Customer Reviews

Andrea Cochran: Landscapes

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In terms of content, this is what a monograph should be.

The eleven projects are less than ten years old, ranging from 2000 to 2007, and only one project, the Portland Art Museum, is located outside of California. Most of the projects are private residences, but all feature an unmistakable sense of intimacy in scale and composition.

To those familiar with Andrea Cochran's firm, none of this should come as a surprise; this monograph is quite adept at capturing the essence of her practice.

The text is very minimal. Mary Myers' introductory section discusses the main highlights of Cochran's designs; first impressions, craftsmanship, composition, the design process, light, use of materials - both hardscapes and softscapes - color and the deliberate selection of plant materials are all addressed in brief, concise passages. Each project is introduced with a short explanation of important design aspects. Program, composition, design intent, materials and aesthetics are some of what is mentioned.

Photography is excellent, and the book's medium size format complements the layout. This is not a source of construction details, or close-up photography; the images convey more information about landscape composition, design intent and provide an idea as to how the spaces are used. Project credits are well organized and informative, as are the planting index and materials index, which is actually a to-scale materials / planting plan.

Make use of the "Look Inside" feature Amazon provides - the Contents, sample photographs and a large portion of the Mary Myers' text are available for viewing, which should provide more than enough information to those contemplating whether or not to purchase this title.

Purchased this book as a Christmas gift this year for my son who is a landscape architect. He told me it was a "must have" for his library.