Gunnar Birkerts


Book Description

Gunnar Gunivaldis Birkerts was born in Riga, Latvia on January 17, 1925. At the end of World War II, he fled Latvia ahead of the advancing Soviet Army and made his way to Germany. He received diplomas in engineering and architecture from Stuttgart's technical university. He emigrated to the United States in 1949. He worked for the Chicago firm Perkins & Will for two years before joining Eero Saarinen's firm. In 1956, he joined Yamasaki, Leinweber & Associates. In 1959, he and his colleague Frank Straub formed their own firm, Birkerts & Straub. In 1963, he started his own firm, Gunnar Birkerts & Associates. He designed the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston, the Federal Reserve Bank in Minneapolis, the American embassy in Caracas, and the Latvian National Library in Riga. He taught architecture at the University of Michigan from 1959 to 1990. He wrote several books including Subterranean Urban Systems, Gunnar Birkerts: Buildings, Projects, and Thoughts, 1960-1985, and Process and Expression in Architectural Form. In 1981, he received the Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize in Architecture. He died on August 15, 2017 at the age of 92. (Bowker Author Biography).




The Architecture of Gunnar Birkerts


Book Description

Gunnar Birkerts has designed some of America's most innovative and distinctive architecture. A member of the Modern Movement's postwar generation, he has shown that modernism can accommodate lyrical, emotional, dynamic, and regional influences within its abstract construct. His design concepts, which grow from the individual character of site and client, defy stylistic categorization. Over his career he has won more than fifty major awards. The Architecture of Gunnar Birkerts not only presents the architects work, but also explores the influences of his background, design methodology, and philosophy on his buildings. -- from book flap.




Architectural Drawing


Book Description

An extensively updated new edition of a classic architectural text Today's most comprehensive compendium of architectural drawing types and methods, both hand drawn and computer generated, Architectural Drawing: A Visual Compendium of Types and Methods remains a one-of-a-kind visual reference and an outstanding source of guidance and inspiration for students and professionals at every level. The Third Edition has been thoroughly updated to reflect a wider range of techniques and styles than ever before, including: * 1,100 illustrations by today's most noted architects, including Tadao Ando, Rebecca Binder, Mario Botta, Lord Foster, Massimiliano Fuksas, Frank Gehry, Michael Graves, Zaha Hadid, Steven Holl, Ricardo Legorreta, Richard Meier, I. M. Pei, Cesar Pelli, Renzo Piano, Antoine Predock, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, and Venturi Scott Brown * Over 250 new drawings * 30% new and revised material * A new, more user-friendly structure "This volume reveals how architects approach drawing as a process wherein ideas are given form. As a tool for teaching, these examples become important in students' understanding of the formal and technical aspects of design thought. In an age of digital technologies, this work emphasizes the intimate relationship that exists between the drawing and its maker, the process between paper, hand, and mind." -LaRaine Papa Montgomery, Professor of Architecture/Graphics Coordinator, Savannah College of Art and Design "A wonderful resource on design visualization and graphic communication that covers all aspects of drawing conventions and manual techniques of representation. Richly illustrated and professionally presented in a way that makes it accessible to beginners as well as advanced students, this book stands out as a core reference for courses on design graphics." -Dr. Samer Akkach, Senior Lecturer in Architecture and DesignThe University of Adelaide, South Australia "This book contains an abundance of some of the most inventive graphic presentations by world-class architects. As I browse through this book, the hundreds of pages of thought provoking images both relax and excite me, an experience that only a good read can bring. It illuminates the process of visual thinking behind some of the most creative minds. As the profession is becoming more and more constrained by economics and time, this book reminds us of how ideas in architecture began." -William W. P. Chan, AIA, Assistant Professor of Architecture, Morgan State University, Institute of Architecture and Planning




Below Ground Level


Book Description

Any space that involves descending from our typical aboveground environment is a provocation to our sensory perceptions. Such hidden spaces evoke latent mythical images and confront us with the clash between nature and artifice in our built environment. This book explores the character, use and design of underground space as a space of its own. International examples of commercial premises, restaurants, sports facilities, subway stations, museums, churches, libraries, concert halls, houses and other building types form the core material. Interviews with many renowned designers including Norman Foster, Floris Alkemade (OMA) and Francine Houben (Mecanoo) convey the architects' own views on the subject. Essays reflect on the cultural aspects, planning conditions, design considerations, technical requirements and sustainability aspects of building below ground level. Chapters include: Urban Development, Architecture, Functions, Perception and Cognition, Constructions, Energy and Interior Climate.




Masted Structures in Architecture


Book Description

This is the first fully comprehensive survey and analysis of masted structures and covers examples that have evolved during the past three decades. Masted Structures are one of the most interesting developments in post-war architecture resulting from a combination of technology, structural engineering theory and a collaboration between architects and engineers. This is an essential guide for architects to the structural and constructional implications of masted forms in relation to space enclosure, patterns of loading and use of differing materials and techniques. This useful volume will enable architects and engineers to understand the origins, development and nature of masted structures and will provide a stimulating basis for future design.




Detroit


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Dimension


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Portico


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