Visi – July 2019

NO

29

COMPILED BY

KAY-ANN VAN ROOYEN

HOUSE, HOME

AND MORE

We’re fascinated by where and how people live... and by what

inspires architects to design amazing buildings.

HOUSES:
EXTRAORDINARY
LIVING
Phaidon, about R1 040

Featuring 400 architect-
designed houses built in the
past 200 years, this book
celebrates the house in all
its innovative forms, styles
and locations. Each house is
illustrated by one beautiful
photo graph accompanied
by a description, and
they’re organised in curated
pairings. Renowned archi-
tects such as Marcel Breuer,
Mies van der Rohe and Tadao
Ando are represented, as
well as lesser-known and
emerging talents.
The houses range from
the more conventional,
like a majestic Italian villa
by Andrea Palladio, to the
weird and wonderful, like the
Bubble Palace in France by
Antti Lovag, who wanted to
build a home that mimicked
humanity’s earliest dwellings
in caves; Villa Ottolenghi with
its heavy walls and irregular
openings by Carlo Scarpa;
and the earth-house-style
Malator House in Wales by
Future Systems.

CALATRAVA: COMPLETE

WORKS 1979–TODAY

Philip Jodidio and Santiago

Calatrava, Taschen, US$60

Santiago Calatrava is

a Spanish/Swiss architect,

civil engineer and artist with

offices in Zürich, Dubai and

New York. During his 40-year

career, he has designed

structures all over the world

and garnered numerous

awards and honorary

doctorates. The variety of

projects he has tackled is

truly astounding. Taschen

has published a number

of books about this multi-

talented man, and this is an

updated edition of its earlier

Calatrava: Complete Works.

The 620-page book

includes photographs,

renderings, information and

conceptual sketches of his

often-futuristic designs,

including an opera house

in Valencia, a museum in

Rio de Janeiro, an Olympic

sports complex in Athens

and the World Trade Center

Transportation Hub in

New York.

RUIN AND REDEMPTION

IN ARCHITECTURE

by Dan Barasch, Phaidon,

R1 084 (Order Phaidon titles

through jonathanball.co.za)

Since sustainability has

become a leading trend

in archi tecture, more and

more developers are looking

to repurpose neglected

structures instead of building

from scratch. Projects that

come to mind are the Zeitz

MOCAA in Cape Town in

what was once a grain-silo

complex, and the High Line

public park in New York, built

on a disused freight-rail

viaduct. This book brings to

life the stories behind such

renovations with before

and after photos, a look

at the history behind the

abandoned buildings, and

an effort to under stand how

a ruin can be preserved and

trans formed into some thing

new. In the words of the

author, “[These buildings]

are clues to our shared

history, and they fascinate

us today and for generations

to come.”

INTERIORS: THE

GREATEST ROOMS

OF THE CENTURY

Phaidon, R1 5570

For a comprehensive over-

view of the work of the best

decorators of the past

century, it doesn’t get much

better than this. Interiors

in this encyclopaedic book

include those of artists (Yves

Klein, Georgia O’Keeffe),

fashion designers (Coco

Chanel, Pierre Cardin,

Christian Dior), actors

(Jennifer Aniston, Anjelica

Houston) and socialites

(Peggy Guggenheim, Gloria

Vanderbilt). Organised

alphabetically by the

designers’ names, the homes

range from small apartments

to stunning mansions in more

than 25 countries.

The book would make

a great source of inspiration

for anyone interested in

decorating or in the lives

of the rich and famous. It

is sold with four different

velvet cover bindings to suit

various colour schemes, so it

will look great on your coffee

table whatever your own

interior style.

visi.co.za JUNE/JULY 2019 184

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