Robert McCarter

Typically I think of the books in the Architecture 3s series like a 12-pack sampler of beer, in which one of the four flavors – or in these cases, one of the three buildings – is not so desirable. That sort of analogy cannot be used in the case of this collection of 20th century residential masterpieces: Fallingwater, Villa Mairea, and the Eames House. The first two are strongly linked, since they were completed at roughly the same time (late 1930s), and in Aalto's design of the Villa Mairea his initial sketches show him trying to create a Finnish version of Fallingwater, sans waterfall. If any houses are worthy of case studies, these are them, meaning that other books have been written on them and these aren't necessarily the main sources for people interested in them. Fallingwater, for example, was documented by Edgar Kaufmann, Jr., the owner's son, an architect, and the person who probably knew the house best. Nevertheless, this collection is a great one to have for any fan of modern residential architecture.… (més)