What should a television look like? How should a dial on a radio feel to the touch? These were questions John Vassos asked when the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) asked him to design the first mass-produced television receiver, the TRK-12, which had its spectacular premier at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Vassos emigrated from Greece and arrived in the United States in 1918. His career spans the evolution of central forms of mass media in the twentieth century and offers a template f...

Fallingwater Rising is a biography not of a person but of the most famous house of the twentieth century. Scholars and the public have long extolled the house that Frank Lloyd Wright perched over a Pennsylvania waterfall in 1937, but the full story has never been told.When he got the commission to design the house, Wright was nearing seventy, his youth and his early fame long gone. It was the Depression, and Wright had no work in sight. Into his orbit stepped Edgar J. Kauf...

**From Pulitzer Prize–winning critic Paul Goldberger, a full-fledged critical biography of Frank Gehry, undoubtedly the most famous architect of our time.“Fascinating. . . . An informative, startling journey into the inner sanctums of modern architecture’s power structure.” —The New York Times Book Review“Riveting. . . . Full of little-known facts about the Pritzker Prize-winner that will surprise the most knowledgable Gehry-philes.” —Architectural Digest*...

The life and architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) have been much-studied, yet there is a consistent division between analyses of his architecture, which exclude any discussion of his daily life, and books that tell the often sensational tale of his life, with barely a passing reference to the buildings themselves. The result is that, despite the large number of volumes on Wright, the most essential part of his life – his life as an architect, working, as he said, ‘in the cause of...

In the first volume of Makers of Modern Architecture (2007), Martin Filler examined the emergence of that revolutionary new form of building and explored its aesthetic, social, and spiritual aspirations through illuminating studies of some of its most important practitioners, from Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright to, in our own time, Renzo Piano and Santiago Calatrava.Now, in Makers of Modern Architecture, Volume II, Filler continues his investigations into t...

Through letters, memoirs, contemporary documents, and a stunning assemblage of photographs - many of which have never before been published - author Ron McCrea tells the fascinating story of the building of Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin, which would be the architect's principal residence for the rest of his life. Photos taken by Wright's associates show rare views of Taliesin under construction and illustrate Wright's own recollections of the first summer there and the craftsmen who worked...

This book focuses on the lives and works of two of the very first women of European American ancestry to practice architecture in North America during the 19th century. Mother Joseph du Sacré-Coeur, a Sister of Providence, born Esther Pariseau, in St. Elzéar, Quebec, is credited with works built in the present states of Washington, Idaho, Montana, northern Oregon, and in the province of British Columbia. For her contributions, Mother Joseph was honored by the State of Washington as one of ...

When Anglo settlers from the United States first arrived in the southern area of what is now Arizona and New Mexico, they faced two situations which differed from those in any other section of the American frontier and which influenced their first shelters: (1) protection from the sun was as necessary as protection from cold, and (2) there were already residents of European origin in the area. In some periods and places, another factor had to be considered, a home had to afford a refuge fr...

She was the American woman who changed Australian history. She broke through barriers for women in architecture and spent 15 years working for Chicago architect Frank Lloyd Wright, in the formative years of the Prairie School of Architecture. Then she teamed up with Walter Burley Griffin working with him in winning the design contest for the new Australian capital city, Canberra. She was an architect, artist, environmentalist, social observer and community builder, yet her work has been co...

Heroines of Space looks at four groundbreaking women architects: Eileen Gray, Lilly Reich, Margarethe Schütte-Lihotzky, and Charlotte Perriand. You'll see the parts they played in the history of modern architecture and get a clearer view of the recent past. The book explains the social and historical setting behind their coming into being and includes research on the factors around their roles as space makers to show you how they practiced architecture despite pressure not to. New in Engli...

The House in Good Taste by Elsie De Wolfe is a timeless masterpiece of interior design and elegant living that redefined the art of creating beautiful, comfortable homes. Written by one of the pioneers of modern interior decoration, this inspiring work blends artistic sophistication with practical wisdom, teaching readers how thoughtful design can transform everyday spaces into expressions of personality, harmony, and refined taste. With charm and creativity, De Wolfe presents the home as ...

Due to its location in the western North Atlantic between the Carolinas, Halifax in Canada and Jamaica in the West Indies, the island of Bermuda was a key naval haven for the Royal Navy over the centuries.It was vital for the Navy first in the development of its American colonies, then during its rivalry with the United States, and finally as allies with the United States. The need to defend its 64 miles of coastline and ports has resulted in the construction of ab...