By Frank Ching
59 used and new from $20.23
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Customer tags: architecture(8), reference(7), building construction(3), drawing(3), engineering(3), gothic(2), are exam prep, handy, graduate, design, classics, book
Friday, October 28, 2011
A Visual Dictionary of Architecture (Paperback)
By Frank Ching
59 used and new from $20.23
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Customer tags: architecture(8), reference(7), building construction(3), drawing(3), engineering(3), gothic(2), are exam prep, handy, graduate, design, classics, book
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Work Ac: 49 Cities, 2nd Edition. (Paperback)
By Michael Webb
Review & Description
Sets out to crunch the numbers of several centuries of unrealized urbanism, all the way from the ideal Roman city to the great utopian projects of the 20th century. Through plans, sections, charts and scale drawings, 49 cities are observed statistically and presented in an unprecedented comparative study, the result of a research project conducted over several years. Despite the fact that these cities never actually existed in their intended form, this overview of utopian urbanism provides a remarkable insight into our understanding of the contemporary metropolis. Read more
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
American Art Deco: Modernistic Architecture and Regionalism (Hardcover)
By Carla Breeze
Buy new: $37.80
33 used and new from $32.80
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Customer tags: art deco(8), design(5), architecture(5), united states(5), deco(4), gift idea(3), art deco architecture(2), american
Review & Description
A lavishly illustrated survey of American Art Deco architecture.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
How to Read Buildings: A Crash Course in Architectural Styles (Paperback)
By Carol Davidson Cragoe
Buy new: $12.12
61 used and new from $8.74
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Customer tags: architecture(4), reference(3), terninlogy, history of architecture, carol davidson cragoe, architectural reference manual, glossary, architectural features, buildings, architectural styles
Review & Description
This practical primer is a handbook for decoding a building’s style, history, and evolution. Every building contains clues embedded in its design that identify not only its architectural style but also the story of who designed it, who it was built for, and why. Organized by architectural element (roofs, doors, windows, columns, domes, towers, arches, etc.), the book is roughly chronological within each section, examining the elements across history, through different architectural styles, and by geographical distribution. Additional chapters offer overviews of how architecture has been affected by geography, history, and religion, along with an illustrated timeline of architectural elements. Also included is a chapter on applied ornament and a handy introduction to naming each part of a building. All entries are accompanied by examples in the forms of period engravings, line drawings, and pictures. The extended captions make the book invaluable for anyone who has ever pondered the meaning or importance of a hipped roof, rounded doorway, or classical pediment. Read more
Friday, October 21, 2011
Space Time Play: Computer Games, Architecture and Urbanism: The Next Level (Paperback)
By Friedrich von Borries
Buy new: $28.42
57 used and new from $13.01
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First tagged by "sbamrungpo"
Customer tags: architecture, game design
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Review & Description
Computer and video games are leaving the PC and conquering the arena of everyday life in the form of mobile applications (such as GPS cell phones, etc.) the result is new types of cities and architecture. How do these games alter our perception of real and virtual space? What can the designers of physical and digital worlds learn from one another? Space Time Play presents the following themes: the superimposition of computer games on real spaces and convergences of real and imaginary playspaces; computer and video games as practical planning instruments. With articles by Espen Aarseth, Ernest Adams, Richard A. Bartle, Ian Bogost, Gerhard M. Buurman, Edward Castranova, Kees Christiaanse, Drew Davidson, James Der Derian, Noah Falstein, Stephen Graham, Ludger Hovestadt, Henry Jenkins, Heather Kelley, James Korris, Julian Kücklich, Frank Lantz, Lev Manovich, Jane McGonigal, William J. Mitchell, Kas Oosterhuis, Katie Salen, Mark Wigley, and others.
Read moreIdeas and How-To: Additions (Better Homes & Gardens Decorating) (Paperback)
By Better Homes and Gardens
Buy new: $7.98
12 used and new from $5.24
First tagged by S. P. Hamilton
Customer tags: architecture, contractors, home building, construction, do it yourself, remodeling
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Review & Description
- A wealth of inspiring ideas for adding living space, from a modest bumpout to a new room to a full second story.
- Ideas and before-and-after floor plans for every type of addition, including kitchen and dining areas, family rooms, master suites, sunrooms, and bonus spaces.
- Expanded-view illustrations of popular projects.
- Comprehensive overview of options for materials
- Smart advice on planning, calculating costs, and working with contractors.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Victoria Hagan: Interior Portraits (Hardcover)
By Marianne Hagan
Buy new: $31.50
54 used and new from $28.49
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Customer tags: interior decorating(3), decorating(2), architecture(2), home decorating(2), residential(2), interiors(2), interior design(2), photography, hamptons, home staging, rooms, design
Review & Description
The first book to survey the work of this iconic designer, known for her serene "new American classic" look. One of today’s most influential designers, Victoria Hagan exploded onto the scene in 1988 when New York magazine devoted the cover of its design issue to one of her rooms. Since then she has become renowned for her intelligent integration of architectural and interior design, her refined use of materials, her sophisticated color palette, and her strong silhouettes. Always looking to the view, Hagan effortlessly makes a close connection of interior spaces to the surrounding landscape. The houses profiled—ranging from elegant urban residences to casual weekend retreats—reveal Hagan’s unerring attention to what Proust called "the unexpected detail," which makes her interiors beautiful as well as timeless. Throughout, Hagan discourses on the spirit of cherished objects—a print of birds in flight, a vintage star-shaped mirror, or a chair with an unusual silhouette—that add soul and modernity. With stunning photography and personal insights into Hagan’s design philosophy, Victoria Hagan: Interior Portraits is an artful and inspiring collection of this design superstar’s oeuvre. Read more
Walt and the Promise of Progress City (Paperback)
By Sam Gennawey
Buy new: $19.95
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First tagged by Sam Gennawey
Customer tags: theme park, epcot, disneyland, walt disney, urban planning, disney theme parks, architecture, urban design, florida, disney, new urbanism, mineral king
Review & Description
Walt Disney’s vision for a city of tomorrow, EPCOT, would be a way for American corporations to show how technology, creative thinking, and hard work could change the world. He saw this project as a way to influence the public’s expectations about city life, in the same way his earlier work had redefined what it meant to watch an animated film or visit an amusement park. Walt and the Promise of Progress City is a personal journey that explores the process through which meaningful and functional spaces have been created by Walt Disney and his artists as well as how guests understand and experience those spaces. Read more
Winter Kill: War With China Has Already Begun (Paperback)
By Mr. Gene Skellig
Buy new: $16.95
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First tagged by Geronimo
Customer tags: nuclear war(4), economic collapse(4), gold(4), china(4), war with china(3), war(3), survivalism(3), economics(2), architecture(2), doomsday(2), construction(2), aviation(2)
Review & Description
In Gene Skellig's terrifyingly plausible military techno-thriller, Winter Kill - War With China Has Already Begun, you will be immediately drawn into the strong characters of this richly detailed adventure. As the pace accelerates, you will become wrapped up in the action at the local level. At the same time, your thirst for the economic, geopolitical and military context of the war will be thoroughly satisfied. With unexpected developments and twists, this story will confront you with the daunting challenge of surviving in the Winter Kill world, just as it confronted the people of the Sunshine Coast communities of the Pacific Northwest and numerous strategic locations around the world. When the Nuclear Extinction War (NEW) begins, it comes as a complete surprise to just about everybody. But for retired military planner, Casey Callaghan, it represents the culmination of the worst case scenario which he had feared was inevitable – and one for which he had made extensive preparations. His motivation is the security of his wife and five small children, his extended family and as many of his friends and neighbors as he can save. The world is faced with the unimaginable devastation of a global nuclear winter which kills off 95% of humankind like the winter kill of a crop in nature. Survival has suddenly become very personal. To make matters worse, a rogue police officer is out to get Casey. While Casey and Constable Walker wage war on a very personal scale, the global war grinds towards its inevitable outcome. After reading Winter Kill, you just might look at China differently and see, as Casey Callaghan does, that we are blindly rushing towards catastrophe. All it will take to set off a devastating cascade of events is one repugnant conclusion in the mind of an evil genius. Read more
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Walt and the Promise of Progress City (Kindle Edition)
By Sam Gennawey
Buy new: $9.99
195 used and new from $9.49
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First tagged by Sam Gennawey
Customer tags: history, roy disney, epcot, calarts, walt disney world, disneyland, walt disney, disney theme parks, architecture, urban design, disney
Review & Description
Walt Disney’s vision for a city of tomorrow, EPCOT, would be a way for American corporations to show how technology, creative thinking, and hard work could change the world. He saw this project as a way to influence the public’s expectations about city life, in the same way his earlier work had redefined what it meant to watch an animated film or visit an amusement park.
Walt and the Promise of Progress City is a personal journey that explores the process through which meaningful and functional spaces have been created by Walt Disney and his artists as well as how guests understand and experience those spaces.Walt Disney’s vision for a city of tomorrow, EPCOT, would be a way for American corporations to show how technology, creative thinking, and hard work could change the world. He saw this project as a way to influence the public’s expectations about city life, in the same way his earlier work had redefined what it meant to watch an animated film or visit an amusement park.
Walt and the Promise of Progress City is a personal journey that explores the process through which meaningful and functional spaces have been created by Walt Disney and his artists as well as how guests understand and experience those spaces. Read more
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Creating the Not So Big House: Insights and Ideas for the New American Home (Paperback)
By Sarah Susanka
Buy new: $16.47
131 used and new from $3.77
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Customer tags: architecture(8), big ideas for small spaces(8), design(5), design books(5), house(4), ideas(4), book - building(3), sarah susanka(3), home design(2), susan susanka, houses in small spaces, home building
Review & Description
In this sequel to The Not So Big House, Sarah Susanka shows readers how to create extraordinary "Not So Big" homes. She leads a personal tour through 25 of the most beautiful, well-designed homes in North America. More than 200 color photos, floor plans and design details illustrate this innovative philosophy.Sarah Susanka has a not-so-insignificant idea in Creating the Not So Big House. She contrasts the glamorous, glossy-photo house plans of vaulted ceilings and palatial living rooms with the livable, day-to-day pleasure of cozy window seats and comfortable breakfast nooks, and her conclusion is resonating with families across the country: bigger but shoddier isn't better than smaller and well made. Descriptors like "spacious" and "expansive" fill the real-estate promos, but Susanka seeks the elusive yet affordable qualities that turn a house into a home. And she provides more than mere ideals around which to rally. She selected 25 house designs, from a southwestern adobe to a Minnesota farmhouse to a New York apartment to a Rhode Island summer cottage, and she profiles each home in great and well-illustrated detail.
Her ideas for interior as well as exterior views, airy stairways, diagonal views, and framed openings translate well in an array of different houses appropriate to childless couples and large families, as well as hot climes in Texas and cooler regions in Vermont. There are traditional designs to fit in with Massachusetts styling and contemporary designs to adapt to California cliffs, and they range from country spaces to suburban homes to city apartments.
Susanka selected house plans that are available for sale, because her purpose is to make affordable quality housing accessible to the general public, but they're also presented as catalysts for your own designs, because the house that worked for one person might inspire the plan that would work best for you. Whether you're in the market for a new house, want pragmatic renovation ideas, or are interested in the concept of space-saving abodes from a city-planning, philosophical perspective, Susanka's book is an eye-opener and a mind-expander, providing conceptual and practical tools to assist you in planning your own livable home. --Stephanie Gold Read more
Saving Wright: The Freeman House and the Preservation of Meaning, Materials, and Modernity (Hardcover)
By Jeffrey M. Chusid
Buy new: $34.65
Customer tags: frank lloyd wright(4), architectural history(4), architecture(4), architecture design(4), architects(4), historic preservation(4), wright(4), freeman house(3), american architecture(3), history of architecture(2), textile-block(2), modern architecture(2)
Review & Description
"Dear Mrs. Freeman: I am glad to know that you are still happily 'at home.' Sincerely, Frank Lloyd Wright."
This book is a case study on the preservation of an important work of modern architecture. The story of the Freeman House, and of the attempt to save it, entails almost all of the provocative issues that make historic preservation as a field so fascinating, technologically and theoretically complex, and politically charged.Saving Wright chronicles the ongoing struggle to save Wright’s Freeman House in the Hollywood Hills, the setting for fascinating people and events but deeply flawed from the time it was built ninety-five years ago. The Freeman House was an experiment born out of Frank Lloyd Wright’s polemical vision of a new kind of architecture for the middle class, for modern America, and, in particular, for the Los Angeles foothills. Its design and construction were difficult, thus, along with many poor decisions, planting within a beautiful work of architecture the seeds of its own destruction.
Jeffrey M. Chusid, who lived in the house and studied it while Harriet Freeman was still alive and residing there and, later, after she gave it to the School of Architecture at the University of Southern California, examines the experimental “textile-block” construction system, the power of Wright’s architecture, the interaction of people and place, and the concepts and challenges of historic preservation—why and how we do it. The Freeman House is a valuable case study because it serves as a test of established preservation procedures and protocols, of building forensics and conservation techniques, and of the meaning of a historic site to overlapping and not necessarily compatible communities. 200 photographs and drawings Read more
Sunday, October 16, 2011
The American House (Hardcover)
By Mary Mix Foley
Review & Description
Most architectural field guides describe a specific style and then show a number of ordinary buildings that illustrate the details that make up the style. By the sheer volume, authors try to make their points. This field guide is different in that Mary Mix Foley spends a lot more time describing the architectural style and picks notable houses to illustrate the points she is making. Foley is a strong writer and she takes the time to tell her story. She is aided in this endeavor by very good line drawings of significant American houses. There are more comprehensive field guides but there are no field guides that are better written. Read more
Le Corbusier (Da Capo Paperback) (Paperback)
By Stephen Gardiner
Buy new: $18.00
30 used and new from $1.57
First tagged by Karen Pike Davis "Bumbling Bunny Books"
Customer tags: architecture, urban planning
Review & Description
From Wikipedia: Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier (French pronunciation: [l? k??byzje]; October 6, 1887 - August 27, 1965), was a Swiss-born French architect, designer, urbanist, writer and painter, famous for being one of the pioneers of what now is called modern architecture. He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930. His career spanned five decades, with his buildings constructed throughout central Europe, India, Russia, one in North and several in South America. He was a pioneer in studies of modern high design and was dedicated to providing better living conditions for the residents of crowded cities Read more
Friday, October 14, 2011
Winter Kill - War With China Has Already Begun (Kindle Edition)
By Gene Skellig
Buy new: $3.99
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Customer tags: nuclear war(5), economic collapse(5), survivalism(5), gold(5), china(5), economics(4), future(4), war with china(3), architecture(3), doomsday(3), off grid(3), construction(2)
Review & Description
In Gene Skellig's terrifyingly plausible military techno-thriller, Winter Kill - War With China Has Already Begun, you will be immediately drawn into the strong characters of this richly detailed adventure. As the pace accelerates, you will become wrapped up in the action at the local level. At the same time, your thirst for the economic, geopolitical and military context of the war will be thoroughly satisfied. With unexpected developments and twists, this story will confront you with the daunting challenge of surviving in the Winter Kill world, just as it confronted the people of the Sunshine Coast communities of the Pacific Northwest and numerous strategic locations around the world.
When the Nuclear Extinction War (NEW) begins, it comes as a complete surprise to just about everybody. But for retired military planner, Casey Callaghan, it represents the culmination of the worst case scenario which he had feared was inevitable – and one for which he had made extensive preparations. His motivation is the security of his wife and five small children, his extended family and as many of his friends and neighbors as he can save. The world is faced with the unimaginable devastation of a global nuclear winter which kills off 95% of humankind like the winter kill of a crop in nature.
Survival has suddenly become very personal.
To make matters worse, a rogue police officer is out to get Casey. While Casey and Constable Walker wage war on a very personal scale, the global war grinds towards its inevitable outcome.
After reading Winter Kill, when you consider our relationship with China you might see, as Casey Callaghan does, that we are blindly rushing towards catastrophe. All it will take to set off a devastating cascade of events is one repugnant conclusion in the mind of an evil genius.
In Gene Skellig's terrifyingly plausible military techno-thriller, Winter Kill - War With China Has Already Begun, you will be immediately drawn into the strong characters of this richly detailed adventure. As the pace accelerates, you will become wrapped up in the action at the local level. At the same time, your thirst for the economic, geopolitical and military context of the war will be thoroughly satisfied. With unexpected developments and twists, this story will confront you with the daunting challenge of surviving in the Winter Kill world, just as it confronted the people of the Sunshine Coast communities of the Pacific Northwest and numerous strategic locations around the world.
When the Nuclear Extinction War (NEW) begins, it comes as a complete surprise to just about everybody. But for retired military planner, Casey Callaghan, it represents the culmination of the worst case scenario which he had feared was inevitable – and one for which he had made extensive preparations. His motivation is the security of his wife and five small children, his extended family and as many of his friends and neighbors as he can save. The world is faced with the unimaginable devastation of a global nuclear winter which kills off 95% of humankind like the winter kill of a crop in nature.
Survival has suddenly become very personal.
To make matters worse, a rogue police officer is out to get Casey. While Casey and Constable Walker wage war on a very personal scale, the global war grinds towards its inevitable outcome.
After reading Winter Kill, when you consider our relationship with China you might see, as Casey Callaghan does, that we are blindly rushing towards catastrophe. All it will take to set off a devastating cascade of events is one repugnant conclusion in the mind of an evil genius.
Read more
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Walt and the Promise of Progress City (Volume 1) (Paperback)
By Sam Gennawey
Buy new: $19.95
4 used and new from $18.85
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First tagged by Sam Gennawey
Customer tags: epcot, walt disney world, disneyland, walt disney, urban planning, disney theme parks, architecture, urban design, florida, disney, new urbanism, mineral king
Review & Description
Walt Disney’s vision for a city of tomorrow, EPCOT, would be a way for American corporations to show how technology, creative thinking, and hard work could change the world. He saw this project as a way to influence the public’s expectations about city life, in the same way his earlier work had redefined what it meant to watch an animated film or visit an amusement park. Walt and the Promise of Progress City is a personal journey that explores the process through which meaningful and functional spaces have been created by Walt Disney and his artists as well as how guests understand and experience those spaces. Read more
Builder's Guide to Room Additions (Paperback)
By Jack Payne Jones
Buy new: $26.40
31 used and new from $11.99
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Customer tags: architecture(2), home building
Review & Description
Tackle items unique to room additions: reinforcing ceiling joists for 2nd-story conversions; bathroom additions; attic conversions. Learn: what’s required for footings, foundations and slabs; how to plan floor, wall and ceiling framing; how to design the best bathrooms for the allotted space; how to install sheathing and roofing, and more. Read more
A Manual of Construction Documentation (Paperback)
By Glenn E. Wiggins
Saturday, October 8, 2011
The Pillars of the Earth (Hardcover)
By Ken Follett
Buy new: $18.95
273 used and new from $0.75
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Customer tags: historical fiction(16), medieval(10), ken follett(8), book recommendations(4), cathedral(4), architecture(4), 12th century(4), fiction(3), historical(2), carinci, drama, culture
Review & Description
Ken Follett is known worldwide as the master of split-second suspense, but his most beloved and bestselling book tells the magnificent tale of a twelfth-century monk driven to do the seemingly impossible: build the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has ever known.
Everything readers expect from Follett is here: intrigue, fast-paced action, and passionate romance. But what makes The Pillars of the Earth extraordinary is the time—the twelfth century; the place—feudal England; and the subject—the building of a glorious cathedral. Follett has re-created the crude, flamboyant England of the Middle Ages in every detail. The vast forests, the walled towns, the castles, and the monasteries become a familiar landscape. Against this richly imagined and intricately interwoven backdrop, filled with the ravages of war and the rhythms of daily life, the master storyteller draws the reader irresistibly into the intertwined lives of his characters—into their dreams, their labors, and their loves: Tom, the master builder; Aliena, the ravishingly beautiful noblewoman; Philip, the prior of Kingsbridge; Jack, the artist in stone; and Ellen, the woman of the forest who casts a terrifying curse. From humble stonemason to imperious monarch, each character is brought vividly to life.
The building of the cathedral, with the almost eerie artistry of the unschooled stonemasons, is the center of the drama. Around the site of the construction, Follett weaves a story of betrayal, revenge, and love, which begins with the public hanging of an innocent man and ends with the humiliation of a king.
At once a sensuous and endearing love story and an epic that shines with the fierce spirit of a passionate age, The Pillars of the Earth is without a doubt Ken Follett's masterpiece.
Read moreFriday, October 7, 2011
Anaximander and the Architects: The Contributions of Egyptian and Greek Architectural Technologies to the Origins of Greek Philosoph (SUNY Series in Ancient Greek Philosophy) (Paperback)
By Robert Hahn
Buy new: $31.95
27 used and new from $6.64
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First tagged by Theodore Dillingham
Customer tags: architecture, robert hahn, greek
Review & Description
Uses textual and archaeological evidence to argue that emerging Egyptian and Greek architectural technologies were crucial to the origins and development of Greek philosophy. Read more
Frank Lloyd Wright (Paperback)
By Meryle Secrest
9 used and new from $1.75
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First tagged by Books of Worth
Customer tags: architecture
The Glass Room (Paperback)
By Simon Mawer
Buy new: $10.17
123 used and new from $2.20
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Customer tags: booker prize(22), world war ii(16), historical fiction(15), 1940s(12), holocaust(11), czechoslovakia(11), germany(10), iron curtain(6), novel(5), literary fiction(2), architecture(2), literary(2)
Review & Description
A New York Times Best-Seller
Honeymooners Viktor and Liesel Landauer are filled with the optimism and cultural vibrancy of central Europe of the 1920s when they meet modernist architect Rainer von Abt. He builds for them a home to embody their exuberant faith in the future, and the Landauer House becomes an instant masterpiece. Viktor and Liesel, a rich Jewish mogul married to a thoughtful, modern gentile, pour all of their hopes for their marriage and budding family into their stunning new home, filling it with children, friends, and a generation of artists and thinkers eager to abandon old-world European style in favor of the new and the avant-garde. But as life intervenes, their new home also brings out their most passionate desires and darkest secrets. As Viktor searches for a warmer, less challenging comfort in the arms of another woman, and Liesel turns to her wild, mischievous friend Hana for excitement, the marriage begins to show signs of strain. The radiant honesty and idealism of 1930 quickly evaporate beneath the storm clouds of World War II. As Nazi troops enter the country, the family must leave their old life behind and attempt to escape to America before Viktor's Jewish roots draw Nazi attention, and before the family itself dissolves.
As the Landauers struggle for survival abroad, their home slips from hand to hand, from Czech to Nazi to Soviet possession and finally back to the Czechoslovak state, with new inhabitants always falling under the fervent and unrelenting influence of the Glass Room. Its crystalline perfection exerts a gravitational pull on those who know it, inspiring them, freeing them, calling them back, until the Landauers themselves are finally drawn home to where their story began.
Brimming with barely contained passion and cruelty, the precision of science, the wild variance of lust, the catharsis of confession, and the fear of failure - the Glass Room contains it all. Read more
Thursday, October 6, 2011
The Houses of William Wurster: Frames for Living (Hardcover)
By Caitlin Lempres Brostrom
Buy new: $31.18
28 used and new from $31.17
First tagged by Bernard Bersky "Bernie"
Customer tags: california, princeton architectural press, washington, monograph, architecture, design, residential, sustainability, materials, seattle, green homes
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Review & Description
The Houses of William W. Wurster: A Frame for Living by Caitlin Lempres Brostrom and Richard C. Peters is the first comprehensive presentation of Wurster s life (1895-1973) and influence and is, as well, a detailed analysis of a collection of his houses spanning the extent of his career (1922 to 1967). The majority of the images, photographs, and drawings presented in the book will have never been seen by the public before and are composed of newly digitized archival material in addition to new photography. The vast majority of the historical images were taken by renowned photographers Ezra Stoller, Roger Sturtevant, and Morley Baer. Additionally there are unpublished images by photographer Richard Barnes. This book demonstrates the influence of Wurster s work on the practice of architecture today, and documents how his designs and educational philosophy continue to inspire architects and those who occupy his buildings. The intent behind this book is to share the genius of his work in order to inspire architects, architectural enthusiasts, and potential architectural clientele, as well as those with a personal association with the influence of Wurster on their own lives through their academic training, personal history with a specific project, or from direct influence of Wurster on their own practice. Wurster s steady insistence on making places that enfold the life of the place rather than impose an alien order was central to the development of the Bay Region variant of modern architecture in the United States. He pointed to a way of building that would be modest, fitted to the site and surroundings, and engaged with the landscape and regional ways of building. The relevance of this message is even clearer now. Wurster s status as an American 'hidden treasure' is primarily because of his designs simplicity, so subtle that their discernible influence on architecture has been muted. Wurster took a tradition begun by visionary Bay Area predecessors (Bernard Maybeck, most obviously) and adapted it to his time, making it aesthetically modern. He approached the design and building of a structure in a holistic way, melding together a consideration for landscaping, surrounding buildings, environment, and site with the innovative use of natural materials and local building techniques to achieve his main goal: enhancing contemporary lifestyles. Read more
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