Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2006 - 73

book
reviews
Architectural Surfaces
Details for Artists, Architects, and Designers
by Judy A. Juracek with Peter
Pennoyer, architectural consultant.
New York: W.W. Norton, 2005. 352 pp., 1400
color photos + 1 CD-ROM.
ISBN: 0393730794, cloth, $95.
Reviewed by Sally Friedman
I must admit that I loved the previous books in
this series and agreed to write a review of Architectural Surfaces to receive a free copy. I
work as a scenic artist and these books can be
found in most scene shops, usually dog-eared,
pages coming unbound, and spattered with
paint. They are valuable research tools and invaluable communication tools. In the visual
end of theatre, most people are just that, visual, and a picture is truly worth a thousand
words.
This particular book in the series will be
most helpful to designers, although there is a
wealth of information for scenic artists. The
photographs themselves are beautiful. I don't
know if it's my own perspective or because Ms.
Juracek's background is in theatre, but some
of the pictures start to look like lit stage sets. A
shadow of a palm tree cast on the side of a
house extends the sense of place already implied in the architecture. Shadows of bare
branches against a slate roof deepen the mood
of the gray stone. There's an especially evocative picture of factory windows overgrown with
vines that looks so much like scenery, it's hard
to believe it's real.
Architectural Surfaces is organized into
broad chapters: walls, facades, ornament and
molding, columns, posts and arches, windows,
doorways, ceilings and roofs, and floors and
pavement. Each chapter is divided into more
specific sections by materials or architectural
subsections. Obviously there is a certain
amount of overlap. Walls may have interesting
arches or windows or ornamentation. But the
best examples of each are easiest to find in the
appropriate places. The index helps as well.

THEATRE

DESIGN

In the introduction, Juracek writes about
the design skill needed to work out the details,
to make the corners meet, to fit an arch into a
brick wall, and it is interesting to look at the
pictures with that in mind. I was also very
aware of how materials meet-wood and
stone, brick and granite, concrete and
metal-and how they are embellished or used
as design elements.
Photographs were taken all over the
world and range through time from ancient ruins to skyscrapers. A Japanese building with
timber frame and stucco construction is next
to an English sixteenth- or seventeenth-century
half-timbered house, which is next to a French
home from the same era. They are similar but
immediately recognizable as Japanese or European. There seems to be a universal pride in
craftsmanship. The ornamentation is different
according to cultural tastes and materials at
hand but the skill is obvious and impressive.
The door chapter might be my personal
favorite. The amount of information is wonderful, not just styles but colors, as well as the infinite
variety of doorways, of how a door fits into a facade and makes a statement about the building's
purpose or its inhabitants. There are elaborately
carved doors, ornate hinges and grillwork, rustic
plank doors, beautifully weathered painted doors
and grand arched entryways.
It was interesting to see buildings I recog-

TECHNOLOGY
SPRING

2006

nized from living in New York City or familiar
architectural styles that I know from other
books or my own travels. What I found fascinating though, was seeing building styles I had
never before seen. There is an especially beautiful wall made of blue-green beach pebbles. I
wish I knew where that picture was taken. For
some reason, there are also a lot of examples
of floors and pavements unlike any I have ever
seen. The most interesting of them are striking
because of the juxtaposition of materials and
their unusual designs.
Architectural Surfaces also serves as an
illustrated dictionary of architectural terms.
There is a glossary in the back with pictures of
some of the terms and image numbers for all
of them. It's not difficult to be amused by some
of the words (noggin and jerkinhead, for example). I found it pleasantly challenging to
read the captions and learn the names from
the pictures or to be reminded of long-forgotten terms.
The index is set up to help readers find
specific architectural details. Keywords in the
captions are used in the index so that a specific kind of window can be found even though
it is shown as part of a roof. The index gives
the page number in the book as well as the image number in the book and the CD. The CD itself is updated from the CDs in the previous
books.
The amount of visual information in Architectural Surfaces is truly amazing; there
are more than 1,400 photographs. Not only is
it a fantastic research source, it's a beautiful
photography book and a fascinating travelogue. It's difficult to imagine a more enjoyable
reference book for those of us in the visual
arts.
Sally Friedman is a scenic artist in New
York City and the author of the memoir,
Swimming the Channel.

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