Twenty Houses By Twenty Architects

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book on current residential achitecture
Review: If you are a minimalist, if you like modern residential architecture, if you want to know who's who in this area, get this book. Excellent selection of 20 projects around the world.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent book on current residential architecture
Review: If you are a minimalist, if you love modern residential architecture, and if you want to know who's who in this area, get this book. Excellent selection of 20 projects around the world.

Rating:
Summary: Good range of rationalist designers
Review: While I would say that this book focuses on what I call rationalist and in many cases, minimalist designs, it does show a good range of work within that group. It's not all white buildings, nor are they all relentlessly orthogonal, but they all share an interest in strong lighting and material ideas, clear diagrams and site/contextual identity. The drawings are refreshingly large and clear, with plenty of plans plus elevations and the occasional section. The photos are also large, high quality and to the point. There isn't much space wasted on text when the buildings can speak for themselves. The architects they choose to sample from aren't always the big names, but they are accomplished and well-known in certain circles and it's nice to see something other than Richard Meier's latest neo-Corbu fishbowl make the rounds. Their work here is certainly as good as anyone's in the world right now.

Unlike a lot of thematic or survey books, this book strikes a nice balance between capturing a big enough range of work and giving enough depth to each work it presents.

Oh, and I like the bright orange binding under the jacket.