Le Corbusier, one of the first starchitects.

     H. Ginsberger. Le Corbusier. (1959) Catalogue of an exhibition of Le Corbusier’s work. The show, whose North American tour comprised Winnipeg, Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, and San Francisco,  consisted of photographs, drawings, and models of the buildings, and projects; paintings, tapestries, and sculpture; and quotes by Le Corbusier. The catalogue includes a brief biography and discussion of Le Corbusier’s philosophy of architecture. Well organised and printed, it’s a nice little souvenir and document.
     I bought this booklet many years ago, when I had notions of becoming an architect. I’m still interested in architecture, but think that the emergence of starchitects has been a disaster. Le Corbusier was one of the first. He took it for granted that he could plan cities, living spaces, without consulting the people who would inhabit them. He knew best, but he was I think remarkably obtuse about the psychological and social effects of buildings. It did not, apparently, occur to him to ask whether people would like to live in huge apartment towers surrounded by vast parkland traversed by multi-lane traffic arteries. Where this kind of urban planning has been tried, it has been a dismal failure. Low-rise buildings interspersed with small to medium green spaces, seem to work much better, perhaps because then the parks and gardens feel more closely connected to the buildings that border them.
     Le Corbusier’s signature style of elevating the house on stilts separated the home from the land on which it stood, visually, functionally, and psychologically. His use of unadorned concrete had the same effect. His theories spoke of buildings scaled and proportioned to fit the human body, but his practice was singularly devoid of human content. In this, he prefigured the practices of the starchitects that followed him. For much of the 20th century, buildings were erected not to serve their clients but to display the architect’s style. Le Corbusier has much to answer for.
     As a survey of Le Corbusier's work, well done, hence ***

Richard Stein, architect: Energy Conservation n the Building Trades.

Richard Stein was Ethel Stein husband. His obituary includes some interesting calculations about the efficiency of buildings.

Ron Brown. The Last Stop (2002)

     Ron Brown. The Last Stop (2002) Brown specialises in Ontario historical nostalgia, which makes his books valuable (though often incomplete) resources for information not otherwise easily available. This book lists and comments only on those stations designated “heritage buildings” under Jesse Flis’s 1984 private member’s bill, which mandated the Environment Minister to review any building under federal jurisdiction for possible designation before demolition was permitted. From that point of view, the book is a success, but a list of all stations extant in 2002 would have been a useful supplement. A few more, and better reproduced, photos would also help, but would probably have raised the price beyond that which rail fans (a notoriously cheap bunch) would be willing to pay. As it is, I found the book on Coles’ remainder table, at $3.99, and a bargain at twice or three times the price. **½ (2006)

John Betjeman. Ghastly Good Taste 2nd ed. (1971)

     John Betjeman. Ghastly Good Taste 2nd ed. (1971) Betjeman wrote the first edition when he was very young, and had decided opinions based on little knowledge. It shows. While the book is an entertaining read, as a history of architecture (which it purports to be) it lacks the factual grounding that even tendentious polemic (which this is) needs in order to convince. His few annotations indicate that he did change his mind or taste as the years went by. Its thesis, that architecture languishes because of a general lack of understanding and taste among its consumers, is as valid now as it was when he wrote this rant. Worth reading, and in some schools of architecture good, and perhaps necessary,  for a class discussion, but otherwise already dated and quaint. Not worth keeping, though. * (2004)