Experimental Houses

Rating:
Summary: Great photos but ponderous writing
Review: Great photos but ponderous writing. Page 83 excerpt, "The architects clearly enjoyed the possibilities of this experimental architectural archeology whereby a fundamentalist concept of authenticity is replaced by an inclusive and imaginative view of historical processes."

Rating:
Summary: More scholarly than most
Review: Here are the most modern and unconventional examples in such categories as prefab, ecologically sustainable (beware, some of the examples are not pretty), or apartment housing, described by a very well-read and articulate author. A few truly are experimental, for example an engineering exercise in solar heating, or the Swedish IKEA houses, but, as is typical of these books, many reflect only the elitist ambitions of their privileged owners. Everyone knows real progress in housing--new materials, construction methods and designs--takes place in the mass markets.