100 of the World's Best Houses Review

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(More customer reviews)Although this book has more than a handful of great contemporary homes, we get only a teasing glimpse of each of them. The author would have been better off reducing the number of houses covered, and doing a more in depth coverage of each of them. The book could have been improved by calling it, 25 or 50 of the worlds best houses, and doing a more comprehesive spread on each house. The few pictures we get of each house are of good photographic quality, but the scene selections and angles the houses are shot at, don't give the best representation of them. I have seen several of these same houses in other publications (books or magazines) and have seen them shot from better angles. Another complaint, but this one is subjective, is that, for me, there were too many "woodsy" houses in the book.
I realize that this is only my opinion and taste, but for me, I like my contemporary homes very minimal and sleek, and with a touch of industial in the mix, with no sign of wood. There are a few like that in the book, but the majority of them are mostly wood based.
I did purchase and keep this book, feeling it had enough fresh ideas to merit keeping it. Again everything is relative, and compared to most other contemporary architecture books, this ones a keeper.

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Features 344 pages of spectacular designs from around the globe, includes breathtaking full-color photography and explanatory drawings and floor plans - all complemented by the book's chic, modern designPrevious edition sold more than 60,000 copies worldwide!An international bestseller featuring superlative contemporary houses redesigned in a chic, compact form, 100 of the World's Best Houses is sure to appeal to the general public and design connoisseurs alike.Created by an impressive selection of architects, there is an incredible variety of architectural styles represented here - from exquisite urban villas and resplendent country homes, to sprawling ranches and breathtaking beach houses. The picturesque surroundings of these homes are often as remarkable as the houses themselves.Featuring exciting contemporary houses from some of the greatest architects, including Hugh Newell Jacobsen (Buckwalter House), Daryl Jackson Architects (Jackson House), Glenn Murcutt (Southern Highlights House), Kisho Kurokawa (Residence), Eric Owen Moss (Lawson-Western House), Ray Kappe (Shapiro Residence), Harry Seidler Hamilton House), Steven Ehrlich (Canyon Residence), Sean Godsell Architects (Carter/Tucker House), Rick Joy (Tyler Residence), and Alberto Campo Baeza (De Blas House). Many of this these inspirational structures are accompanied by detailed plans.

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Landscape Gardening in Japan Review

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(More customer reviews)This is classic book but very instructural. Not much photos but gives you idea and makes your mind do the work. If you are into Japanese Culture then this is highly recommended.

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Landscape Gardening in Japan was first published in 1893 by Josiah Conder, a British architect, urban planner, and teacher, who had come to Japan in 1877 to serve as a professor of architecture at the forerunner of Tokyo University and as a consultant to the Ministry of Engineering. A man of wide interests, Conder was encouraged by the warm reception given his 1891 Flowers of Japan and the Art of Floral Arrangement to undertake a book on gardening. In preparing the present book, he relied not entirely on his own observations but consulted, and "freely borrowed from," some of the most reliable Japanese sources available at the time, the oldest dating to 1633. The resulting book is the product of a Western, Victorian perspective with access to Japanese authoritative texts. Conder's study of the Japanese landscape garden led him to conclude that it represented universal qualities that could be applied to gardening anywhere. In addition to a discussion of these broader truths, the book is so finely detailed and so richly illustrated that it still serves today as a guide to modern garden-lovers, whether of a practical or a theoretical bent. The present volume combines the original study with an additional volume of photographs of famous gardens that was published shortly thereafter and entitled Supplement to Landscape Gardening in Japan. The interior of the book has been redesigned and the text newly set for easier reading and viewing. The book has a new Foreword by Azby Brown and an Afterword by Terunobu Fujimori, providing background information on Conder and putting his accomplishments into perspective. Jacket Illustration: Yokuon-en Zenzu (detail), National Diet Library. The Yokuon-en garden and villa was constructed by Matsudaira Sadanobu around 1794. (See Conder's description in Chapter 1 under Yoku-on-En.) The present illustration is a copy of an original bird's-eye view commemoratively painted in 1842 after the garden's destruction by fire in 1829.

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