Book Description
Natural swimming pools rely on the correct balance of plants and microorganisms to clean and purify the water. They are a safe place for children to play and birds to drink, and are a dramatic example of ecological design, combining the natural and man-made worlds while creating beauty. These pools offer enjoyment not only in the warm months, but during winter, too, when they can be used for ice skating and other activities. Often the focal point of a garden, natural swimming pools blend into their environments, flowing into the surroundings with plants and rocks.They reflect the changing seasons and they enhance the environment naturally. They are easy and less costly to maintain than chemical pools, providing significant savings in water. Chlorine and other common pool chemicals are hazardous to human health and are not used. This book is a necessary resource for anyone interested in having a natural swimming pool and shows how a natural swimming pool system works, as well as the environmental, health, and safety benefits it offers. Drawings, diagrams, and charts cover planning, design, biology, materials, construction, planting, and maintenance. Over 300 beautiful color pictures feature projects that will inspire you to have your own natural water garden where you can swim in harmony with nature at any time.
Customer Reviews:
Perfect book.......2007-09-04
Great book for all aspects of creating a variety of green/natural pools. Beautiful pictures and good illustrations and copy to help in decision making.
YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK .......2007-08-22
Simply put this book is a MUST READ for anyone intersted in any aspect of Sustainable and Ecological Design. It should be read right along with Permaculture by Mollison, the Passive Solar Handbook by Mazria, Rainwater Harvesting by Lancaster, and ecocities to Living Machines by Todd. Even if you aren't specifically interested in making a swimming pool (which you will be after reading it) the insights into the workings of hydro-ecologies and how to design natural systems are invaluable!
If you aren't interested in the whole range of sustainability but just this particular topic of pool design then this book is STILL A MUST READ. If you're an ecologist who wants to make a pool, or a pool designer who wants to do something ecological this book provides an excellent layman's understanding of ecological design, with good technical and artistic advice for how to do it, and good technical and artistic advice for swimming pool construction.
I would still advise you to also purchase the book Poolscaping as a companion to this one.
This is an all around excellent book buy it now.
Beautiful photos; strange text.......2007-08-01
Thumbing through the book will make you want to move to Austria or Germany where beautiful "natural" pools are somehat established. Why is the U. S. so environmentally backward? Unfortunately, the text is awkwardly translated at times such that one has to struggle to figure out what is meant with limited success.The assumption is that one is swimming only in the summer, but in California we may want to swim year round. Useful especially since so little information is available. Can't understand why the publisher didn't insist on professional proofreading.Buy it for inspiration, or wait for the next edition, or wait for one more applicable to your area. It does provide info in the back about two U.S resources, one in CA.
Very complete book .......2007-02-24
Is the book i need for learning on natural swimming pool. Now i can make my own pool
Surprisingly COMPREHENSIVE!.......2007-02-09
This large sized book covered the subject exceedingly well in lots of color photos with explanations and, more importantly, in lots of diagrams and nuts and bolts descriptions. I only read sections here and there but what I did read clearly indicated to me that you could actually use this book to build a natural swimming pool. At the least, you could definitely make a solid decision whether or not you could build or would want to build such a pool on your property. These pools are basically like salt water aquariums in that you have to make a biosphere and monitor it. In some ways it's not as easy as it sounds but also not as hard as it sounds. However, start up takes time and it can be tricky to finally reach environmental stabilization. I am not going to build a natural pool but I still found this book very useful. At the end this book are MANY pages of water plants and trees recommended for certain types of water areas. There are zone maps of the US included for reference. So even if you just want to make a little ornamental fountain in a big pot on the patio deck or a pond or a bog out back, this book has a VERY comprehensive set of plant lists you will find exceedingly useful. 18 pages of them. Categories include Submerged Plants, Floating Plants, Floating Leaved Plants, Shallow Marginal Plants, Deep Marginal Plants, Moisture-loving Plants, Bog/Marsh Plants, Waterside Plats-Trees & Shrubs, Ferns, Grasses Sedges Reeds and Rushes. Botanical and Common Names are listed along with height, spread, water depth, flower color, flower period, foliage, position, comments and plant zone. It's the best I've seen in any book so far.
Book Description
The greatest monument to love, and the lost world of the Agra gardens and their characterful owners, re-created through superb scholarship and evocative illustrations.
The Taj Mahal is the epitome of Mughal art and one of the most famous buildings in the world. Yet there have been few serious studies of it and no full analysis of its architecture and meaning.Ebba Koch is the only scholar who has been permitted to take measurements of the complex. She has been working on the palaces and gardens of Shah Jahan for thirty years and on the Taj Mahal itself—the tomb of the emperor's wife, Mumtaz Mahal—for a decade.
The tomb represents the house of the queen in Paradise, and the author shows how its setting was based on the palace gardens of the great nobles that lined both sides of the river at Agra. She leads the reader through the entire complex of the Taj Mahal, with an explanation of each building and an account of the mausoleum's urban setting, its design and construction, its symbolic meaning, and its history up to the present day.
The book features hundreds of new photographs plus drawings by the Indian architect Richard Barraud that include plans and reconstructions of Agra and the Taj complex as they looked in Shah Jahan's time.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent book!.......2007-09-26
Having visited the Taj Mahal, I wanted to have an authoritative book on the history behind its construction and this book is not only an excellent souce, but also a very good photographic record of this amazing Wonder of the World!
A Ten-Star Book that Is Without Parallel.......2007-04-15
Having read a number of books about the Taj Mahal, including the recently published "Taj Mahal: Passion and Genius...," I would bet good money that if given a copy of Ebba Koch's book to preview, those truly interested in India's national treasure will buy "The Complete Taj Mahal," even if they have to skip lattes or lunches to afford it, even if they have already done so to afford Okada/Joshi/Nou's "Taj Mahal" with its stunning photography.
One reason, of course, is that TCTM is so complete. To others' overviews of the material covered, I would add only that Koch does not neglect the human element. For example, in eight introductory pages of text, Koch provides excellent background information about Shah Jahan, his wife and his predecessors; later, she details Jahan's passion for building. Koch also includes interesting information about the artisans, craftsmen and laborers who did the actual work as well as details about others associated with the Taj-related structures/gardens of Agra. Further humanizing the story of this garden city are colorful Mughal paintings of its nobility and rulers.
Another aspect of TCTM that makes it a must-have are the many photographs of sites, structures and architectural ornamentation, photographs "The Hindu" declared "often brilliant" as well as "judiciously chosen." Just how apt these descriptions are is suggested by the following: There were only seven pages of O/J/Nou's photographic extravaganza of the Taj complex that I photocopied to tuck into Koch's book, and of them, five were additional close-ups of floral inlays and calligraphy. Adding to the appeal of TCTM is that the camera goes beyond the splendors of the Taj complex. Of special interest to those who have been in Agra, for instance, will be the realistic photographs of the Taj Mahal peeking above the "agglomeration of haphazard constructions" that have "almost obliterated" its bazaar and caravanserai. Shown, too, are its architectural precedents as well as artisan workshops and quarries. Though most of the photographs in this book are in color, even those in black and white are revealing.
Also making TCTM next to impossible to resist are the "company drawings," most of which are in color as well. Forerunners of postcards, they were "made by local artists in the early days of the Raj" for European tourists, who bought them "to illustrate their journals." Works of art in themselves, often the drawings are so detailed that they could easily be photographs. But they do not serve as mere eye candy: many are of Taj-related structures that no longer exist or have been stripped of all that made them magnificent; some are juxtaposed with recent photographs to show the toll time has taken on the brilliance of color and intricacy of design. Evocative paintings and watercolors of the Taj Mahal by foreign artists are included as well.
What may ultimately sell people on TCTM, however, is that it is a book they will actually enjoy reading much if not all of. Not only is Koch's narrative writing fluid and easy-to-digest. Even her descriptions of architecture will be relatively easy for laymen to understand, provided that they are willling to refer to the glossary of terms and look at the many visual aids, including Barraud's "precise and clear" line drawings, that accompany the text. So well done is this book, in fact, that as "The Hindu" noted, even "information which is more technical and not at face value so interesting to general readers will, in fact, be found by them to be equally absorbing." (All I would personally exclude from this are the two pages of precise measurements of the Taj complex.)
To another reviewer's assertion that TCTM is a book that "should be in the library of anyone fascinated by the Taj Mahal, not just historians and architects," I add a thousand "Amen's."
Agra the Extraordinary.......2007-03-16
A superlative volume showing in detail and with historic drawings, maps, and photos, as well modern illustrations and reconstructions the unsurpassed achievements of the Mughal in residential garden architecture. The riverbanks of the Yamuna River as it passes through Agra was where this artistic impulse achieved culmination in the seventeenth century garden residences and tombs sponsored by the nobles and rulers of the Mughal state and built by the craftsmen of India. One of the signal contributions of this book is the inclusion of the stories of the architects, carpenters, and masons who left their signatures and marks on the individual elements of the overall project. The residential and tomb gardens which stretched along the river and are now mostly gone gave way at midpoint to the grandest residence of all, the Red Fort which remains today the second greatest landmark of Agra. And at the southern end of the development stands today the greatest tomb ever built, one of the architectural wonders of the world, the Taj Mahal. The work is so complete that it documents not only the construction efforts but also the tourism that followed and the depth to which the Taj Mahal became embedded in the consciousness of the world. The culmination of three decades of meticulous research this substantial volume tells an engrossing story of the planning, development, and eventual decline of a unique garden city. It more than fulfills the adjective "complete" and should be in the library of anyone fascinated by the Taj Mahal, not just historians and architects. A truly extraordinary accomplishment.
Customer Reviews:
Dazzled...not quite.......2007-05-17
Truth be told, and I am a hard-core Versailles-o-phile, this book left much to be desired in the history department. What, no reproductions of the Enfants de France? And where's Marie Therese? The binding was superior to what I'd been lead to believe by other reviews. Overall, an adequate addition to a casual collection of the Chateau de Versailles.
This book would even make the Sun King proud.......2005-04-15
What an amazing book, it is nothing short of spectacular. The pictures are vivid and the book quality is of the highest caliber. The other reviewer was correct in noting that the reader has to been careful with this book, the pages are so heavy that it will pull from the binding if you are not careful when positioning the book. I have always had a facination with Versailles and this book really captures the chateaux, it makes you feel like you are stolling the gardens and taking in the sumptuous wonders of the palace. Unlike other books on Versailles this one is complete, it covers everything and in striking detail. I urge anyone with any interest in Versailles to buy this book, even used at 200 U.S., it is a bargain. I assure you you will not be disappointed in this book.
NEWEST EDITION BETTER BOUND!!!!.......2004-08-11
Five stars PLUS! I have a new edition and it is very well bound - no need to worry about it falling apart! If you've ever been to Versailles this book will mist you up! If you're planning a return trip this book will be your bible... It is amazing how inexpensive this book is when you consider the spectacular colour photos.
Really deserves 10 stars! However, I must warn you..........2001-11-15
This is THE BEST book there is on Versailles (which is probably why its normally a hundred bucks!) There is only one problem I have ever had with the book and that is the poor physical quality. I had to order it twice because my first copy fell completely apart within a few weeks. Needless to say I was not happy at all when that happened. Every copy that I have seen (in libraries, other bookstores) has the same problem. Normally, I would not have tried again after that, but I HAD to have this book. My second one has also begun to separate from the binding, so I rarely read it... but when I do, I use **EXTREME** care. I think the main reason for this is the size and weight of the book, so if you decide to purchase it, keep that in mind. I recommend turning the pages *slowly* and not leaving it completely flat and/or open for any long period of time. Also, store it horizontally, NOT vertically... the pages are so heavy, they will end up tearing themselves out!
Absolute perfection!.......2001-09-12
Without a doubt, the most beautiful and informative book ever on the Palace of Versailles. Architectural history , decorative wonders, sumptuous furniture, this book explores it all! THE BOOK for all lovers of Versailles or eighteenth century French art.
Book Description
A richly illustrated and up-to-date source of practical guidance and hard-to-find technical data on all aspects of landscape lighting
The Landscape Lighting Book, Second Edition shows you how to achieve a wide range of beautiful and dramatic lighting effects. You'll get expert guidance and advice on the theory, design process, project needs, and techniques of landscape lighting. You'll find prizewinning projects designed by the author and other landscape lighting professionals throughout the United States. Plus, hundreds of diagrams, drawings, and black-and-white and full-color photographs illuminate topics and provide visually stunning insights into new and creative ways that lighting can transform landscapes. This fully updated edition covers the latest technologies and equipment and features new chapters on installation, documentation, and seasonal lighting. You'll also find:
- Guidelines for preparing lighting drawings, control and transformer charts, symbol lists, and other technical specifications
- Design strategies for avoiding potential conflicts between plantings and landscape lighting equipment
- Accurate performance characteristics of all lighting materials, finishes, and fixtures
- The best ways to locate fixtures, set appropriate light levels, and perform preventive system maintenance
- The special lighting needs of plants in indoor environments
- A complete listing of fixtures, controls, lamps, and accessories manufacturers and vendors
Whether you're seeking to sculpt a landscape with light or make an outdoor space useable at night, The Landscape Lighting Book, Second Edition shares all the technical and creative insights you'll need to beautify your landscaping projects and consistently win client approval.
Customer Reviews:
Landscape Lighting 101.......2006-04-17
The Landscape Lighting book, by Janet Moyer, provides both an academic and practical level of landscaping lighting knowledge. Another good book, if you can find it, is the Ortho's book of How to Design and Install Outdoor Lighting.
In comparison, the Ortho book has more colorful pictures and offers a very colorful education - I'd say, more or less at a good high school level. If you want more of college level introduction to landscape lighting - perhaps, to start a business or to broaden your knowledge, The Landscape Lighting book is the book for you.
The Art and Craft of Landscape Lighting.......2006-03-08
The second edition of Janet Lennox Moyer's THE LANDSCAPE LIGHTING BOOK is an absolute necessity for everybody who works in landscape lighting or who is seriously interested in creating their own garden lighting. Ms Moyer has greatly revised and expanded the color plates and Chapter 4, "The Design Process - Documenting and Installing Landscape Lighting" as well as writing an entirely new Chapter 5 "Follow-up Work - Record Documents and Project Maintenance." These changes and additions and the many other updates make the new edition well worth the purchase price.
First published in 1992, THE LANDSCAPE LIGHTING BOOK has served as the single and indispensable reference for the landscape lighting industry. It has offered all new landscape lighting practitioners guidance and provided an emerging industry the foundation necessary on which to build solid practice. While there is a wealth of other books that offer how-to help and publish pretty pictures, none of them even attempt to define and explain professional practice for the landscape lighting industry with Ms Moyer's authority and confidence.
THE LANDSCAPE LIGHTING BOOK is not an easy book to read but it is well worth the effort. Once you understand the theory behind the short cuts and rules-of-thumb that other how to books offer, you are free to create your own. With the freedom you gain when you understand and can apply those fundamental principals and concepts to your landscape lighting, you become like the cook who ignores the printed recipe and creates a masterpiece of culinary art.
expert opinion.......2000-07-13
Still the best book for the professional. Invaluable resource for architects, landscape architects and landscape lighting designers. Broad and deep with plenty of technical information. I purchased this book in 1992 and I bought it again today (an electrician friend "lost" my original copy). A second edition (if planned) should include better information about transformer regulation (the ability of a low voltage lighting transformer to maintain 12v under load) and voltage drop (the dreaded decrease in voltage through the main supply cable) which are presented as formulae rather than actual measurements. Great photographs mostly of large scale projects. This book should be in every outdoor lighting designer's library.
There is a second edition (Wiley 2005) of the book revised and updated by the author to reflect changes and improvements in techniques and equipment. The second edition is easily recognized by the illustrated four color cover; the original had an illustrated dust cover (missing from the last run of the first edition) by the cover itself was plain black.
I have both editions and consider them a bargain in terms of concentrated relevant information.
Book Description
In this groundbreaking book, noted landscape designer and award-winning writer Julie Moir Messervy and bestselling author Sarah Susanka reveal how to bring house and garden into perfect harmony. After all, who doesn't yearn for a landscape that is as well designed as the interior of their home? In Outside the Not So Big House, Julie and Sarah teach you everything you need to know about the design concepts essential to extending your home beyond its four walls.
Lushly photographed and illustrated with vivid drawings, Outside the Not So Big House explores how to build pathways and journeys in your gardens; how to make the most of your site; how to use details to bring it all together. Twenty homes from across the country aptly illustrate these easy-to-grasp design ideas. Fans of Sarah's previous Not So Big books will be pleased to discover not only Julie's clear, concise prose but also a new vision for creating home.
Customer Reviews:
The Rather Big 'Not So Big".......2007-03-29
I come away with the feeling that Sarah was lead astray when this book was in development.
Many of the houses in previous books in the 'Not So Big' series have been rather expensive even if they have not been that big. At least these books have provided me with ideas in redoing our moderate sized/priced house.
In this book I find a 'Not So Big' house with a library, a sitting room, and a sunroom on the first floor in addition to a mudroom, kitchen with eating area, formal dining room and living room. The next house in the book sits on a 4 acre lot. Almost every house in the book has grounds that require hired maintenance professionals.
I would imagine that one of the first chapters in Sarah's new book, 'The Not So Big Life', will recommend reducing the square footage of your house and the maintenance required for your grounds. Reducing the square footage of your house will substantially reduce the work needed for upkeep. The 'grounds' could be turned into a native prairie for which God will provide the maintenance. Half of our 1.3 acre lot is native forest looked after by God.
The subtitle of the new book is 'Making Room For What Matters'. One of the things that matters for me is making time for things I enjoy by spending as little time as possible 'mowing the lawn'.
pretty much only covers enormous houses.......2007-01-11
I find the title of this book incredibly misleading. For her, "not so big" means "integrated with nature" as opposed to, well, "not so big"! Almost all of the houses in here are enormous (without counting I'd say maybe 38 of the 40 she talks about), so it's not very helpful for someone like me with a smaller house. Granted, she says her "starter home" was a large Victorian in Boston with a wrap-around porch and stained glass windows, so her perspective is bound to be different from the average American's! But unfortunately I had a hard time applying her concepts to my smaller home (on a 1/4 acre lot), and found myself heartily annoyed because the title had promised something that perhaps might be more useful to someone like me.
Landscaping 101.......2006-09-14
This is a grand book with homes in differing sites in differing parts of the US. One can glean many ideas from the great photographs and text. Julie Moir Messervy's designs are elegantly simple and reflect her studies in Japan. This book is a real addition to the library of anyone interested in designing their landscape.
Wonderful Book- Susanka is the best!.......2006-08-22
Susanka is a great architect! Love it all and look forward to generating a whole new look for my entire property!
Many ideas for designing small areas near small houses.......2006-07-15
(4.5 Stars) I can see from the other reviews that there exist a wide range of opinions about this book. I fall on the high side, I suppose. I enjoyed the large number of photos and ideas for landscaping small areas - spots even - in the yard around a smaller home.
One, rather unreal aspect was that, most of the homes pictured are modern homes with interesting custom architecture. Some of us live in simple ranch-styles (boxes).
Julie's training and interest in architecture does come through, but I did not find it distracting. In fact, I found the emphasis on the relationship between the interior design of the home and landscape as seen from inside very useful. Most landscaping books present only the view TOWARD the house, not FROM it.
I got several good ideas from this book and learned a bit about design.
Book Description
A lavish look at the private homes of the storied Hamptons, with gorgeous photographs and engaging text that discusses the history, decor, and architecture from an insider's perspective. HAMPTONS HAVENS offers readers a glimpse behind the hedgerows of the Hamptons on Long Island, New York. The photographs are drawn from the archives of Hamptons Cottages and Gardens magazine and feature 24 homes and gardens that vary greatly in architecture and interior design. Every home in the book, from cozy cottage to grand estate, is a testament to the enormous breadth and natural beauty of the seaside region.
Customer Reviews:
More cottages than gardens.......2007-09-19
A lovely book with interesting stories but I was after beach gardens and there are very few. The title is misleading as it is from the magazine by this name.
Hamptons Cottages and Gardens.......2007-09-06
This is a beautiful book which is as entertaining to read as it is to gaze at the pictures! I would have appreciated it more had all the houses featured been in a similar style to the one on the cover. There is quite a large spectrum of different designs. I wished they had presented more photographs of each individual home, but overall there is plenty to feast your eyes on.
Hampton Havens Review.......2006-08-27
The book was purchased for an anniversary gift for my daughter who resides on one of the Hamptons. She liked the book and even was familiar with the owner of the garden on the cover.
Book Description
"Fill[s] a significant void in the literature on ornamental plant usage.... [The book] is a valuable text and reference work for advanced students, professional plantsmen, and landscape architects and is a welcome addition to the literature." —American Society of Horticultural Science
"This is not only a textbook but a valuable reference work for anyone involved with landscape plants." —American Horticulturalist
Here is the definitive one-stop survey of more than 1500 woody ornamental plants and 2500 cultivars of eastern North America for students and professionals in landscape architecture and design, horticulture, and urban forestry. Written by an esteemed authority in the field, this book includes:
- Greatly expanded coverage of plant species, including significantly increased attention to commercial cultivars
- Sensible cross-referencing for plant selection based on more than two dozen design criteria, with lists arranged according to such vital factors as size, hardiness, and environmental requirements
- Hundreds of crisp textural diagrams portraying each primary species at 15 and 40 years in relation to average human height
- More than 400 photographs depicting plants of exceptional visual interest
- Maps and graphs, including a full-color map of hardiness zones, offering invaluable visual summaries of major design considerations
- Succinct explorations of problems and maintenance issues for each species, diminishing the complications of choosing among high- and low-maintenance plants
- An index listing plants by their scientific and common names
Now in its second edition, this book remains the core reference on landscape design in eastern North America—intelligently organized for maximum planning efficiency. Enhanced with up-to-date coverage of additional shrubs, trees, and their cultivars, as well as expanded listings of plants classified by characteristics, Landscape Plants for Eastern North America continues to provide all the information necessary for landscape designing in the region.
This complete guide provides a concise description of each plant species' function, adaptability, seasonal interest, growth rate, common problems, maintenance, cultivars, and related species, along with more than 1000 high-quality scale drawings and hundreds of photographs. And Dr. Flint's book goes beyond many works on landscape plants because of its unique focus on the landscape design process: with cross-referencing in more than two dozen categories based on such design criteria as size, site requirements, and soil prerequisites, readers will easily be able to determine which plants are appropriate to their needs.
Throughout the book, a variety of illustrations provide quick reference on a range of important considerations. A full-color map represents the hardiness zones of the eastern region, and bar graphs indicate such adaptability considerations as light, wind, soil moisture, and pH requirements. For each primary species, a seasonal clock furnishes a straightforward visual delineation of the duration and intensity of color throughout the year.
Encompassing plant life from herbaceous ground covers to large trees, this is a most comprehensive, easy-to-use resource for anyone involved in landscaping in eastern North America.
Customer Reviews:
Eastern North America landscape plants.......2007-04-07
Excellent resource for gardeners referencing plants in Eastern North America. I love it.
Invaluable reference for the landscape professional.......2000-08-26
As a landscape designer, I use this book almost daily as a complement to Michael Dirr's texts. The line drawings of each plant in youth and maturity provide a better idea of its habit than most pictures ever could. The "Problems and Maintenance" section has helped me avoid many potentially inferior plants, and the "Adaptability" information gives a nuanced understanding of wind tolerance, pH, light and water requirements. Finally, the "Seasonal Interest" symbol provides a finely tuned assessment of the plant's attractiveness throughout the year: I use it to find plants with year-around interest. This is a book for professionals who have to live, and die, by their plant recommendations.
Book Description
Enter the world of the stylish Japanese house, where every object in sight is a work of art. Japan Style introduces 20 special residences. With more than 200 color photographs, this book showcases the stunning beauty of old homes, and reveals how they are cared for by their owners.
Traditional Japanese homes, with superbly crafted fine wood, great workmanship and seasonal interior arrangements, have an aesthetic of infinite simplicity. Unlike Japanese inns and historical buildings, the houses featured in this book are private property and are not open to public viewing. Japan Style offers a rare glimpse into the intimate world of the everyday Japanese and fascinating insight into the traditional architecture of Japan.
Customer Reviews:
Indeed an outstanding book.......2007-04-07
Like one of the other reviewers, I own quite a few books on Japanese houses and architecture. This is an outstanding example, with very beautiful high quality photography and printing, as well as a great selection of houses I have not seen before. Most are traditional, but a few are modern. I am glad I bought this book.
Excellent Book worth every cent.......2006-11-04
Beautifully illustrated with tons of large pictures of houses and gardens on every page with notes on each one. Very tastefully put together. Great style which epicts beautiful Japanese living in a more contemporary way. An excellent book for anyone wanting ideas on how to decorate their home or garden in the typical Japanese or Asian style. Also makes a wonderful coffee table book. Very pleased that I bought this.
Inspiration for western architects and craftsmen.......2006-02-25
Among our collection of a dozen or more illustrated books about Japanese architecture and design, this is by far the best. The exquisite photographs are accompanied by a thorough yet interesting explanation of the various traditional styles found in Japanese architecture.
Although the emphasis is upon traditional homes, the volume also includes examples of the adaptation of these styles to elegant homes in Japan today. Be forewarned, however, many of the homes illustrated, both very old and modern, are far more spacious than middle-class Japanese are able to enjoy, even those living in rural Japan.
When our present home, blending Japanese and Craftsman influences, is finished, we will give this book to our architects and contractor as tokens of our appreciation.
(By the way, this reviewer lived in Japan for ten years.)
Great Book on Real Japanese Interiors.......2005-05-22
Beautiful photos of great interiors. Mostly traditional Japanese homes as they are currently lived in. Features homes with collections of traditional Japanese crafts. Also, some modern homes designed with Japanese aesthetic. I would also recommend the book "Japanese Style".
Book Description
Introducing a revolutionary new approach to detail design in landscape architecture
In this groundbreaking book, Niall Kirkwood of the Harvard Graduate School of Design takes a fresh,holistic approach to the theories, approaches, and practices of landscape detail. With the support of a wealth of graphic and written material taken from historic and contemporary landscape designwork, he clearly demonstrates the role that landscape detail plays in the design process. Going beyond theoretical considerations, Professor Kirkwood outlines landscape detail as a primary design activity, both pragmatic and poetic, using a range of built landscape design examples.
A valuable resource for professionals and students in landscape architecture, architecture, urban design, and environmental design, The Art of Landscape Detail:
* Provides a practical introduction to the aesthetic concerns, form, language, and expression of landscape detail
* Explores a wide range of detail issues-including materials, climate, durability, implementation, and failure-and their influence on the overall detail design process
* Examines detail design processes and research approaches that designers can apply in the analysis and development of their own work
* Contains in-depth case studies of eight award-winning landscape architecture design projects, including provocative discussions with the designers on the establishment and evolution of their detail design philosophy
* Features more than 150 images illustrating forms and site detail from national and international built landscapes
Customer Reviews:
LAM REVIEW.......2001-02-17
"The lexicon of landscape architectural design literature has a wonderful new addition in The Art of Landscape Detail.......with this book, the critical literature of the field has taken another solid step forward" Deborah Dalton, ASLA Landscape Architecture Magazine, February 2000
Book Description
Tasha Tudor's poignant art has fascinated adults and children for decades. Her nineteenth-century New England lifestyle is legendary. Gardeners are especially intrigued by the profusion of antique flowers -- spectacular poppies, six-foot foxgloves, and intoxicating peonies -- in the cottage gardens surrounding her hand-hewn house. Until now we've only caught glimpses of Tasha Tudor's landscape. In this gorgeous book, two of her friends, the garden writer Tovah Martin and the photographer Richard Brown, take us into the magical garden and then behind the scenes. As we revel in the bedlam of Johnny-jump-ups and cinnamon pinks, the intricacy of the formal peony garden, and the volumptuousness of her heirloom roses, we also learn Tasha's gardening secrets. How does she coax forth her finicky camellia blossoms in the dead of a Vermont winter? How does she train that fantastic topiary to model for her artwork? How can she keep her crown imperials from tumbling in the winds? Tasha's garden reflects a wealth of family lore, perfected through the years and years of working the soil. We may be dazzled by the beauty of the garden, but we come away from this book with practical ideas about improving our own plots of land. "Paradise on earth" is how Tasha describes her garden, and along with the flowers and the vegetables that provide her food, her paradise is filled with an enchanting menagerie -- corgies, Nubian goats, cats, chickens, fantail doves, and forty or more exotic finches, cockatiels, canaries, nightingales, and parrots, which inhabit her collection of antique cages. Tasha's beautiful watercolors and her enchanting anecdotes color this sublimely beautiful book.
Customer Reviews:
Tasha Tudor's Garden - Beautiful book!.......2007-07-24
I received this book several years ago as a birthday gift. It has beautiful pictures of Tasha Tudor's garden and flowers. I bought it this year for my friends 60th birthday gift. She loves it!
Inspiration for Gardeners.......2007-01-04
This is a wonderful book featuring the garden of children's book author and illustrator Tasha Tudor. Not a gardening how-to book but rather a photographic tour of the garden. It does show that a garden can be at its most charming when not rigidly landscaped but grown in a more naturalistic way. A must for all Tasha Tudor fans bookshelves.
a beautiful woman.......2006-07-24
I have loved Tasha Tudor's illustrations in books like "The Tasha Tudor Book of Fairy Tales", "The Secret Garden" and "A Little Princess" since childhood. I didn't know anything about Tasha Tudor as a person, and then one Christmas my mother gave me this book. Wow! Mrs. Tudor has lived a remarkable life and she is an amazing person. She has chosen to create a home for herself that seems to exist in a century past. Her son built a rustic house for her, and she has surrounded it with extensive farm buildings, cottage gardens, fruits, berries, chickens, goats and dogs. She dresses in layers of vintage clothing and eats off of china that has been in her family for generations. I just love this woman, and her lifestyle. This is a beautiful book.
Surprise.......2005-02-08
I purchased this book years ago... at a bookstore and paid the full price. Had I known about Amazon.com....I could have saved money. Then I could have more books! I strongly recommend this book for all gardeners to add to their home library. Enjoy!
a journey to the past.......2003-01-19
Looking at Tasha Tudor's Garden is like taking a journey to another century, surrounded by beauty and peace. Tasha herself wears 19th century clothes, including petticoats, shawls, and head kerchiefs and lives in an antique-appearing house, going about her life with what seems to be a minimal of technology. The photographs that capture her seeing to the goats in the barn in winter, carrying a basket of hand-pulled weeds in summer, arranging lillies, tulips, peonies and old roses in her lovely old house, and seeing the cottage gardens in bloom are absolutely gorgeous. Sometimes gardeners just need inspiration, and this book is perfect for this. Enjoy.
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![THE PRIVATE WORLD OF TASHA TUDOR [first print] 1st Ed.](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000GRU1KG.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
