This book examines the relationship between modern sculpture and architecture in the mid-twentieth century, an interplay that has laid the ground for the semi-sculptural or semi-architectural works by architects such as Frank Gehry and artists such as Dan Graham. The first half of the book looks at how the addition of sculpture enhanced several architectural projects, including Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Pavilion (1929) and Eliel Saarinen's Cranbrook Campus (1934). The second half of the book uses several additional case studies, including Philip Johnson's sculpture court for New York's Museum of Modern Art (1953), to explore what architectural spaces can add to the sculpture they are designed to contain. Curtis argues that it was in the middle of the twentieth century, before sculptural and architectural forms began to converge, that the complementary nature of--though essential difference between--the two art forms began to clearly emerge: how figurative sculpture highlighted the modernist architectural experience and how the abstract qualities of that architecture imparted to sculpture a heightened role.

Reyner Banham was a pioneer in arguing that technology, human needs, and environmental concerns must be considered an integral part of architecture. No historian before him had so systematically explored the impact of environmental engineering on the design of buildings and on the minds of architects. In this revision of his classic work, Banham has added considerable new material on the use of energy, particularly solar energy, in human environments. Included in the new material are discussions of Indian pueblos and solar architecture, the Centre Pompidou and other high-tech buildings, and the environmental wisdom of many current architectural vernaculars.

A doctor's memoir in the best tradition of William Carlos Williams, Marc Flitter recreates the life-or-death drama of brain surgery as he has practiced it for more than twenty years, filling an imaginary hospital wing with the true stories of the patients and colleagues whose fates will haunt him forever. "His prose is as elegant and delicate as his surgery, and his characters come to life as those from the best short stories do, and yet their power derives from our realization that these are actual people whose lives have transformed the physician who encountered them" (The New York Times Book Review).

Striving to adapt the progressive ideas of the pre-war modern movement to the specific human needs of post-war reconstruction, Alison and Peter Smithson were among the most influential and controversial architects of the latter half of the twentieth century. As younger members of CIAM (Congrès Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne) and as founding members of Team 10 they were at the heart of the debate on the future course of Modern Architecture. Their polemics and designs - addressing issues such as the rising consumer society and the orientation of urban planning - laid the foundations for New Brutalism and the Pop Art Movement of the 1960s. An important adaptation made by the Smithsons and their generation was the rejection of modernism's machine aesthetics. The new notions of place and territory were juxtaposed to Le Corbusier's machine à habiter. To the Smithsons a house was a particular place, which should be suited to its location and able to meet the ordinary requirements of everyday life and to accommodate its inhabitants' individual patterns of use. This exhibition examines the evolution of the Smithsons' approach to this everyday "art of inhabitation." It does this by extensively documenting most of their designs for individual dwellings, especially their optimistic House of the Future of 1956 and the series of renovations of and additions to the fairy-tale-like Hexenhaus in Germany from the late 1980s onward

Whether you're looking for a pergola, patio cover, pavilion or palapa, you'll find the perfect structure for your outdoor living space in this new offering from garden design master, contractor, and construction defect expert witness, Scott Cohen. No outdoor room is complete without a bit of shelter for shade, privacy, and aesthetic appeal. Scott Cohen's newest book features 150 pages of gorgeous color photography and expert guidance to help you design a beautiful, functional structure for your backyard oasis. With specific tips and instructions, Cohen shows you how to do it right the first time by avoiding pitfalls and adding details to maximize your outdoor living enjoyment. You'll learn to create a patio structure that extends the hours and seasons you can use your backyard while enhancing the beauty and value of your property. Cohen's book features ideas to suit yards of every size and style including rustic, tropical, old world, English garden, mission, and modern. From simple screens and trellises to expansive pavilions complete with chandeliers and sound systems, Cohen shows how to create the right space for the outdoor lifestyle you've been dreaming of. Homeowners, landscape designers and builders will all find inspirational ideas and valuable advice in this must-have volume.

Offers complete plans, materials lists, and instructions for 15 original projects; tips for designing, planning, and budgeting your project; with basic information about tools, materials, and techniques for building.