Lester Walker
Like Lloyd Kahn, architect Lester Walker loves small homes. His book features an array of small homes, ranging from historic like those of Thoreau at Walden Pond and Thomas Jefferson’s “honeymoon cottage” to modernist mock-ups created by his students. There are less pictures of interiors than Kahn’s …
Andrew Moore
I find something incredibly satisfying about Moore’s photos of a decaying post-apocalyptic Detroit. While the building are crumbling to nothing, nature is reasserting herself. Man has not conquered nature, nor ever will. We may be doing our damnedest to overpopulate and pollute the planet, but nature will have …
Christopher Payne
This collection of photos is a true Rorschach test for the reader. The decrepit Victorian-era buildings are both beautiful and sinister. Abandoned rooms show both care and terrifying restriction – gardens, beautify parlors, movie theaters, coffee stands, barred doors and rooms of straightjackets. As one after another of …
Guillame de Laubier
WHOA! It’s library porn! Seriously, there are huge center fold out with *drool* spiral staircases, grilled shelves, tromp l’oil ceilings and (oh baby!) rare manuscripts housed in little nooks and alcoves. I think I need to lie down.…
Paco Underhill
What is wrong with the mall? Well, everything, according to consumer behavior specialist Underhill. And, he adds, the rise and fall of the mall has been almost entirely avoidable. Going through a standard mall visit, Underhill points out the numerous ways malls fail to satisfy the consumer. From …
Bill Steen, Athena Steen, Eiko Komatsu, Photos by Yoshio Komatsu
This book is a massive collection of hand-built homes and buildings from the around the world. Loosely grouped by material and use, the photos and brief text show a world of housing totally unlike anything we see in the US. …
David Hatcher Childress
I first ran about Nan Madol last month in Oliver Sack’s Island of the Colorblind. The city of Nan Madol is located deep in Micronesia. The partially sunken city once covered 11 square miles and was cut through with Venetian style canals and ringed with man-made …
J
ack Larkin
Despite the uninspiring title and cover, Larkin’s book was thoroughly enjoyable. Focusing on homes of the common family from the times of the founding fathers, Larkin uses a wealth of images taken by the HABS (Historic American Buildings Survey), a project created during the Depression for out-of-work …
Diane Bursten
I’m not sure what photos surprised me more in London Then and Now – the photos of landmarks virtually unchanged in over 100 years or those that were completely obliviated with not a hint that they ever existed. In both cases, images of massive stone and brick edifices …
Snowdon
This clever collection of photos showcases strange and outré buildings in London. Originally built as gate houses, gazebos or follies (mock-historical buildings built just for the heck of it) most have now been converted into expensive yuppie dwellings or garden sheds. With everything from mock-churches, tiny Victorian wrought-iron stands, …
Ninjalicious
Ninjalicious, founder of Infiltration.org and master urban explorer, came out with the wicked useful guide to visiting hidden and off-limit places. Sadly, he died weeks after the book was published. However, his immensely useful collection of tips on getting in and out of spaces is available to one and …
Peter Seidel and Manfred Sack
Seidel’s photos are a creepy, otherworldly collection of underground sits in Germany. The most benign include art vaults and wine cellars. More common, however, are shelters, prisons and command centers built to withstand war after war – including Hitler’s own bunker. Fantastically beautiful pictures, regardless …
Chuck Murphy with a forward by Priscilla Presley
OH. DEAR. GOD. I never had any strong desire to see Graceland until I snagged this doozy from the pop-culture shelves. You know those glittery white jumpsuits Levis used to wear? Those look tasteful and subdued compared to Elvis’s dear old home. …
Michael Freeman
With building space at a premium in most large Japanese cities, architects who can fit building into tiny “eel nest ” spaces are always busy. This is a collection of some of the most innovative designs, often working with only 350-500 square feet. In addition, Japanese zoning laws …
Eduardo Rodriguez, Andrew Moore, Andy Grundberg
Once, years ago, our friend Rebecca asked us to come out and look at her recently deceased grandmother’s house. It had been built during the civil war and had received its only wallpapering at that time – which was still hanging in black shreds …
Andrew Ross
We Americans like describing ourselves as pragmatic realists – capitalists who make cold, shrewd decisions based on the market and the value of a dollar stretched as thin as possible. However, conjure up visions of white picket fences, front porches, little Susie on her bike and mom making …
