Customer Reviews

Jean Nouvel by Jean Nouvel: Complete Works 1970-2008

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When I bought Jean Nouvel volumes, I expected vivid, extraordinary publication, outstanding as all Jean Nouvel's brave and innovative projects.

Instead, I got poor prints, blurred photographs and poor quality paper.

I am not sure if this is recycled paper or recycled paint. May be this is "New Wave" or "New Fashion" of TASCHEN "Newspaper quality" printing style and technology?

Most of photographs are blurred and out of focus. Sometime it is hard to distinguish the buildings, the volumes, the shadows, the colors. Others probably enlarged from the "cell phone camera type" small photographs.

This TASCHEN publication is not compare with vivid publication by the same TASCHEN of Richard Meier's work on high quality heavy paper published last year in the same large format.

Nowadays, when architectural periodic like The Plan from Italy, Japan Architect and Architecture and Urbanism from Japan, Architecture Australia and Houses from Australia, Object from Netherlands, printing extraordinary photographs and taking advantage of contemporary digital photographic technology and printing on super high quality paper, TASCHEN decided otherwise.

Other concern, these books are enormous in size and not fitting any book shelf, also the human eyes can not oversee the gigantic poster size photographs from the reading distance, especially if they are not in focus.

In addition I found that it is extremely uncomfortable to flip pages back and force for project data information on the back side of the book.

It is real waste of money to pay $200 for this edition and $700 for signed.

The only plus is extraordinary projects, informative text and nicely designed book covers.

Two amazing books of architecture that valorize the work of architect making visual reading becomes a unspeakable journey which we have no desire to stop. The printing and finishing are perfect. A real object of desire.

Jean Nouvel has well earned his acclaim as one of France's most talented architects working today. One of his most recent professional honors was achieving the 2008 Pritzker Prize. Now the best of his work is showcased in "Jean Nouvel by Jean Nouvel: Complete Works 1970-2008", an impressive, two volume, 896-page compendium that he designed himself and which is also the truly impressive result of a five year collaborative project with architectural author and editor Philip Jodidio. Here displayed with expert and insightful commentary is a seminal monograph on the man and his work that is as informed and informative as it is thoughtful and thought-provoking. A seminal and comprehensive body of work, "Jean Nouvel by Jean Nouvel: Complete Works 1970-2008" is a very highly recommended core addition to professional and academic Architectural Studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists.