4.0 out of 5 stars
Aardvark: A Peculiar Name for a Peculiar Book, April 4, 2004
This review is from: Aardvark : A Guide To Contemporary Melbourne Architecture (Paperback)
'Aardvark' is the guide to contemporary Melbourne (Australia) architecture. This is the third edition of 'Aardvark', otherwise known as 'Aardvark 3', and is one of the strangest books that I have ever seen. Melbourne is one of the greatest cities in the world for unusual and beautiful modern architecture, so I leapt at the chance to own my own copy of 'Aardvark 3' without having much information to really base my decision on. The first thing you should know about this book is its unconventional nature: the book itself is about 5 1/2" x 4 3/4" x 1" in size and it is accompanied by a CD-ROM. It is also enclosed in a cardboard slipcase for a nice, if quirky, presentation. My major issue with the format is that because the pages are so tiny the information becomes rather difficult to read, especially close to the binding.
The material is generally excellent. The book is broken down geographically by region, and includes buildings of every description imaginable as well as information on their construction and the designing architectural firm. My personal favorites from an aesthetic standpoint are the eleven story office building at 91-97 William St. by Denton Corker Marshall, the beautiful Choong house (in which the apparent collision and cantilever of disparate elements is balanced perfectly against the undulation of the central spinal wall) by Biltmoderne (it is also featured on the CD-ROM), and the quirky St. Kilda Toilet Block in the St. Kilda Botanical Gardens, an unusual study in organic blending with the surroundings, by the firm of Wood Marsh.
The CD-ROM has unique color illustrations of several structures, including the Choong house, the gorgeous curvilinear Elthan Library, a study in beautiful efficiency in a compact private residence by John Wardle, and possibly my favorite of all, the exquisite Frantzeskos house also by Wood Marsh. Unfortunately, since 'Aardvark 3' was released in 1997, Windows 95 was the operating system of choice at the time, and using the CD-ROM with Windows XP is quite frustrating. The index functions do not work correctly in my personal experience, either with or without an internet connection, and the amount of information that I was able to actually see with Windows XP is a fraction of that actually available, which is a shame.
'Aardvark 3' is a valuable, if costly, little reference book on one of the most vital cities in the world for contemporary architecture. I recommend it to anyone interested in great architecture with the caveat that it is small, and the CD-ROM may prove difficult to use.
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