Wiel Arets: Works, Projects, Writings

Rating:
Summary: The first full-length monograph of Arets' work
Review: Aptly edited by Xavier Costa (Curator of Architecture, Mies van der Rohe Foundation), Wiel Arets is an impressive presentation showcasing the creations of architect Wiel Arets. The first full-length monograph of Arets' work, Wiel Arets features a thoughtful text commentary offered by a variety of learned writers concerning Arets' application of leveraging theory "oneirism", uses of grids and rhizomes, and much more. Yet the highlight of this outstanding coffee-table book is undoubtedly Helen Binet's photography - some in color, and some in black-and-white, all combined with an informative text joyously proffering evidence of Wiel Arets' architectural genius. Wiel Arets is a welcome and recommended addition to professional and academic architectural history reference collections.

Rating:
Summary: Great work, Bad presentation
Review: It is a shame that Princeton Architectural Press could not afford to hire a better graphic designer, as well as an editor that would make the work and its presentation shine. Sure, the book is a great collection of most of Arets' work as well as few essays, nevertheless the spirit that one expected from books such as "An Alabaster Skin" among others is completely missing.
All the beautiful drawings that describe Arets' attitude toward space and urban settings are exchanged for fairly ugly computer renderings and the photography of Helen Binet is not as beautiful as some customers noted.
I was looking forward to this book for a long time, nevertheless it became a great disappointment.