Customer Reviews

Architectural Journeys

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This book, from the outset looked like a scrap book. In fact, it contained drawings (sketches, probably a better word), clay models made by Antoine Predock during his many trips overseas over the years. It also contained sketches of architectural buildings designed by him. FYI, the sketches were more like outlines composed by a confident individual rather than technical drawings. Artists would relate more to those. Antoine wrote a brief introductory essay mentioning that it was essential to get both the feel of a place & what he had read about it before undergoing with the design. The end result, ie. the building would remain pertinent to its environment. Antoine is well known for his sensitivity & his inclination towards the spiritual aspect of the place & it showed tremendously in this scrap book. Antoine also stated that he had to sample collages of the place so that his colleagues would utilise them onwards for the design. I can't say I learn a lot about this great architect from this book but I suppose readers who are fond of him would find this book complementary to other architecture books about him.

I love this book. I stumbled across it today at a book sale and I am just taken with it. I've visited the majority of places detailed in the book and as I turn each page, I feel as if I've been transported, once again. There is a brief narrative at the beginning, but the majority of the book is consumed with sketches, cited only with a precise local and a date, affording the observer the ability to write their own personal history.