Farnsworth House (Architecture in Detail) (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

'The Architecture in Detail series is without question one of the most beautifully illustrated and well-documented collections of monographs on individual buildings produced anywhere in the world.' --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Description

Launched in 1991, award-winning Architecture in Detail books focus on individual seminal buildings, celebrating their exceptional character, innovative design or technical virtuosity. Each volume contains a text by a respected author, a sequence of colour and black-and-white photographs, and a set of technical drawings and working details. The Farnsworth House is a seminal Modernist glass-and-steel house by Mies van der Rohe, one of the greatest twentieth-century architects.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 60 pages
• Publisher: Phaidon Press; Pbk. Ed edition (September 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0714845582
• ISBN-13: 978-0714845586
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 9.8 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #188,965 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Classic Mies, March 5, 2009

By	E. Jarolin (Wyoming, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This neat little book opens with a foreward by Lord Peter Palumbo, the houses second owner, extolling the ability of this seemingly simple box to heighten one's perception of nature. He paints wonderful word pictures of his experiencing the house in various seasons and weather conditions. Further it is his opinion that as a weekend/vacation retreat it succeeds admirably.

The bulk of the book is divided into 3 parts: an essay by Maritz Vandenberg, a section of photographs and a drawing section. The essay gives an overview of Mie's career, the history of this house and provides a detailed assessment of the houses strengths and weaknesses. Also discussed are its restoration and the continuing threat posed by flooding of the adjacent Fox River. Interspersed in this section are photos and line drawings, a very nice touch being the side-by-side presentation of the floor plans of several of Mie's most important residential designs. The photographic section, entirely in color, contains a reasonably generous number of post-restoration photos. These show it outfitted with appropriate Mie's designed furniture, a must in this type of architecture. A concluding drawing section contains plans, elevations, building sections and numerous details.

A word or two on the negatives which prevent me giving a 5 star rating. Vandenberg identifies Farnsworth as Mie's only built house in America, as well as his last built residence. Neither statement is true. This is especially puzzling as an appendix in this very book notes both the McCormick and Greenwald Houses postdate Farnsworth. Granted this house certainly stands at the zenith of Mie's residential efforts, but those that followed should, if only for the sake of historical accuracy, not be cast into the architectural wilderness. Next, while the photos are very well done the presentation sometimes fails us. Too often the 'artistic' composition of the page is given precedence over the information to be conveyed by the photo itself. Simply put, too much white space when the photos could have been printed larger. A couple of more shots of the interior, giving it really total coverage, also would have been nice.

These quibbles aside, this book delivers a lot for a modest price.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best of Mies, January 16, 2006

By	Wilson Diniz (Brazil, Rio) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I bought this book to have an idea of the Farnsworth house, but it is much more detailled that i ever imagined. An essencial Mies.

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent and helpfull for students of architecture, December 13, 2008

By	Kyriacou Andreas (Athens, Greece) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

is an excellent book and so helpfull for the students of architecture and for the people that study the Mies van der Rohe work!!!!