Stone Work: Designing With Stone

Rating:
Summary: A FINE ADDITION TO THE ANNALS OF DESIGN
Review: Emerson wrote, "He builded better than he knew - The conscious stone to beauty grew." Of course, the poet was referring to the architect of St. Peter's in Rome but the idea of growing beauty out of stone also applies to the awe inspiring work created by American architect Malcolm Holzman. It is this work and his dedication to the use of stone that is the focus of "Stonework," a meritorious addition to the annals of design.

A vocal and convincing proponent of stone as a versatile building material, Mr. Holzman shares his three decades of experience as a practicing architect responsible for such admired structures as the Louis Stokes Wing of the Cleveland Public Library, the West wing of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Highland House in Madison, Wisconsin, and many more.

His Texas credits are numerous, including the Murchison Center for the Performing Arts at the University of North Texas, the San Angelo Museum of Fine Art, and a master plan for the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth. In addition, Mr. Holzman currently has four Texas projects in various stages of completion.

With a storyteller's grace the author relates how stone is as important today as it was in centuries past, a thread if you will, that flows throughout all of civilization.

"Stone work" holds 220 stunning color illustrations that serve to underscore Mr. Holzman's advocacy of the use of stone as both aesthetically pleasing, environmentally appropriate, and economically sound.

- Gail Cooke

Rating:
Summary: Stone Work
Review: No building material is as hallowed as stone and few have been so misused in contemporary architecture-as a paper-thin veneer over a steel or concrete frame. The architecture of Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates demonstrates that stone can be used inventively and convincingly in buildings that address present needs and budgets. Holzman's anthology of his firm's buildings is astonishingly varied and shows how they were inspired by the past and by the material as it is cut from the quarry.