Book Reviews

Book Review: Long Now, Works in Progress

Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 Posted in Book Reviews | No Comments »

This small book is about a big subject: the history of a 10,000 Year clock–its concept, its sponsors, its makers, and the evolution of its design.

Book Review: The Designer’s Atlas by Ann Thorpe

Thursday, July 24th, 2008 Posted in Book Reviews, Designer Activism | 1 Comment »

The Designer’s Atlas of Sustainability is about how design in all fields can move toward the goals of sustainability; the integration of information about design and sustainability rewards users with a rich range of ideas, concepts, and facts presented in a sophisticated format that is itself thought-provoking. As with other kinds of atlases, the varied text does not converge on one conclusion. Rather, readers take what they need to make their own.

UC Berkeley’s new East Asian Library

Tuesday, July 15th, 2008 Posted in Architecture, Book Reviews | No Comments »

The C. V. Starr East Asian Library on the University of California’s Berkeley campus opened in March 2008. Designed by Billie Tsien and Tod Williams, the building occupies a site on the north edge of the Memorial Glade that is part of the campus’s landmarked Classical Core. Yet, while honoring its context, the architects have created a building that has more in common with the tenets of Modernism than those of Classicism.

Book Review: Design for Ecological Democracy

Sunday, July 6th, 2008 Posted in Book Reviews, Designer Activism | No Comments »

This densely written and wonderfully illustrated book seeks answers to questions such as: what is wrong with the cities we have created and what can be done to correct our mistakes?