Return to Design 95 top pagePerhaps the dates reflect moments of change or wealth or a wellspring of ideas. Whatever the case, there seemed a need or climate for wonderful publications.
During the 1980s, Rizzoli International, a subsidiary of the Italian publisher, set the standard in this country for architecture books. From their tiny offices on Fifth Avenue and 54th Street in New York City, they produced an epic range of titles, translating the best in European books and catalogs, as well as keeping up with events in this country. They perfected the monograph format, whereby an architect's work in a specific period was completely documented, in plan, sketch, photo and drawing.
As with many things in the 80s, the wheels began to come off by the decade's end. Trouble in Italy became trouble in New York. Other publishers, noting the success of the so-called expensive books, made their own forays into architectural publishing. Some, particularly those from Princeton Architectural Press and the university presses like MIT, Yale, U of W, and Chicago, were outstanding but many more, especially from the mainstream publishers were poorly prepared, edited and printed.
It is a daunting endeavor, producing books for the design audience. They want the color, paper, layout and details to be right and for the most part, they know the difference. They are like the wine snob, at best and worst.
The 90s, for publishers, have been more about business than book production. Rizzoli went to St. Martins Press; Artemis went with them, only to leave for Baensch in Vermont, then be sold to Ellipsis London then return to Sunbelt Press in Arizona, an odd place indeed for the Swiss company that first published Aalto and Corbu. The Rizzoli director was fired and replaced by an outstanding editor of cookbooks. The center was loosed.
And the slump had begun fewer great and inspired books, yet more title than ever before. The perfect climate for a renaissance, aided by the further doldrums traditional to every fin de siecle, end of the century, period.
One of the first clear signs of optimism is the arrival this season of three fine books detailing residential design. For 10 years there has not been a single overview of modern houses from American publishers.
They have surveyed shingle styles, Nantucket styles, park pole building, Robert Stern's particular Ralph Lauren style, the recollections of the past to calm the modern soul. They have sought the newest computers and nestled them in the couch of the oldest houses.
But modern house design is not all recollection and may even be quiet foundry of truly inspired design work. Consider first The New American House, a wonderful, oversized paperback from Watson Guptill that surveys 35 case study houses completed in the last five years.
This book is the first product of the company's plans to become a premier architecture publisher. It highlights some usual suspects like Gwathmey, Pelli and Moore but gives equal time to the new world and work of Steven Holl, Franklin Israel and Ted Flato and others. The color photos are wonderful but, more importantly, there are plans, elevations and detail drawings.
From Rizzoli, there is The House of the Architect, a brave book indeed for here the architect is his own client the public can only be an audience. Good clients may made good buildings but they can also make the design process an almost surreal, and overlong, march. Thirty houses are presented, from all over the world, from Graves and Gehry to Mayne, Ito and Legorretta, and all in multiple color photos. It is a very European production, co-published with Gili in Barcelona, and handsomely designed.
The third outstanding design title this Fall, Modern House, comes from Phaidon Press, London, via Chronicle Books, San Francisco. Phaidon has a long and deserved reputation for fine quality publishing paying remarkable attention to book design, paper quality and research and that has helped them to produce some spectacular books, particularly in the fine art and decorative art fields. In the last few years they have turned these considerable talents to publishing modern architecture. Modern House shows how well they can do it, how well it can be done.
What a handsome confident book this is, touring modern houses from the US, Japan and Europe. Included are homes by Snozzi, Miralles, Murcutt, also some plans and axonometrics. The 30 residences are subdivided as Model Villa, Structural Solution, Organic, and Urban Compromise; once the order is set, the book unfolds like a formal, and fascinating dinner party.
It is possible these three fine books are a signal of the publishing industry regaining its confidence and focus. It is also possible, of course, that they are simply a coincidence of marketing, a shorter term philosophy. That answer will be in the quality of books that follow.
Peter Miller is the book buyer for Peter Miller Architectural and Design Books in Seattle.