#birkhauser

Against the background of his significant contribution to the architectural appearance of Munich the present monograph was long overdue: published by Birkhäuser in 2014 and edited by Cordula Rau & Georg von Werz it collects a large part of the architectural firm’s built work. Organized along typologies the book gathers a total of 25 realized projects, largely presented in historic photos, plans and current photographs by Florian Holzherr. Since almost every project is comprehensively documented the reader is able to discover one of the firm’s primary virtues, namely the attention to detail. The latter also holds true for the book which provides a concise and beautifully illustrated overview of a pivotal Munich firm’s architectural output. Warmly recommended!

Image via @luisugarte

Although he built only three religious buildings Le Corbusier’s impact on postwar religious architecture has undoubtedly been significant and lasting. With the Ronchamp church he not only designed a frequently, and more or less successfully, copied building but also unfettered a new creative potential in church architecture that set an example for a more sculptural, liberated approach to the former. In their book “Sacred Concrete - The Churches of Le Corbusier”, published in its second and expanded edition in 2020 by Birkhäuser, Flora Samuel and Inge Linder-Gaillard exclusively focus on Ronchamp, La Tourette and Firminy, their genesis and the unusual selection of Le Corbusier as church architect (although he had a deep interest in religion and faith). In addition the authors also address Le Corbusier’s project for a grotto church in Sainte Baume, a fascinating design and the architect’s first encounter with the institution Roman Catholic Church. A crucial figure for Corbusier’s involvement with the Church was Marie-Alain Couturier, a progressive Dominican father with whom he got along very well and who more or less directly got him the different religious commissions. An interesting yet speculative aspect of the book is the authors’ conclusion that LC’s religiousness was directed at women, namely his wife and mother, who were central to his spirituality and whom he turned into quasi-religious figures. Whether or not one is interested in the spiritual life of Le Corbusier: the book provides a comprehensive overview of Corbusier’s religious projects and also traces their reception over the decades following their construction, a very interesting aspect that underscores their continuing relevance.

Together with Francis Strauven’s massive biography the present catalogue still is the most relevant publication on Aldo van Eyck and the backbone of any critical evaluation of his oeuvre. 

House for Two Artists, London, 2002-2005 - Tony Fretton Architects; Photograph by @binet.helene . Reference: Buildings and their Territories, Tony Fretton Architects; Birkhäuser, 2013 . #architecture #buildingsandtheirterritories #TonyFretton #tonyfrettonarchitects #birkhauser #catalogue #visualreference #observations_and_reflections https://www.instagram.com/p/CT8qf-GLyRJ/?utm_medium=tumblr

It’s a commonplace that modern architecture and photography are a tandem that is basically inseparable: Richard Neutra and Julius Shulman, the German Braunschweig school and Heinrich Heidersberger or Eero Saarinen and Balthazar Korab are just some examples of the close relationship between architect and photographer. Austrian architect Karl Schwanzer also keenly used the services of photographers to perfectly stage his architecture: Lucca Chmel, Sigrid Neubert, Franz Hubmann or the lesser-known Maria Wölfl all accompanied Schwanzer and his architecture until his death in 1975. With „Karl Schwanzer - Passionately Modern: An Anthology in Photographs 1947-75“, edited by Caroline Schwanzer & Mirko Pogoreutz and published just now by Birkhäuser, this aspect of Schwanzer’s career receives new attention. Against the background of Schwanzer’s deep interest in the „gestalt“ of a building the close collaboration with photographers comes as no surprise and as the anthology reveals was a focal point of the architect right from the start: already his early works, often of temporary character, not only display Schwanzer’s keen sense of presentation but were equally keenly documented photographically as the book shows in extenso. Aside from the focus on the relationship between the architect and photography the anthology also contains a number of interviews with former employees and students that add another layer to the reception of Karl Schwanzer’s legacy: both as principal in the office and as professor at TH Wien Schwanzer was a nonconformist, always thinking out of the box and giving due freedom to students and employees alike. „Karl Schwanzer - Passionately Modern“ is an overabundant and excellently designed source to the work of Karl Schwanzer and once again reinforces the not to be overestimated importance of the architect for postwar Austrian architecture. Warmly recommended!

House for Two Artists, London, 2002-2005 - Tony Fretton Architects; Photographs by @binet.helene . Reference: Buildings and their Territories, Tony Fretton Architects; Birkhäuser, 2013 . #architecture #buildingsandtheirterritories #TonyFretton #tonyfrettonarchitects #birkhauser #catalogue #visualreference #observations_and_reflections https://www.instagram.com/p/CT8qbu5LAuF/?utm_medium=tumblr

House for Two Artists, London, 2002-2005 - Tony Fretton Architects; Photograph by @binet.helene . Reference: Buildings and their Territories, Tony Fretton Architects; Birkhäuser, 2013 . #architecture #buildingsandtheirterritories #TonyFretton #tonyfrettonarchitects #birkhauser #catalogue #visualreference #observations_and_reflections https://www.instagram.com/p/CT8qVqyrMyz/?utm_medium=tumblr