Homes to live in (5/5)

I thought this was an excellent survey of contemporary houses in Britain. The sixty featured, built in the last ten years, including exterior and interior photos and the author has written well-researched essays about each.

There is an interesting range of styles and until I looked through the book I didn't realise just how unique some of these award-winning homes looked. For example, ACME architects based their work on oast houses in Kent, Tonkin Liu used a disused water tower and added a secondary structure to the tower that included living areas. Lisa Shell Architects created the smallest house in the book, located on Essex coastal marshland, it sits on two legs above water with a floor area of just forty-nine square metres, at the other extreme is Hannington Farm in Northamptonshire with a floor area of 1,512 square metres.

RIBA juries considered newbuilds, conversions, extensions to existing structures and sustainability. The first 'Passive House' to be certified in Britain is included and located in the Chiltern Hills with a floor area of 175 square metres. House extensions must be a challenge for any architect, the existing property could well have restrictions on any changes. Alison Brooks Architects won 1921 RIBA awards for an elegant extension to a farmhouse in Gloucestershire.

The six houses included in the London chapter show how architects can be creative in urban areas. Chris Dyson Architects changed a former cooperage into a very spacious family home. Scotland, on its islands, has homes that have won RIBA awards, on the Isle of Tiree Denizon Works designed a unique-looking house that blends into the landscape.

The book's back pages provide a section called 'Working with architects' with some worthwhile material, followed by the contact details of all the architects featured in the book. I thought these last few pages nicely rounded out the book, especially if you aspire to commission and live in a unique home.

The master of mature color (5/5)

I reviewed the first Hatje Cantz book on Herzog published in 2011 and I said it was a shame the book wasn't bigger, this gorgeous, large book of his photos solves that problem. I also said:
It's the color in these photos that fascinated me. Herzog used Kodachrome slide film and the colors have a warmth and maturity that definitely adds to their beauty, especially the incredibly vibrant reds and oranges. The only other photo book I've seen with pictures from the past, that has this richness of color is 'Bound for Glory: America in Color 1939-43' with images from the well-known FSA/OWI photographers.

Herzog was experimenting with color long before it became accepted, in the mid-seventies, as a serious photographic form. The Vancouver color photos are all street scenes showing everyday life with traffic, shoppers, sides of buildings, and lots of signs. He says that the work of Walker Evans influenced him, especially the 'American photographs' book and of course Robert Frank. There are many shots that are saturated with signage typography and Vancouver did a nice line in gigantic upright neon signs spelling out the name of movie houses, a sort of electronic DayGlo.

I believe the 230 photos includes the ninety-two in the 2011 book and there are some black and whites also. David Campany makes an interesting point in his essay: 'With great consistency he averaged two films a week. That amounts to well over 100,000 exposures'. I'm hoping that means more books of Herzog's photos. My only minor criticism is that I would have preferred to have all the Vancouver shots as one chapter and the work from other cities and countries as another.

I think it's worth commenting on how inexpensive this thick book is, printed on a good matt art with a 175 screen, from other art book publishers it would cost a lot more, even at full price, it's a bargain.