Customer Reviews

Pierre Koenig

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Some books are so good you can't put them down. Some, of course, are so bad you can't wait till they end, and the going is slow. The going is slow for James Steele and David Jenkins' book Pierre Koenig... for the opposite reason. After a quick glance at the magnificent pictures and some of the text, I wanted to take my time. I dreaded the moment I'd have to close the back cover and say goodbye to this book. Koenig designed mostly in steel... but throw away your notions of an "industrial" look.. for Koenig, steel was a means of building, and a way to express a contemporary style. As someone who was born and raised in and amongst Eichlers, I was very gratified to discover how wide spread the "California style" was for a period. The style seems to have lasted -and evolved- in public buildings, but residential builders lost their nerve and returned to something more conventional. Since many of my architectural heroes have passed away, or changed styles, it's nice to know Koenig is still around, still designing, and still promoting the use of steel as the palette for expression of this Zen-like style. As for completing the book? Well, I understand now why we have "coffee table" books... so you can re-live the first time you read a book like this, through the eyes of someone else.

This book shares with the reader the highlights of Koenig's career with breathtaking shots of the case study houses, blue prints, and narration accompanying each. Truly, one of the most spectacular collections dedicated to this incredibly gifted, ground breaking architect.

This book presents Pierre Koenigs work very well. James Steele has written many great architecture books and this one is as good as his others. In the book is the most complete and extensive representation of Pierre Koenings work I have ever seen printed. The pictures are large, and very nice. It is a very good book with his work well documented and insightful articles written by James Steele and others.

This book presents a wonderful view of the work of Koenig. Its images are of the quality that they are in use as a series of plates within the Pierre Koenig memorial library at the APX andronicus house at the university of southern california. as a source for understanding of koenig and and the case study movement, this is an invaluable tool.

Excellent book, I wanted to see more.