Category: books

  • Soundtrack for Spaces?

    A brief lull in posting due to a visit from family, and a kick-ass barbecue last weekend – which culminated in the inaugural usage of the new backyard fire pit. As an aside… this past Friday, we took a short half-day trip to a popular hiking spot in the Columbia River Gorge, with the route…

  • Escape to Book Mountain

    As a self-professed bibliophile… I was excited by the recent visuals fo MVRDV‘s Book Mountain – the coolest library I’ve seen since the Seattle Public Library by Koolhaas . Check out more from World Architecture News, with some description of how the project “…will feature the literal translation of ‘a mountain of reading’ by creating…

  • Reading List: CPULs

    This is one of those densely packed and overpriced small volumes that make you think twice a few times in the bookstore – until you get your hands on it and unlock some of the potential of Andre Viljoen‘s thoughts on Continous Productive Urban Landscapes: Designing Urban Agriculture for Sustainable Cities. :: image via Transition…

  • Wilderness, Continued…

    Book Review continued from Part I: Reading List: Wilderness and the American MindAldo Leopold’s ideas of a ‘land ethic’ and ‘ecological conscience’ offered a touchstone for a new movement – giving birth to the idea of instilling Americans with a love and respect for their land. While mostly known for the amazing work ‘A Sand…

  • Reading List: Wilderness & The American Mind

    Taking a break from the computer and the endless array of blog posts gives one an opportunity to reconnect with the written word in a different way. (For full disclosure, I hate reading on the computer – so really have to slog through text heavy posts and articles…) A couple of interesting books that I’ve…

  • Reading List: Green Roof Systems

    My good friends at Wiley sent me a copy of the long-awaited ‘Green Roof Systems: A Guide to the Planning, Design, and Construction of Landscapes over Structure‘ by Susan K Weiler and Katrin Scholz-Barth. At first glance, the book is not remarkably pretty, which is usually a sign of a reference that aims for substance…

  • Back in the Saddle

    Thanks for those whom I had a chance to meet at the recent speaking engagements… I’ve decided to write that book on Veg.itecture I’ve been toying with, so any publishers out there, drop a line. And good news, more posts coming soon… for now, visit the flickr page from the fabulous Friends of the High…

  • Fungi Perfecti

    Greetings… after a short pause from posting due to conference presentations and work (both paid and yard) – a breather to drop a few lines as a retrospective on the Soak it Up conference from last week. More to post in coming days, but a chance to rave about a pioneer and his book related…

  • Malcolm Wells: Infra Structures

    Subtitled “Life support for the nation’s circulatory system”, the 1994 book Infra Structures by Malcolm Wells offers a chance to revisit the integration of our architecture and infrastructural systems – appropriate for our new found interest in the workings of our society and urbanity. The the juxtaposed pipe/greenery on the cover, the thrust of this…

  • Stats, Kind Words + Aggregation

    I’ve been somewhat busy, and haven’t had a chance to see who has actually been reading the blog and commenting on it elsewhere – so a change for some interesting highlights I discovered in a recent search. Our recent review of the fantastic ‘The Infrastructural City’ caught the attention of the folks at Varnelis.net and…