1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Spirit, passion and a Trip Through Time, January 11, 2008
This review is from: Urban Loft: How Chicago Redefined the Architecture (Hardcover)
REVIEW: URBAN LOFT: How Chicago Redefined the Architecture
If Chicago is your home town, this book is for you. If you have recently moved there, and wish to know more about the spirit and architecture of your adopted home town, this book is for you. If you love to take magical journeys from the comfort of your living room, this book is especially for you.
Every page of this book serves as a sort of time machine, jauntily drifting back and forth throughout the decades as we learn about the buildings of this fine city. It is the passion of the author that propels us, as the decades of buildings come alive like characters in a book. They speak to us as she tells their story. It is her uncommon vision that is shared, along with interesting facts and answers to questions that we did not even know to ask. An easy read, the book is filled with lush photography and the intimate thoughts of the people that have made a real difference to a great city by salvaging bits and pieces of history that would have fallen under the wrecking ball.
By the time the last page is read, the energy of a city and the excitement of urban living are newly understood. The thousands of people who will live out their lives centered in the bustle of a thriving city will see this book as a friend who understands them. Life within the nerve center of an urbn area no longer means that the human need for space and the elements cannot be satisfied. The loft has given the city dweller the same feeling of wide open space and contact with the primitive elements that cattle ranching affords, just on a smaller scale. The same emotions are tapped into when a loft resident pauses to watch a fleeting sunset from the large glass windows, as are those of folks who stand on a mountain top to watch. It is this surprising and magical result that occurred at the end of the project and it is this spiritual attainment that the author conveys so well.
Most people will never live in a loft in the middle of Chicago, but after reading this book, they will understand well why others might be very happy doing just that.
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