Collage City

Book Description

This book is a critical reappraisal of contemporary theories of urban planning and design and of the role of the architect-planner in an urban context. The authors rejecting the grand utopian visions of "total planning" and "total design," propose instead a "collage city" which can accommodate a whole range of utopias in miniature.

Customer Reviews:

Difficult, opaque, frustrating, but important.......2006-07-02

I am a second-generation Rowe disciple, I guess. I studied with a Rowe acolyte in graduate school and worked with co-author Fred Koetter in an urban design studio. Without the efforts these teachers have made to bring Rowe's ideas to urban design students, they may well have been neglected, because Collage City is a mess. It is badly marred by dense thickets of poorly-edited, idiosyncratic prose. It was one of the more frustrating books I had to read in school, but I'm glad it was required, because the close readings uncovered real gems of theory. Rowe reintroduced the complexities and possibilities of art into urban design right at the peak of Modernism's influence. Architecture was still in the thrall of La Ville Radieuse and socialist-utopian projects that aimed to simplify and disinfect cities. Jane Jacobs saw the social perils of these projects, Colin Rowe saw the architectural perils. His critique of the Modern project was among the most powerful, and among the least cogent. Still, though it requires some serious digging in prose-mud, the gems are there and worth the search. I recommend this book for graduate-level urban theorists or serious urban design students.

But there are more accessible urban design primers: Aldo Rossi, et al, The Architecture of the City, for example, covers much of the same ground Rowe so spottily tilled [except where Eisenman is involved in the book: he is a worse prose-stylist than Rowe]. For non-specialists I also recommend Witold Rybczynski's City Life as a thoughtful and LUCID introduction to American urbanism, along with a critique of the last few decades of urban "development".

Inaccessible, and badly edited.......2002-02-13

Does not contribute much to the discussion, written in a lengthy, self-important, arrogant manner.

Pompous garbage.......1999-09-24

This book is the most pompous garbage I have ever seen. It is unreadable drivel that has no point and adds nothing to the search for solutions to our urban problems. What were the authors thinking? They deserve the "Emperor has no clothes" award for this trash. Save your money and buy "A Pattern Language," "Edge City," "Changing Places," "Home from Nowhere," or any of many meaningful books that say something relevant.

Most Important Book on Urban Design Theory Today.......1999-03-08

Colin Rowe proposes a form of inclusive urbanism that meshes the modern city with the traditional city.

The Theoretical Underpinings of Rowe's Urban Design Studio........1998-09-21

Rowe and Koetter's brilliant excursus of urban design theory via the texts and contexts of intellectual history.

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Collage City
Colin Rowe , and Fred Koetter
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

Landscape | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0262180863

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Collage City
Colin and Fred Koetter Rowe
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OR4JLA

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Collage City
Colin; Koetter, Fred Rowe
Manufacturer: MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MBOX5K

Collage City (Geschichte und Theorie der Architektur)

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Collage City (Geschichte und Theorie der Architektur)
Colin Rowe , and Fred Koetter
Manufacturer: Birkhauser
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

German | Foreign Language Nonfiction | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Arts & Photography | German | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books

History | German | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books

Nonfiction | German | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books

Professional & Technical | German | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books

All German Books | German | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: 3764356081

Book Description

Collage City ist eine Kritik der modernen Architektur und zugleich der Aufruf, Theorie und Praxis von Planung und Städtebau zu überdenken. Colin Rowe und Fred Koetter erklären die moderne Architektur als Heilsbotschaft und den modernen Städtebau als Versuch, eine Idealvorstellung von totaler Ordnung zu verwirklichen. Sie unterscheiden zwei Arten von Utopien: Utopie als Objekt der Betrachtung und Utopie als Handlungsanweisung. Sie unterscheiden zwei Arten von Modernismus: den technikbesessenen und möchtegern-wissenschaftlichen Modernismus und einen ganz anders gearteten Modernismus der modernen Kunst (eines Picasso, Strawinsky, Joyce, T.S. Eliot). Während der erste sie abschreckt, begrüßen sie die Implikationen des zweiten. Die Collage wird dabei als Verfahren und Geisteshaltung des Architekten propagiert, indem das Vorhandene als Grundlage für die Weiterentwicklung der Stadt dienstbar gemacht wird. Diese Ausgabe ist durch ein neues Nachwort von Colin Rowe ergänzt.

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COLLAGE CITY
Colin and Fred Koetter Rowe
Manufacturer: MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000JV9YDO

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Collage city
Rowe /Koetter
Manufacturer: In Folio
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 2884745033

A Denver collage: Glimpses of the queen city of the plains

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A Denver collage: Glimpses of the queen city of the plains
Gayle Turk
Manufacturer: s.n
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0007B2B22

Tom Wesselman: The early years, collages 1959-1962,

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Tom Wesselman: The early years, collages 1959-1962,
Tom Wesselmann
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0006WLDX0

Tom Wesselmann, the early years: Collages 1959-1962 : an exhibition organized by the Art Galleries, California State University, Long Beach, November 10-December ... City, Missouri, February 22-March 20, 1975

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Tom Wesselmann, the early years: Collages 1959-1962 : an exhibition organized by the Art Galleries, California State University, Long Beach, November 10-December ... City, Missouri, February 22-March 20, 1975
Tom Wesselmann
Manufacturer: Art Galleries, California State University
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Painting | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Book Description

A Child's First Drawing Book

With this simple teaching method, every child can learn to draw!

Designed as a child's first art series, Kids Can Draw will help any child learn the basics of drawing. It's as easy as drawing a triangle, circle, or square. By starting with these basic shapes, your child can create a stegosaurus, tyrannosaurus rex, triceratops, or any dinosaur.

Book Description

Turn your digital camera and desktop printer into a state-of-the-art design studio! An Introduction to Digital Imaging with Photoshop 7 is the perfect choice for students and hobbyists who want to experiment with all of the variables involved in successful digital imaging while learning how to use Adobe® Photoshop®. Unlike software manuals that can be complicated and intimidating, the clear and concise presentation of information in this book allows future digital artists to adopt an intuitive, "right-brain" approach to mastering the basics. Exercises and assignments make it easy to get started creating and manipulating digital images for application to print, multimedia, video, and the Internet. In-depth coverage of scanning and digitizing, plus detailed instruction in how to use Photoshop features and apply special effects, exposes readers to a host of exciting and very contemporary possibilities. An interactive CD-ROM is also included to enable users to search for examples that illustrate specific techniques and review the steps necessary to create these images. A "must" for anyone seeking an entrée to the world of photography in a contemporary age ? with more techniques than ever before ? this how-to manual and long-lasting reference provides a complete course in the fundamentals of creating photographic art using a camera and the computer.

Customer Reviews:

Why not call this topless women of Science Fiction & Fantasy?.......2007-05-09

I am both an artist and a science fiction and fantasy lover. When I read online that this book had pictures of two of my favorite science fiction characters: Frostflower and Thorn, I gladly picked it up. I admit I was somewhat surprised to find about 40% of the "liberated and feminist" icons sans their tunics. I am not a prude, but the nudity seemed gratuitously fanboy to me. Instead of showing the characters in respectful scenes displaying their everyday life the artist portays these women going into battle topless! If naked women is your thing, this might be the book for you... For me I was meh abou it. No, I don't begrudge the occasional chainmail bikini or cheescake picture, but pages and pages aren't my bag. If its yours this might be the book for you. As far as the artwork goes... Hmmph.

Technically many of the faces appeared awkward and ill-suited to the character. Frostflower and Thorn had hair that looked like a nun's habit. Mavra Chang looks like she suffers from a spinal disorder. I'd give the art 3/6. Average. Not something to get worked up about. I was disappointed.

Not at all as bad as some people think.......2000-11-16

While some of the other reviewers have trashed the art in this book, I simply found it uneven. It's certainly nowhere near as bad as some people have suggested. Some of the paintings are, I think, excellent--many are the best portrayals of the characters that I have ever seen. The artist has obviously made some considerable effort to make the characters seem more like real people than the idealized caricatures seen on most SF covers. Outstanding are the portraits of Jirel of Joiry, the Little Mermaid, Rima, Sharane and Susan Calvin, among others. It's true that some of the paintings were obviously rushed, but these are in the minority and the book is well worth getting for the art that is successful. It may be that Miller's efforts to make his women seem like real people may have backfired on him, since most readers will be expecting the kind of glitzy, over-the-top depictions found in books by Chris Achilleos or Boris, which these are not.

Huge let down.......2000-10-13

I was extremely disappointed with the illustrations in this book. The artwork is amaturish at best. If you are interested in reading about heroines in sci-fi/fantasy then pick it up, but if you are looking for a good fantasy ART book then don't bother with this one.

Good idea badly executed.......2000-07-17

This book is an interesting read on the changing roles of women in Sci Fi and fantasy, but the artwork really lets it down. It looks as though Ron Miller was in one hell of a hurry to produce enough pictures for the book and the quality really isn`t up to much. OK so I`m being critical and I freely admit I could`t do better, but that isn`t the point, there are those that can. Save your money get "Transluminal" or "Chiaroscuro" Jim Burns & Tim White show how it should have been done.

Having read so many positive reviews I gave the book another chance, was I wrong ? Sorry but no, it isn't that I was expecting Boris type archetypes of perfection. I just prefer paintings where perspective and proportion have not been sacrificed in order to achieve quantity. I stand by my original rating one star only.

Shorter than one would hope for........2000-07-13

I received this book as an anniversary present and as I looked through it I asked my spouse "is this a gift for you or me?" as I pointed to the overwhelming number of naked and semi-naked images of heroines. The biggest question I had with this book was: What is the definition of heroine that both Miller and Sargent are using? Next I wanted to know why the book was so short. I've read several books about women writers, women characters, and feminism even in science fiction and fantasy. While the number of characters and authors they address is usually fewer they are more detailed. I can't say after reading this book that I understand why some of the characters are listed as heroines at all. Instead, the book seems more focused on starting to look at the changes in female characters over decades -- a topic that deserved at least twice this number of pages even if the pictures had to be a much smaller part of the concept.

FIREBRANDS, the Heroines of Science Fiction and Fantasy

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FIREBRANDS, the Heroines of Science Fiction and Fantasy
Ron / Pamela Sargent Miller
Manufacturer: Thunder's Mouth Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000JV5GZ4

Firebrands-The Heroines of Science Fiction & Fantasy

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Firebrands-The Heroines of Science Fiction & Fantasy
Ron Miller
Manufacturer: Thunder's Mouth Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000TXJXVK

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FIREBRANDS: THE HEROINES OF SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY
Pamela Sargent
Manufacturer: Paper Tiger
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000O98UMW

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Signals: What Your Child Is Really Telling You
Paul Ackerman , and Murray Kappelman
Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0451121864

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Signals: What Your Child Is Really Telling You
Paul Ackerman
Manufacturer: Dial Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NQGQFY

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Deep, brash and heartrending

Dante's Inferno

"image rich." Daily News 7/8/05

Please do not read this book!!!!!

a very raw look at a young life destroyed

Names I Can't Remember
Douglas R. Bergman
Manufacturer: The Warrior Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books
General | Vietnam | Asia | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0975917714

Book Description

DESCRIPTION - In 1969, I was homeless, hungry, unemployed and living in an abandoned church parsonage. I enlisted in the army for food and a warm bed as a typist. The honor and glory lured me into hell. I became combat platoon leader and assassin for my country responsible for the lives of 50 men of nineteen. The language is prose poetry that lingers in the mind. The characters are the simple and spiritual survivors that lived in my soul for thirty years. They are the quiet hero rebels of the days we got lost in arrogance.

"In 1968, kids bartered dreams for beds and burgers and were never seen again. I miss those children, those cocky rebels in The Radical Ice-Cream Blue Rag Café and (ssshhh) Demolition Society. I wish I could have gone back to tell them how old killing, booze, and guilt made me. I couldn't. I still had to learn if we hadn't gambled our lives to beat the boredom with a joint of lonely, maybe we could have finished being young tasting every morsel of life to come; memories are feasts to the starving."

Customer Reviews:

Deep, brash and heartrending .......2006-11-27

Few veterans describe themselves as "heroes." It's a painful word - filled with aspiration, horror and loss. Many veterans who write memoirs avoid the most devastating echoes of war - their own perceived culpabilities. It's understandable. Who wants to poke a finger into a festering wound?

Douglas Bergman is a brave man. Using a magnifying glass, he focuses a scorching sunbeam onto his own soul - allowing the reader to see his demons in great detail. It is unsettling in a world where few want to accept responsibility for their mistakes - where confessions are whispered litanies of shame washed away with a few penitential rosaries. My initial reaction was to look away but I soon found myself examining the author's broken heart like a curious onlooker drawn to a fiery car wreck.

This book is many things - a memoir, an adventure, a tribute, a confession and a sob. From the shiny hearse-white cover to the imagery-dense prose, Mr. Bergman's tale perplexes and intrigues. Vietnam was a conundrum for everyone. For the men who fought there, growing up was like peeling a scab off a half-healed wound. Boy soldiers drawn to the service to resolve other problems found new sorrows to occupy their nightmares. "Names I Can't Remember" is a close up view of a Vietnam Veteran's reaction to war - and a description of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that still torments many who were mere babies in the 1960s.

The author plunges into his story with profane vigor. He amuses and shocks with an almost adolescent glee - as though he has returned to his rebellious, angst-ridden youth and is set on taking the reader with him. He uses literary flourishes that complicate the read like a translucent veil draped over lovers laboring together for their love. You can see the movements, hear them moan - but their faces are dim behind the silken sheen of the fabric. Mr. Bergman peoples "Names I Can't Remember" with garish characters that touched his life but have now faded into ghostly symbols - a motherly whore, a man with a cat on his shoulder, a doofus unable to function in the jungle, an alcoholic CO who confuses courage and foolhardiness -- a nun and a Vietnamese child trying desperately to survive. Despite this distance - or perhaps because of it, this book is powerful and literate. I found myself lingering over the pictures the author created in my head - almost as if this was a novel. It was easier to appreciate this work on that level than to acknowledge the reality of Mr. Bergman's anguish.

The Vietnam War was not a Disney Movie -- neither is this book. However, if you are a student of psychology, a poet - or someone who wants to understand the warrior in your life, this is a wonderful read.

Dante's Inferno.......2006-06-16

"Names I Can't Remember" is a tough, brilliant read of one man's journey into Dante's Inferno. All human foibles and flaws are put out for display. Mr. Bergman dares the reader to forgive him as he hasn't been able to forgive himself for thirty years. A piece de la triumph! 5 military gold stars - Lillian Cauldwell

"image rich." Daily News 7/8/05.......2005-08-13

"...there is something Keseyesque or Hunter Thompson - like about Bergman's prose: often profane and at the same time, image rich." - Daily News, Clem Richardson 7/8/05

Please do not read this book!!!!!.......2005-08-10

This is not a book filled with words on a page, it is a capturing of a mans inner guts spewed upon pages from his tortured memory. We see the ramblings of a young boy yanked from the unsafe world of his home and the bottle, to be immersed into the world of drunking decisions, adult behavior expected from a still nursing infant. You need to digest every word and feel his feelings. Some of his experiences will fill you with disgust, horror, the need to nurture, but your diet will never be the same after you digest this meal of feelings.
Devour it...chew it... spit it out if you need to... But dont just sit there and read it........

a very raw look at a young life destroyed.......2005-08-01

"You'll be on an emotional roller coaster ride while reading this work. The author has given us a very raw look at a young life destroyed by a dysfunctional family drowning in alcoholism and how he carried that with him during his No Slack tour. Doug was in the same company as I was and we walked the same villages, but never met, the places he describes are familiar to me as they will be to others who read him. I wasn't ready for the constriction I felt in my chest as parts of this book made me wonder how he slipped through the cracks as he performed his duty as a platoon leader in an alcoholic fog. Read the book, it's a raw look at a personal battle with a life almost destroyed by abuse, mingled with war. Names I Can't Remember will shake your senses and make you ill but you will find that once you start reading it you can't put it down."
"Yankee Jim" Simchera - A Company 2/327th Infantry,101st Airborne Vietnam: 1969-70

Customer Reviews:

cocaine and AIDS.......2005-10-11

This consists of papers from a conference hosted in 1991. It doesn't feel dated however.

This book offers examples. Before needle exchanges took place in the US, they were shown to work in Australia and other countries. One author said drug users need to organize like the gay male community has. At first, this sounded naive, but the author stated that it has happened in the Netherlands. This book mentions solutions that work: using bleach on syringes, having drug addicts teach each other about avoiding STDs, etc. This book implies that drug addicts have learned to clean their needles, but that hasn't helped them to have safer sex. I wish I could have learned more about cocaine generally: how to spot a user, how to know if someone has re-started, how to encourage them to quit drug use because they may contract the virus.

I won't call this book homophobic, but it's a bit heterosexist. Several authors state that, "cocaine users could spread HIV to their children and wives." There is little discussion of the many MSM who also use drugs. What about the fact that they may be spreading the virus to non-drug-using male lovers? The book never mentions that some straight-identified drug users engage in same-sex prostitution to score drugs. Thus, though they do not identify as "gay," they may get the virus through same-sex sexual activities.

Journal of Addictive Diseases, Vol. 10, Number 4, 1991: Cocaine, AIDS, and Intravenous Drug Use

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Journal of Addictive Diseases, Vol. 10, Number 4, 1991: Cocaine, AIDS, and Intravenous Drug Use
American Society of Addiction Medicine
Manufacturer: Haworth Medical Press, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KEK6V4

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