Words and Pictures

Architects Fumihiko Maki and Shigeru Ban have each recently published books. Maki's Nurturing Dreams is an essay collection by a stellar member of the postwar generation that played a central role not only in rebuilding Japan but also in defining contemporary Japanese architecture. Ban's 1985–2007 is a mid-career monograph by an influential practitioner in the generation that followed. In his review, Boston-based architect Robert Taylor notes that the books represent different traditions of architectural bookmaking, and each, he says, merits our attention.
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FRANK GOHLKE

Grain Elevators

Grain elevators have been one of photographer Frank Gohlke's recurring subjects. For two decades starting in the early 1970s he photographed these distinctive structures throughout the American Midwest and Great Plains, and he wrote about them too, describing his fascination with the "windowless, largely unbroken expanses of concrete or corrugated steel ten or more stores tall and hundreds of feet long." In coordination with Brian Rosa's review of Gohlke's collected writings, we feature selected photographs from the grain elevator series.
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BRIAN ROSA

Frank Gohlke: Thoughts on Landscape

Frank Gohlke has been a leading American photographer ever since his emergence as one of the artists in the path-breaking 1975 exhibition, New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape. Since then he has continued to focus on American landscapes, with photographic series that explore Mount St. Helens after the devastating eruption of 1980; Wichita Falls, Texas, after a catastrophic tornado in 1979; grain elevators in the Midwest and the Great Plains; and, most recently, the neighborhoods of Queens, New York, and the landscapes of New England along a single line of latitude, 42 degrees north. And throughout his career Frank Gohlke has not only photographed landscapes but also written about them. Here Brian Rosa, a photographer and doctoral student in geography, reviews a comprehensive collection, Thoughts on Landscape, which makes it clear that Gohlke is as eloquent with words as with images.
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ALAN THOMAS

Open Secrets: Photographs of Japan

Earlier this week we featured Robert Taylor's review of Fumihiko Maki's Nurturing Dreams and Shigeru Ban's latest monograph. Here we present a portfolio of photographs by Alan Thomas, of images of Japanese cities. These photographs, says Thomas, "take the measure of Japan's spaces where they are most easily overlooked: the vernacular architecture of its backstreets, the layered density of neighborhoods, the ephemeral effects of constant building and rebuilding."
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PLACES ARCHIVE: FALL 2001

Village Vices: The Contradiction of New Urbanism and Sustainability

A critique of New Urbanism focusing not on its traditionalism but on the unsustainability of its planning models.
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PARTNER SCHOOL

Pratt Institute, School of Architecture
The work of the students here at Pratt shows a clear appreciation and understanding of the possibilities of architecture today, as the mission of the school is dedicated to design and a complete understanding of the making of cities and buildings. The spirit of advancing architectural ideas in terms of both form and technique is at the essence of the transformation of contemporary design.

RECENT BOOKS RECEIVED

Open City: Designing Coexistence
Jennifer Sigler & Tim Rieniets

Reading the American Landscape: An Index of Books and Images
Lex ter Braak, David Hamers, Anne Hoogewoning, Erik de Jong, Frank van der Salm, Dirk Sijmons and Hanneke Schreiber

Boomtown 2050: Scenarios for a Rapidly Growing City
Richard Weller


WEEKLY EMAIL: MARCH 24, 2010
FEATURED THIS WEEK : ROBERT TAYLOR Words and Pictures Architects Fumihiko Maki and Shigeru Ban have each recently published books. Maki's Nurturing Dreams is an essay collection by a stellar member of the postwar generation that played a central role not only in rebuilding Japan but also in defining contemporary Japanese architecture. Ban's 1985–2007 is a mid-career monograph by an influential practitioner in the generation that followed. In his review, Boston-based architect Robert Taylor notes that the books represent different traditions of architectural bookmaking, and each, he says, merits our attention. READ MORE
FRANK GOHLKE Grain Elevators Grain elevators have been one of photographer Frank Gohlke's recurring subjects. For two decades starting in the early 1970s he photographed these distinctive structures throughout the American Midwest and Great Plains, and he wrote about them too, describing his fascination with the "windowless, largely unbroken expanses of concrete or corrugated steel ten or more stores tall and hundreds of feet long." In coordination with Brian Rosa's review of Gohlke's collected writings, we feature selected photographs from the grain elevator series. READ MORE BRIAN ROSA Frank Gohlke: Thoughts on Landscape Frank Gohlke has been a leading American photographer ever since his emergence as one of the artists in the path-breaking 1975 exhibition, New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape. Since then he has continued to focus on American landscapes, with photographic series that explore Mount St. Helens after the devastating eruption of 1980; Wichita Falls, Texas, after a catastrophic tornado in 1979; grain elevators in the Midwest and the Great Plains; and, most recently, the neighborhoods of Queens, New York, and the landscapes of New England along a single line of latitude, 42 degrees north. And throughout his career Frank Gohlke has not only photographed landscapes but also written about them. Here Brian Rosa, a photographer and doctoral student in geography, reviews a comprehensive collection, Thoughts on Landscape, which makes it clear that Gohlke is as eloquent with words as with images. READ MORE ALAN THOMAS Open Secrets: Photographs of Japan Earlier this week we featured Robert Taylor's review of Fumihiko Maki's Nurturing Dreams and Shigeru Ban's latest monograph. Here we present a portfolio of photographs by Alan Thomas, of images of Japanese cities. These photographs, says Thomas, "take the measure of Japan's spaces where they are most easily overlooked: the vernacular architecture of its backstreets, the layered density of neighborhoods, the ephemeral effects of constant building and rebuilding." READ MORE		BECOME A FAN ON FACEBOOK \| FOLLOW US ON TWITTER PLACES ARCHIVE: FALL 2001 Village Vices: The Contradiction of New Urbanism and Sustainability A critique of New Urbanism focusing not on its traditionalism but on the unsustainability of its planning models. READ MORE PARTNER SCHOOL Pratt Institute, School of Architecture The work of the students here at Pratt shows a clear appreciation and understanding of the possibilities of architecture today, as the mission of the school is dedicated to design and a complete understanding of the making of cities and buildings. The spirit of advancing architectural ideas in terms of both form and technique is at the essence of the transformation of contemporary design. RECENT BOOKS RECEIVED Open City: Designing Coexistence Jennifer Sigler & Tim Rieniets Reading the American Landscape: An Index of Books and Images Lex ter Braak, David Hamers, Anne Hoogewoning, Erik de Jong, Frank van der Salm, Dirk Sijmons and Hanneke Schreiber Boomtown 2050: Scenarios for a Rapidly Growing City Richard Weller
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