Oculus - Fall 2015 - (Page 44)

in print Raves + Reviews Architecture Beyond Criticism: Expert Judgment and Performance Evaluation Ed. by Wolfgang F.E. Preisser, Aaron T. Davis, Asraf M. Salama, and Andrea Hardy The rise of building data and increasing sophistication of commissioning and system performance analysis have become part of the project delivery process. Architectural criticism has not kept pace with these technological improvements, which have been changing the practice of architecture. The book is structured to illuminate the history and evolution of both architectural criticism and building performance evaluation (BPE), and to create a dialogue between the two. It examines potential mechanisms to link criticism to performance evaluation in education, research, and practice across aesthetic, regulatory, sociocultural, contextual, and environmental quality issues. Contributions from 30 experts from multiple disciplines - including architecture, planning, criticism, environmental management and regulation, and the social sciences - make this a rich and insightful discussion. This vital and necessary type of integration is evolving in how we conceptualize, create, and evaluate the built environment. Modern Man: The Life of Le Corbusier, Architect of Tomorrow By Anthony Flint Flint portrays Le Corbusier as the precursor of all that is new and modern, and frequently likens him to Steve Jobs in impact. His analogy is often overstretched, but Corbu, with his oversized talent and overstated rhetoric, did become a model for the 21st-century "starchitect." There is too much incident to cover in this review, but the author raises four critical points about the man and the architect: * As a planner and urban visionary, he was highly influential and widely copied - and generally with disastrous effect. While this was not necessarily his fault, the patterns he promoted for large-scale urban planning became the model that, post-war, was widely adopted and subsequently discredited and abandoned. * As an architect, he made a deep and lasting impression on the architectural community with many of his buildings, but particularly his post-war projects (e.g., Unité d'habitation, Ronchamp). 44 Oculus Fall 2015 REVIEWS BY S TA N LEY S TA RK , FA IA * While he was always an opportunist, his deep involvement with the Vichy government during the wartime occupation of France left a large stain on his career. * He became the model for the form-obsessed, attention-hungry, overcommitted global architect. London: Routledge, 2015. 320 pp. $59.95 Le Corbusier's life and career were complicated and wildly uneven. But his work is part of our professional DNA and serves as both an inspiration and a caution. Noted but Not Reviewed 30 Years of Emerging Voices: Ideas, Form, Resonance Edited by Anne Rieselbach, with essays by Rieselbach, Billie Tsien, Reed Kroloff, Rosalie Genevro, and others Boston: Amazon Publishing/ New Harvest, 2014. 288 pp. $25 There are many familiar names, together with a rich and diverse body of work, in this portfolio of the winners of the Architectural League of New York's Emerging Architect's Award from 1982 to 2013. The Architecture of Use: Aesthetics and Function in Architecture By Stephen Grabow and Kent Spreckelmeyer A case for the centrality of use is made by 10 examples of modern 20th-century buildings where the primary use strongly influenced the spatial organization and architectural design. New York: The Architectural League of New York/ Princeton Architectural Press, 2015. 304 pp. $55 Local Architecture: Building Place, Craft, and Community By Brian MacKay-Lyons, ed. by Robert McCarter An examination of the global shift to the local via an extensive and beautiful collection of regionalist architecture, with essays by Kenneth Frampton, Juhani Pallasmaa, and Glen Murcutt, among others. London: Routledge, 2015. 194 pp. $59.95 Stanley Stark, FAIA, served as chair of the Oculus Committee from 2005 to 2007. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2015. 224 pp. $50 Home Game: Winning with Housing

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Oculus - Fall 2015

First Words Letter From the President
Letter From the Editor
Center for Architecture
One Block Over
Opener: Affordability: Many Paths to a Solution
Housing for the 99%
Tower Power
An Active Market for Passive
Ahead of the Class
It Takes a Village
Support System, Modular Style
From Learning to Living
The DIY Approach to Housing
In Print
118-Year Watch
Last Words
Index to Advertisers

Oculus - Fall 2015