Customer Reviews

Built By Hand

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Without qualification, this is the greatest account of vernacular architecture, indigenous shelter, and traditional folk-built home images ever published. And it won't likely be surpassed, since fanatical photographer Yoshio Komatsu spent 25 years travelling the globe to document the full jaw-dropping variety of shelter on earth. He's been EVERYWHERE. I can't think of a remote region of Asia, Africa, South American and Europe that he missed; most of the styles are new and stimulating to me, and I've been around. While the classic small tome of Architecture Without Architects hints dreamily at this diversity, Built By Hand completes the thought by explicitly celebrating this abundance in vivid in-your-face technicolor. It's in a different league from all previous vernacular architecture books. This one is a stupendous 480-page cornucopic tome overflowing with 700 photographs, and thousands of details, hopes, and design ideas. Totally breathtaking, totally awesome! If this doesn't get you to grab a hammer, nothing will.

There has never been a photographer of buildings like Yoshio Komatsu. He's been shooting photos around the world for 25 years now and this stunning book is the result. It's a spectacular photo journey, like a film, around the planet, giving you rare glimpses of shelter in every corner of the earth. The photos are absolutely wonderful. Text and editing are by straw bale gurus Bill and Athena Steen, and Eiko Komatsu. This is like an updated, expanded, technicolor, improved-upon Architecture Without Architects. Wow!

As books go this one makes it to my top ten. People are always using the word venacular out of context, this book puts it right back. The pictures in this book speak a thousand words. Use whats local, works with materials found around you. I live on an Island on the West coast, lots of rain. There are so many people on this Island building 'green houses' with straw bales. There are so many people who are going to have mouldy homes!!! Venacular learn the word. Live in a home made of the materials around you! Buy this book, and learn.

I perused this book in a bookstore and just purchased my own copy. It is FILLED with gorgeous, detailed photographs that show not only the buildings themselves, but include human life and show how people interact with their architecture. I feel that it is a mind-opening book because it makes one realize how much this vernacular, "primative"-like architecture is still used and useful, around the world. I am an architecture student and hope that other young architects look to books like this for inspiration. I think that this book is the next "Architecture Without Architects" (another thoughtful architect's must-have, by Bernard Rudolfsky), and one of the best to emerge in the last several decades. I congratulate the authors and photographers for their work!

Owning quite a few Vernacular Building type books, I would say that this rates up there with the best of them. I will not say it is the best though, the reason being is that all of these types of books have their own unique photos that you won't find any where else.

This is a very well produced, easy to read book. It is broken up into 18 sections, with lots of full colour photos from around the world. Each photo also comes with a short explanation.

With 469 pages of beautiful photographs not only showing the architecture, but also the people living in these dwellings, this book is a must have for your Vernacular Library.

Hmmm... I'm looking at the book right now and see that the glue has not done it's job and the binding is falling apart!!! Beware!

superlative book; pictures are top; as I've not enough money to travel in so many places and anyway I'dont want anymore take planes and contribute to pollution that will may kill us; I'm happy to travel with this book and the wonderfullest Dwellings from Paul Oivier. together with too HomeWork from Loyd Kahn, You get the best to study dwellings all over the world and maybe going back to more simplicity and built healthy powerful and sacred places as all dwellings should be !

The photos are excellent but if you are looking for written content of international vernacular architecture, "Dwellings" by Paul Oliver is much more thorough and still has great photos and diagrams.

The collaborative effort of Bill Steen, Athena Steen, and Eiko Komatsu, and enhanced with the photography of Yoshio Komatsu, Built By Hand: Vernacular Buildings Around The World is an eye-catching collection of colorful photographs celebrating traditional architecture constructed by ordinary homesteaders. Very little text distracts from the beautiful layouts of dwellings, in this inspirational celebration of human effort and ingenuity. Built By Hand is a unique, impressive, and very highly recommended addition to any personal, professional, academic, or community library Architectural Studies collection.

A photographic anthology of the astounding variety of architecture produced without architects-a colorful successor to Bernard Rudofsky's pioneering study of vernacular building, Architecture Without Architects. (Michael Webb is the book reviewer for LA Architect magazine.)

This book's binding was broken and in general the book was not in good condition. Neither Amazon or the company who sent the book responded to my complaint.

I was also very disappointed with the gift wrapping on the 5 presents from Amazon that were sent to my daughter for Christmas. Three were not wrapped, merely in blue boxes with a small ribbon taped to the box. Two others were actually gift wrapped but using such poor quality paper that they arrived with the wrapping torn open. This was NOT free wrapping, I paid $18.00 for it. NEVER, NEVER PAY AMAZON FOR GIFT WRAPPING. I was terribly disappointed when I arrived on Christmas day and had to re-wrap the five presents. It has certainly tainted my opinion of Amazon.

I run my own business and I can tell you that attention to details, both large and small is a direct reflection on how a company is managed and their corporate ethic.