The Perfect House: A Journey with Renaissance Master Andrea Palladio

Book Description

Before Andrea Palladio began designing his simple, gracious, perfectly proportioned villas, architectural genius was reserved for temples and palaces. Palladio elevated the architecture of the private house into an art form, and he not only designed and built, he wrote. His late-sixteenth-century architectural treatises were read and studied by great thinkers as diverse as Thomas Jefferson and Inigo Jones, profoundly influencing the design of Monticello, the tidewater plantation houses of Virginia, and the White House. All across America today, Palladio's influence is evident in ample porches and columned porticoes, in grand ceiling heights and front-door pediments.

In The Perfect House, Witold Rybczysnki, whose books on domestic and landscape architecture have transformed our understanding of parks and buildings, looks at Palladio's famous villas, not with the eye of an art historian but with the eye of an architect. He wanted to know why a handful of houses in an obscure corner of the Venetian Republic should have made their presence felt hundreds of years later and halfway across the globe.

More than just a study of one of history's seminal architectural figures, The Perfect House reflects Rybczynski's intimacy with and enthusiasm for his subject. He not only reveals why the villas were so architecturally and culturally influential, he also imparts his enormous affection and admiration for the man who designed them. Embracing the elements of Rybczynski's most successful books on domestic architecture, Home and The Most Beautiful House in the World, this charming, revelatory meditation explores the dawn of domestic architecture and provides a new way of looking at every building we inhabit or visit today.

Customer Reviews:

the (almost) perfect book .......2007-08-08

Prof. Rybczynski does it again - elegant prose makes a stylish match with its subject, excellent drawings by the author illustrate and clarify architectural concepts, biographical details enliven the text with elements of human interest. This book presents residential architecture of Palladio, but also it presents Palladio the man, a person with family life, career, accomplishments and setbacks. It does great credit to the author that he does not try to develop this personal area beyond known facts, even if those facts are few; we are spared fanciful conjectures and "educated guesses", and as a result Palladio seems truly human, someone we can understand and relate to in spite of the distance in time and geography.
There are ten chapters, dedicated to ten villas. There are a lot of illustrations.
Drawings are extremely important, because it is impossible to evaluate a work of visual art without visual aids. We get several plans, always a front view of the villa, sometimes a view in perspective. This device allows even casual reader to trace development of Palladio's ideas and understand various phases of design.
Rybczynski is an obvious fan of Palladio and does not try to hide his admiration for the famous colleague. He does stress the fact that many of the villas were just better farmhouses, where such considerations as location of the threshing floor constituted major project guidelines. And it is amazing that anybody would want to endow the center of a working farm, with granaries, barns, dovecotes and farmyards built into the arrangement, with imperial grandeur borrowed from antique Rome. The villas are no doubt remarkable, since it takes tremendous talent to create a building which is at the same time a utilitarian homestead and a grand residence but does not look outright ludicrous. We must remember all the constraints under which Palladio had to work - his clients' unwillingness to spend, their quite mundane needs, aspirations well above the budget - and his own desire to create unusual buildings, resuscitating architecture of imperial Rome. Master Andrea did succeed in infusing ordinary buildings with elegance and dignity. That could be the original appeal of his art - grand architecture taken out of the realm reserved for the popes and kings, and offered to the merchants and lesser members of the ruling class. The villas were a material proof that one needn't be the ruler of a powerful state to afford a stately residence.
And perhaps because Palladio was forced to build with basic domestic utility in view, the villas remain habitable till now. Perhaps the classicist style enjoys lasting popularity due to this graceful union of convenience and beauty, made available to practically every prospective house buyer. Would this be the "Palladio's secret" - genuinely royal splendor for everyone? (I don't really buy the argument that the attraction lays in the excessive height of the ceilings. If it did, it would be widely imitated, just like the idea of attaching a Grecian portico to a dwelling. Very high rooms feel cold, inhospitable and out of proportions with human scale. They are suitable for formal spaces, even in a private home - entry hall, library, dining room - but in the bedroom feel outright spooky).
I have one complaint: the book could do with more photos than the solitary picture of Villa Chiericati on the back jacket. While the drawings show us the process of creation and ideas entertained by the designer, photography better captures the effect. Anyhow, Rybczynski himself at one point makes the same observation - drawings and photos show different aspects of the subject. But this is the only flaw, otherwise it is an excellent book for anybody with interest in architecture.

Read, Not Seen.......2006-05-30

I'm sure anything I say about the scholarship of Witold Rybczynski's `The Perfect House' would be superfluous. Mr. Rybczynski has written several books (most of which I've also had the privilege to read) on the history, techniques, and important personages of the architectural trade; he holds a professorship at Penn; he clearly loves his subject matter. I therefore really can't quibble with the fundamental material here; the book is literally stuffed with facts. I did, however, have difficulties with the author's style and structure--which ultimately affected some, though gratefully not all, of his story.

To say that Mr. Rybczynski has an eye for detail would be the grossest of understatements. The book's very format--a visit to nearly every Palladio-designed villa still standing in Italy--seems to encourage the author to discourse on every entablature, frieze, and architrave in sight. If you don't immediately recognize these terms--and would be annoyed by constantly referring to the endnotes--Rybczynski nearly compensates by conveying his clear love for these centuries-old designs. Without sounding defensive, he lets the purpose of his journey (see below) unfold.

As with his other books on architectural history, the author clearly shows in `The Perfect House' how historical, even ancient work remains relevant to 21st century architecture. Palladio's work fits this pattern well: his residential villas - as opposed to, say, royal palaces or working factories -- ooze domesticity and we can attempt to identify with their inhabitant's daily lives. Keeping with this theme, Rybczynski strains to discover by the last chapter what he hints throughout the book as Palladio's "secret"--why his buildings are so *good* (i.e., livable). I'll leave the review-reader in suspense but can assure you the reason is neither overly technical nor actually much of a secret, architecturally-speaking.

If that sounds like a demerit, it's not. This conclusion is actually a great relief from far too many minute spatial descriptions that repeat themselves, villa after portico'd villa. Rybczynski makes every attempt to help the reader *see* what he's seeing in these historic sites, but I ultimately found it a failed exercise. Without the jargon--and the painfully banal personal travel notes ("I munch contentedly, stared outside at the villa ...")--one is left with a well-padded visual journal, full of dimensions and data but far too few images or even straight-ahead descriptive prose.

In a self-defeating note - at least relative to his overarching purpose--Rybczynski even quotes Goethe saying "you have to see these buildings with your own eyes to realize how good they are." In a similar vein, a front jacket perp from The New York Times extols it as "... the perfect traveling companion". Ultimately I have to agree with Goethe and The Times: Palladio's villas should be seen, and this book would be a fine traveling resource. Reading it at home was an informative, inspiring, yet visually frustrating experience.

Rybczynski phoned this one in..........2005-12-09

This is a surprisingly lazy effort for Rybczynski, whose other writing on architecture I've found to be quite good, even exceptional. "The Perfect House" is a travelogue and collection of notes on the work of the 16th century Veneto architect Andrea Palladio, with a handful of sketches and photos sprinkled in to illustrate the works discussed. While Rybczynski does get an important point right -- that Palladio's work ought to be experienced first hand to be properly appreciated -- his pedestrian observations and low-key, easygoing style seem drastically mismatched to the drama of Palladio's architecture. And if Palladio must be directly experienced to be understood, why not provide proper photographs and drawings of the buildings to support the argument?

It's unclear who the audience is for this book since its discussions (while well written and earnest) are introductory, yet the few postage stamp black and white images don't give much of a sense of the material to a newcomer. I imagine only in architecture could one get away with such laziness, where chatting about the friendliness of an historic house's current owner has some place, perhaps. I can't imagine there would be any use for a book on Rembrandt, for instance, that would describe a visit to a painting, maybe the coffee one had afterward with its owner, and then include a quick little sketch instead of reproducing the painting itself.

This book conveys the author's enthusiasm for Palladio's work, but the repeated assertions that Palladio made houses that are well-built and comfortable to live in can hardly be counted as a great insight. If you want a decent introduction to Palladio's work, "Palladio" by James Ackerman is a classic, and Taverner's "Palladio and Palladianism" is good too.

Utterly engaging.......2003-12-03

Rybczynski has written a book that is part social history, part art history, and part travelogue, as he describes his journey through Northern Italy visiting and discovering the remaining country villas created by the great architect Andrea Palladio.

Rybczynski manages to write about the "art" side of the architecture in a way that is both scholarly and accessible; however, the best feature of this book, from my perspective, is the insight he brings to architecture and the role of the architect in creating spaces for living. How did the Pisani family live in its villa? How did Palladio integrate the main house of the Villa Badoer with its farm buildings? How did Palladio himself interact with his clients? Above all, what did it feel like to live in buildings that were both magnificent designs and truly "home" to their owners?

The book is so vibrant and Rybczynski's passion for his subject so profound you will want to jump on a plane tomorrow to see what he has seen!

Ever Thoughtful and Lucid.......2003-08-28

Witold Rybczynski is the best contemporary writer on architecture as a mundane philosophy, and the genius of this quiet book is to merge travelogue and andecdotal memoir with the more monumental history of art and place in which studies of Palladio usually traffic. Rybczynski's dilatory and patient, witty and earthy prose is, in my view, the writerly equivalent of the best buildings architecture has to offer. Like the best buildings, his writing creates a "comfort zone" we as readers would gladly inhabit. I encourage anyone to read this book who has an interest in--but vague suspicion or fear of--architecture as a discipline. Through a subtle yet finally forceful style, Rybczynski demonstrates how the demotic and practical dimension of the architectural "science" always trumps the obscurantist and elitist postures of those who make--as well as those who can actually afford to buy--a designer building.

Average customer rating:

The Image is Beautiful

The Beauty Of - And Within - A Culture

Committed to the Image: Contemporary Black Photographers

Manufacturer: Rizzoli International Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Collections, Catalogues & Exhibitions | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Photo Essays | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
General | Exhibition Catalogs | Museums | Museums & Collections | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
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Beautiful: Nudes by Marc Baptiste

Black Beauty: A History and a Celebration

Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers 1840 to the Present

James Vanderzee Studio, The

Black: A Celebration of a Culture

ASIN: 1858941237

Book Description

The ninety-five African American contemporary photographers represented in this volume have used their cameras as tools of social commentary and personal and artistic exploration, bearing witness to changes in the American experience over the past fifty years. These uncompromising, thought-provoking, often highly politicized images cover subjects such as the daily life of African Americans; the struggle of the Civil Rights movement; the history of Black musicianship; and the influence of African American art, literature, and ideals of beauty on American society at large. Black artists, philosophers, writers, poets, musicians, politicians, and sports heroes are featured throughout. Some of the images address the most personal issues of philosophy and identity. The photographers featured, all working today and most of them at the height of their productivity, come from every region of the United States; together, their work represents a far-ranging exploration of contemporary African American identity.

Customer Reviews:

The Image is Beautiful.......2002-08-03

A wonderfully illustrated compilation of interesting photography. Decent. Somewhat reminds one of G. Parks' work (some does appear here). One does not have to be a photographer to appreciate this book. Explosion of creative expressions. Contemporary photography, --indeed!

The Beauty Of - And Within - A Culture.......2001-05-01

A wonderful book, revealing not only those things that make a culture unique, but showing the individual uniqueness of those operating and living within that culture. This books dispels myths that suggest we all think alike, look alike, perceive alike. There is vision here; there is perspective, and it's uniquely African-American, and highly artistic as well as educational.

Committed to the image: Contemporary black photographers

Average customer rating:

Committed to the image: Contemporary black photographers

Manufacturer: Brooklyn Museum of Art in association with Merrell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0872731448

Book Description

Bernard DeVoto (1897-1955) was, according to the novelist Wallace Stegner, "a fighter for public causes, for conservation of our natural resources, for freedom of the press and freedom of thought." A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, DeVoto is best remembered for his trilogy, The Year of Decision: 1846, Across the Wide Missouri, and The Course of Empire. He also wrote a column for Harper's Magazine, in which he fulminated about his many concerns, particularly the exploitation and destruction of the American West. This volume brings together ten of DeVoto's acerbic and still timely essays on Western conservation issues, along with his unfinished conservationist manifesto, Western Paradox, which has never before been published. The book also includes a foreword by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., who was a student of DeVoto's at Harvard University, and a substantial introduction by Douglas Brinkley and Patricia Limerick, both of which shed light on DeVoto's work and legacy.

Average customer rating:

wow

Yes, if you can read only one book, read this one.

Pre-Industrial Societies: Anatomy of the Pre-Modern World
Patricia Crone
Manufacturer: Oneworld Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Economic Conditions | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Economic Conditions | International | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | World | History | Subjects | Books
Social History | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books
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Slaves on Horses: The Evolution of the Islamic Polity

God's Rule - Government and Islam: Six Centuries of Medieval Islamic Political Thought

The Best Stories of Fyodor Dostoevsky: Including "Notes from the Underground" (Modern Library Classics)

Quranic Studies: Sources and Methods of Scriptural Interpretation

Medieval Political Philosophy: A Sourcebook (Cornell Paperbacks)

ASIN: 1851683119

Book Description

This book offers a blueprint for a world now lost, focusing on such crucial issues as the role of politics and religion, and how communities developed social hierarchies.

Customer Reviews:

wow.......2007-09-05

This book had a great deal of information in it about pre-industrial societies. BUT, it was worded in a way that made it incredibly boring and hard to read.

Yes, if you can read only one book, read this one........2004-12-06

I agree with the reader below. So I would only add some more recommendations to read: "The world economy. A millennial perspective" by Angus Maddison; "Power and privilege: A theory of social stratification" by Gerhard Emmanuel Lenski; "The History of Government" by S.E. Finer; "World History. A new perspective" by Clive Ponting; and "The Phenomenon of Religion", by Moojan Momen.

Book Description

Make 10 wardrobe essentials that will remain in style for years, with the scaled patterns, comprehensive instructions, and inspiration. Even a sewer with limited experience will be able to make a traditional shirt, a collarless tunic, a T-shirt, a straight skirt, a full skirt, elastic-waist pants, tailored pants, a jacket, a fitted waistcoat, and a big vest or jacket. 144 pages (all in color), 8 1/2 x 10.

Customer Reviews:

Great for learning how patterns work.......2005-04-01

I bought this book a long time ago (through a crafting book club, and it came with the paper patterns at the time so you didn't have to enlarge the pages in the back), and it's a great source for learning the "how" of sewing. The patterns don't have seam allowances added in, so you get a good idea of how to change patterns around without forgetting to add in seams. The patterns are very basic with very little fitting details, and there are no "dress" patterns, although they give you instructions on how to make certain views into dresses. There is also some basic information about fabric types that was useful when I started sewing. There are 2 vests, 3 shirts, 2 skirts, 2 pants, and at least one jacket pattern with instructions, as well as tons of ideas for personalizing them. My only complaints with the book is that there are no dresses, there are no indications on how much fabric you would need to make a dress variation, and I would have loved some details on how to fit things like princess seams and darts.

Great for sparking your imagination.......1998-06-19

The basics, with that little extra, that can make a great wardrobe. Simple instructions.

Book Description

The Navaho program is the least known, yet the most important of the United States early missile programs. In rocket technology alone the Navaho made possible the Thor, Jupiter and Redstone missiles. It also allowed the construction of the Atlas ICBM's engines, and in the years to come this engine technology would power the Apollo moon rocket, and our present-day Space Shuttle. The Navaho project achieved major advances in every discipline of engineering and electronics. The program also gave us the airborne digital computer, modular electronic circuitry, and the all inhertial navigation system. The development of modular circuitry alone revolutionized the electronics industry, improving the reliability and repairability of countless electronic devices. In just ten years this program accomplished several technological firsts. The X-10 test drone was the first turbojet powered vehicle to exceed Mach 2. It also was the first aircraft to fly a complete mission under inertial(computer) guidance. Later, the G-26 ramjet powered vehicle became the first jet aircraft to reach Mach 3 and an altitude of 77,000 feet. Even the Navaho booster engine would set a record by producing 405,000 lbs. of thrust-a benchmark that would last for five years. These accomplishments have escaped public notice for more than three decades dut to the program's "Top Secret" classification. Forty years after its cancellation many of its documents are still classified as "Secret". James Gibson's new book explains the technical and historical aspects of the Navaho program here for the first time., over 160 color and b/w photos, line drawings, 8 1/2" x 11"

Customer Reviews:

Invaluable to space historians and scale modelers.......1998-07-31

This book has superb coverage of this now little-known but extremely important project. It is jammed with color and B&W photographs, diagrams and drawings, and facts. The book also looks at concurrent missile programs of the 1950s, such as the Snark, Atlas, and Redstone.

Customer Reviews:

Good reference either in or travelling to Ohio.......2007-01-19

Tom Thomson has extensive knowledge about birding in Ohio and has led many briding trips in the Buckeye state. I have attended trips with Tom. His knowledged has been expertly shared in this reference. These comments are not gratuitous, they are sincere.

Great directions, poor maps........2003-06-03

I've owned this book for a number of years, and have found it really helpful for finding prime birding locations in Ohio. It could stand a little updating, & the maps are not very useful, but the detailed directions of how to get to a location are really useful, when coupled with a DeLorme map for the state.

Thomson's division of the state is also rather odd. There are locations that seem to be arbitrarily grouped into a geographic region that it doesn't seem appropriate to be in.

Overall, it is very useful if you're going to be doing birding in the state and are either a new Ohio birder, or coming from out-of-state to do some birding.

Average customer rating:
Birding in Ohio
Tom Thomson
Manufacturer: Indiana University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OQ6JRS

Average customer rating:
Birding in Ohio Second Edition
Tom Thomson
Manufacturer: Indiana University
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NZWU6E

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