of the place.

The narrative also explains the main collections housed there. And the choice of architecture and gardens. Even the flowers were carefully picked as representative of those found near the Roman ruins in Italy.

Conversely, if you have never been to the Villa, reading the book might be good motivation. Quite different from the Getty Center, which has a totally modern ambience. ... Read more

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The National Museum of Australia has been a long time coming; the idea can be traced back to the time of Federation in 1901. The Museum was designed by architects Ashton Raggatt McDougall and Robert Peck von Hartel Trethowan.The project originated with an International Design Competition, which the architects won in 1997, and it sits on an eleven hectare site on the Acton Peninsula on Lake Burley Griffin.This monograph looks at three aspects of the NMA complex: the architecture of the National Museum of Australia and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies buildings, the landscape, and the exhibitions in the National Museumthrough many pairs of eyes. ... Read more

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When world-renowned architect Rafael Viñoly was commissioned to design a major new center for the arts at Duke University, he set about creating his first museum in North America and the first stand-alone museum in Duke’s eighty-year history. The resulting 65,000-square-foot building has changed the cultural landscape of the university and indeed the Southeast.

This book documents the genesis and design of the new museum, which opens on October 2, 2005. The building is named in honor of the family of Raymond D. Nasher, an internationally prominent art collector who graduated from Duke in 1943.

The landmark building takes its place among Viñoly’s other distinguished designs, including the new home for Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York and expansion projects for the Cleveland Museum of Art, the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., and the Brooklyn Children’s Museum in New York. Among his other cultural projects are the Tokyo International Forum and the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia. He is designing the new Tampa Museum of Art and a new museum in the city of Colchester, England. He was part of the team that created the runner-up design for the new World Trade Center site in New York City.

The brilliant core of the Nasher at Duke is a 13,000-square-foot glass and steel canopy rising to a height of 45 feet above the central gallery space. The faceted roof soars above the irregular pentagonal great hall, where five concrete pavilions fan out at different angles. The pavilions will house three large gallery spaces, an auditorium, offices, university and community classrooms, a museum shop, and a café with outdoor seating overlooking a sculpture garden. Set in the forest on Duke’s campus, the museum’s full-height glass walls and green slate floor connect the pavilions and further blur the division between building and nature.

With an essay by art historian Annabel Jane Wharton, a design statement by museum architect Rafael Viñoly, a foreword by museum namesake Raymond D. Nasher, and photos by Brad Feinknopf and Jerry Blow, this book documents the building that will become a cornerstone for cultural activities for the university and the public. ... Read more

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In recent years, museums have achieved the status of architectural monuments in their own right, especially in America, where the museum itself is often as much a focal point as the art it displays. With exciting new buildings currently under way in New York, Denver, Minneapolis, Atlanta, and Boston, now is the perfect time for this survey of 39 museums throughout the United States, by more than 50 of the world's greatest architects, from Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Kahn to Santiago Calatrava, Frank Gehry, and Richard Meier.

This landmark publication looks at American art museums designed since the Museum of Modern Art was completed in New York in 1938, including the Getty Center, the Kimbell Art Museum, the High Museum of Art, Houston's Museum of Fine Arts, Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art, the Phoenix Art Museum, and the Milwaukee Art Museum. Each building is described in short texts by the architect and museum director and documented in beautiful photographs by renowned photographer Paul Rocheleau. As this dazzling book shows, the art museum has become one area where architects are allowed, even encouraged, to push the boundaries of design with radical new forms and cutting-edge materials.AUTHOR BIO: Scott Tilden is the editor and conceiver of architecture books, including American Synagogues: A Century of Architecture and Jewish Life and Daniel H. Burnham: Visionary Architect and City Planner. Paul Rocheleau has published many books of photographs, including volumes on Frank Lloyd Wright, H. H. Richardson, and Frederick Law Olmsted. Wim de Wit is special collections director of the Getty Research Institute and the author of numerous books and articles on architecture. ... Read more

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This is a reprint of the catalogue that accompanied a show of Ain's work at UC Santa Barbara in 1980. Ain's oeuvre grew from his early association with Schindler and Neutra before World War Two into one the more interesting bodies of work in the post-war Modernist scene in Southern California. Of special interest are his multi-unit housing schemes, such as Mar Vista Housing for the Advanced Development Company. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

L. Mark Taylor (Kingston, Jamaica)
This is a work of devotion by the late David Gebhard, and others at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB), on an important mid-century California Architect. The research on Gregory Ain's career is solid and the booklet lists all of his known buildings & projects and publications on his architecture. The lists show that Ain was a well published architect during his own lifetime and indeed during his more active professional years from the mid thirties to the mid fifties. Yet this remains the only publication on his career and was produced for an exhibition of his work at the UCSB Art Museum in 1980.
The document includes a short essay on Ain and his work and a 2 page note on the importance of his architectural drawings. The photo essay at the end of the booklet shows very dated, fading, period images of the buildings and drawings.
At 95 pages with no contents or index; no specially commissioned photos or drawings, no essays positioning his work with his contemporaries like Harris, Koenig, Soriano etc. and a total absence of colour the work is overpriced at $24. Simply, the work lacks depth but remains a good start on the life work of an almost forgotten mid century Modern California Architect.
Maybe there is not enough material to force a better book devoted to Gregory Ain but a book including other architects of the region and period who have similar problems of lack of documentation (Davidson, Soriano et al) could result in an interesting and viable contribution to the scholarship. ... Read more

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This fascinating, detailed examination of renownedarchitect I. M. Pei’s spectacular new wing of the German HistoricalMuseum in Berlin is published to coincide with the unveiling of theextension in 2003. The stunning glass building, with its triangularfootprint and seemingly weightless curved staircase, offers a strikingdeparture from the museum’s older structures, and plays an importantrole in Berlin’s current architectural and cultural renaissance. Pei,in effect illuminating history with his design, provides an optimisticfootnote to this important European institution, and a refreshinglysimple and elegant annex to the museum’s more ponderous mainbuildings. Essays from renowned architectural scholars comment onPei’s design, provide a history of the Arsenal building and site, andplace the Show House in context with the architect’s other importantmuseum structures, including those built for the National Art Galleryin Washington, D.C., and the legendary Glass Pyramid in the courtyardof the Louvre. ... Read more