Building in the Garden [Hardcover]

Stephen White (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1993

American architect Joseph Allen Stein was a major figure in the establishment of a regional modern architecture in the San Francisco Bay area in the 1940s and 1950s during the early days of the environmental design movement. Stein's California works were products of the social consciousness of the period, and achieved a modest beauty typical of the Bay Area scene. His work in architecture and environmental conservation has assumed even greater significance in India, where he has been practicing since 1952.

This book is a comprehensive document of Stein's architectural career, covering built as well as unrealized projects. Along with 280 black-and-white photographs, 16 color photographs, and more than 250 sketches and drawings, the book includes interviews with Stein, selections from his writings and lectures, and interviews with architects and landscape architects with whom Stein has worked. The book documents Stein's work and thought, as well as others sharing similar ideals--to portray Stein as but one exemplar of a larger approach toward "building in the garden" that is now emerging as a persistent worldwide concern. The book is geared for practicing architects and students of architecture and environment, demonstrating the viability of such an integrated approach to architecture, society, and environment.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Both timely and inspiring."--Design Book Review

"A book that leads us to reflect on the responsible relationship of identity to place, the "total landscape of our lives": our surroundings, our place in the world, natural and cultural, the legacy of stewardship we pass on to subsequent generations, the fate of the earth."--Joan and Erik Erikson, from the foreword

Product Details

• Hardcover: 343 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 1 edition (April 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195629248
• ISBN-13: 978-0195629248
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,354,544 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stephen White is a clinical psychologist and New York Times bestselling author of suspense novels, including Dead Time and The Siege. He lives in Colorado.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Humanity rediscovered, in India, December 28, 2008

By 

CityLover (Boston USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Building in the Garden (Paperback)

For all the talk of "sustainability" and "green design" for the past few years, there have been unheralded architects and urban designers who have been talking, designing, and building for decades in ways that are extremely sensitive to the environment, responsive to the climate, and keenly aware of the human being in the city. Two such designers have been in India, Laurie Baker and Joseph Allen Stein. I knew Joseph Stein even before I studied architecture, and later worked in his firm, and this book, Building in the Garden, is one of the finest legacies of his work.

The author, Steve White, now a successful Dean of Architecture at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island, shares some of the same values that Stein struggled with and embodied in his work--an extraordinary sensitivity to local context, a joy working tectonically with materials such as brick and tile, an appreciation of the labor-intensive construction methods in many parts of the world, and above all, a rare sense of the moral imperative to try to do the right thing. The book presents the most complete collection of Stein's work, including his writing, sketches, drawings, and photographs of his built work.

Stein's extraordinary life took him from the Midwestern United States, to California, and to India, where he was invited to become the director of a new school of architecture and where he spent the last 30 years of his life. The scope and quality of his work is breathtaking--from low-cost housing in California and rural India to some of the most prestigious buildings around, such as those for the Ford Foundation and India Habitat Centre in New Delhi. The strongest chapter in the book, Chapter 2: The Oasis, documents with great care a body of work in one city, Delhi, that is extraordinary by many measures. The chapter places his many buildings within the history and context of the city and discusses Stein's attention to craft and detail, especially in the complex of buildings he built in the Lodi Estate area.

As architects, urban designers, and planners flit on to the next new thing--sustainability, green design, landscape urbanism, technological salvation--I highly recommend this book as a reflection of deeper thought and practice. Designing our cities through singular lenses and current fashions is a myopic exercise, for cities are wonderfully complex and changing entities with many different challenges that require the integration of several different design strategies. Stein was one of those rare designers who spent his entire life understanding the total environment--buildings, cities, landscape--and designing in a wonderfully and obsessively humane manner. For example, I remember discussions and sketching exericises with Stein about how rain would fall on a building during the monsoon season in India, and how we could channel the water vertically and horizontally across concrete, stone, and tile, to create a natural spectacle of a seasonal occurrence.

I highly recommend this book to students of architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design as they develop their own philosophies and design strategies. I would also recommend the book to those practicing professionals who engage in truly reflective practice (rather than current fashion). The book will also appeal to those who wish to understand how to craft a truly ethical professional practice in a world where temptations of narcissism, prestige, and monetary benefit abound. Stein passed away in 2001 at the age of 89, and his work continues to live on in this fine book.