Unseen Midcentury Desert Modern

Unseen Midcentury Desert Modern
Author:
Publisher: Gibbs Smith
Total Pages: 391
Release: 2016-06-21
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1423642066

In 2008, Daniel Chavkin began photographing some of the more discreet and off-the-beaten-path midcentury modern homes and buildings in the Palm Springs area. These included secret gems created by such famous modernist architects as William Cody and John Porter Clark, as well as others by relatively lesser-known designers. The result is this rich photographic collection of largely unseen examples of desert modern architecture. Many of the buildings shown herein are not easily accessible by, or in some cases completely off-limits to, the general public, so the photographs in this book may be the only opportunity for midcentury aficionados to ever see some of these buildings. Daniel Chavkin is a photographer who lives and works in Palm Springs and Los Angeles. He began his career shooting celebrity portraits, but his passion is for midcentury modern architecture—and especially the desert modernism of Palm Springs. His love of modernism was forged while studying at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. He also owns the graphic design business Design Lab 2.

Star Trek: Designing the Final Frontier

Star Trek: Designing the Final Frontier
Author: Dan Chavkin
Publisher: Weldon Owen International
Total Pages: 170
Release: 2021-08-03
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1681888157

Star Trek: The Original Series (1966-1969) was the first installment of one of the most successful and longest-running television franchises of all time. Today, Trek fans champion its writing, progressive social consciousness, and aesthetic. Designing the Final Frontier is a unique, expert look at the mid-century modern design that created and inspired that aesthetic. From Burke chairs to amorphous sculptures, from bright colors to futuristic frames, Star Trek TOS is bursting with mid-century modern furniture, art, and design elements—many of them bought directly from famous design showrooms. Together, midcentury modern design experts Dan Chavkin and Brian McGuire have created an insider’s guide to the interior of original starship Enterprise and beyond, that is sure to attract Star Trek’s thriving global fan base.

Atomic Ranch Midcentury Interiors

Atomic Ranch Midcentury Interiors
Author: Michelle Gringeri-Brown
Publisher: Gibbs Smith
Total Pages: 195
Release: 2012-03-01
Genre: House & Home
ISBN: 1423619323

Atomic Ranch Midcentury Interiors showcases the virtues of the popular and ubiquitous ranch houses that sprang up across the country following World War II. It features the exceptional interiors of eight houses, discusses successes and challenges, and shows how to live stylishly. Tips are shared on color, flooring, window coverings, furniture arrangements, and how off-the-shelf components can be turned into custom features. The homeowners’ stories explain why these rooms work, and provide you with resources and ideas for everything from garage doors to the art on the wall.

Sophie's World

Sophie's World
Author: Jostein Gaarder
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Total Pages: 599
Release: 2007-03-20
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1466804270

A page-turning novel that is also an exploration of the great philosophical concepts of Western thought, Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World has fired the imagination of readers all over the world, with more than twenty million copies in print. One day fourteen-year-old Sophie Amundsen comes home from school to find in her mailbox two notes, with one question on each: "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?" From that irresistible beginning, Sophie becomes obsessed with questions that take her far beyond what she knows of her Norwegian village. Through those letters, she enrolls in a kind of correspondence course, covering Socrates to Sartre, with a mysterious philosopher, while receiving letters addressed to another girl. Who is Hilde? And why does her mail keep turning up? To unravel this riddle, Sophie must use the philosophy she is learning—but the truth turns out to be far more complicated than she could have imagined.

Midnight Modern

Midnight Modern
Author: Tom Blachford
Publisher: powerHouse Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2017-02-14
Genre: Photography
ISBN: 9781576878347

Midnight Modern brings into focus a view of Palm Springs and its internationally renowned modernist houses never before shown, shot entirely by the light of the full moon. Created over the course of three years by Australian photographer Tom Blachford, the surreal images function as portals in time, with the homes, cars, and beautiful scenery appearing almost exactly as it all did 60 years ago. The crisp moonlight adds a new dimension to the famous mecca of desert modernism and shows a contrasting side of a town famous for its sunshine, cocktails, and hedonism. Working closely with the Palm Springs community, Blachford gained remarkable access to some of the most coveted architectural jewels in the area, including the Kaufmann Desert House, Edris House, Frey House II, Frank Sinatra Twin Palms Estate, and dozens of restored Alexander tract homes in the valley. Blachford's work builds on the famous documentary and lifestyle approaches of Julius Shulman and Slim Aarons, but injects a signature mystery. His cinematic aesthetic acts as a stage for an untold narrative, inviting the viewer to script their own drama going on behind the walls of these historic homes. This original, lush work is a rich contribution to the record for those midcentury architecture and design lovers fascinated by Palm Springs.

The Desert Year

The Desert Year
Author: Joseph Wood Krutch
Publisher: University of Iowa Press
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2010-04-15
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 158729947X

Originally published: New York: W. Sloane Associates, c1952.

Installations by Architects

Installations by Architects
Author: Sarah Bonnemaison
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
Total Pages: 194
Release: 2009-08-12
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 9781568988504

Over the last few decades, a rich and increasingly diverse practice has emerged in the art world that invites the public to touch, enter, and experience the work, whether it is in a gallery, on city streets, or in the landscape. Like architecture, many of these temporary artworks aspire to alter viewers' experience of the environment. An installation is usually the end product for an artist, but for architects it can also be a preliminary step in an ongoing design process. Like paper projects designed in the absence of "real" architecture, installations offer architects another way to engage in issues critical to their practice. Direct experimentation with architecture's material and social dimensions engages the public around issues in the built environment that concern them and expands the ways that architecture can participate in and impact people's everyday lives. The first survey of its kind, Installations by Architects features fifty of the most significant projects from the last twenty-five years by today's most exciting architects, including Anderson Anderson, Philip Beesley, Diller + Scofidio, John Hejduk, Dan Hoffman, and Kuth/Ranieri Architects. Projects are grouped in critical areas of discussion under the themes of tectonics, body, nature, memory, and public space. Each project is supplemented by interviews with the project architects and the discussions of critics and theorists situated within a larger intellectual context. There is no doubt that installations will continue to play a critical role in the practice of architecture. Installations by Architects aims to contribute to the role of installations in sharpening our understanding of the built environment.

Day of Reckoning

Day of Reckoning
Author: Patrick J. Buchanan
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2009-01-06
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780312539382

WITH HIS INCISIVE MIND AND RAZOR-SHARP PEN, NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR PAT BUCHANAN TAKES ON THE GREATEST QUESTION FACING THE NATION: WILL THE AMERICA WE KNOW AND LOVE SURVIVE ?

Concrete Concept

Concrete Concept
Author: Christopher Beanland
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Total Pages: 194
Release: 2021-12-07
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1781012032

"A lively journey around the world's brutalist buildings" Frieze.com "A dazzlingly shot whistle-stop of the much-maligned style's greatest hits ... the book showcases confidence, clarity and the historical importance of the movement." Monocle No modern architectural movement has aroused so much awe and so much ire as Brutalism. This is architecture at its most assertive: compelling, distinctive, sometimes terrifying. But, as Concrete Concept shows, Brutalism can be about love as well as hate. This inspiring and informative photographic survey profiles 50 brutalist buildings from around the world. Travelling the globe – from Le Corbusier's Unite d’Habitation (Marseille, France), to the Former Whitney Museum (New York City, USA) to Preston Bus Station (Preston, UK) – this book covers concrete architecture in its most extraordinary forms, demonstrating how Brutalism has changed our landscapes and infected popular culture. Now in a stylish mini format, this is the perfect tour of Brutalism's biggest hits.

Alexander Girard

Alexander Girard
Author: Todd Oldham
Publisher: Ammo Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2011
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781934429846

This massive monograph on seminal designer Alexander Girard covers virtually every aspect of his distinctive career. One of the most prolific mid-20th century designers, Girard's work spanned many disciplines, including textile design, graphic design, typography, illustration, furniture design, interior design, product design, exhibit design, and architecture. Exhaustively researched and lovingly assembled by designer Todd Oldham, this tome is the definitive must-have book on Girard's oeuvre.Many of the designs featured here have never before been published. Oldham carefully went through the entire Girard archive to uncover many treasures as well as all of the most recognizable works by Girard. Girard is well known for his bold, colorful, and iconic textile designs for Herman Miller (1952-1975), which are extensively featured. These were often featured in conjunction with furniture designs by his contemporaries Charles and Ray Eames, and George Nelson. His designs for La Fonda del Sol restaurant (1960) are an experiment with typography as a communication tool and large-scale environmental graphic. Textiles and Objects (1961) was a very influential New York store sponsored by Herman Miller that featured Girard's designs inspired by his travels and folk art collection. The Girard Foundation (1962) houses his own personal and extensive collection of folk art, textiles, toys, and objects from around the world. His complete environmental design for Braniff International Airways (1965) gave him the opportunity to work at all scales with color, graphics, textiles, and furniture design. He designed every aspect of the project himself, from the minute-sized sugar packets and the ticket counters to the graphic colors of the planes themselves. Alexander Girard's playful yet sophisticated designs continue to inspire new generations of artists and designers. The breadth and scope of his work is truly remarkable. This highly anticipated tome is the first major retrospective of this very accomplished and prolific designer, and has been painstakingly edited by renowned New York-based designer Todd Oldham.