An alluring glimpse into magnificent Cornell-like boxes created by some of the world’s leading architects and designers Inspired by the idea of the wunderkammer—“wonder-room” or “cabinet of curiosities”—that originated during the Renaissance, world-renowned architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien invited 35 celebrated architects and designers from around the world to create their own wunderkammers, filling boxes with objects that inspire them. This delightful book gathers together the varied, evocative wunderkammers along with accompanying statements by their architect-creators, including such luminaries as Shigeru Ban, Toyo Ito, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Peter Eisenman, Steven Holl, Richard Meier, Murray Moss, Diébédo Francis Keré, Juhani Pallasmaa, Elias Torres, and Peter Zumthor.
An introduction by Williams and Tsien explains their fascination with the wunderkammer and looks at their own history of collecting. The boxes, each spotlighted in its own section, are explored through each architect’s essay; working drawings and sketchbook pages; construction and installation photos; a list of the items contained; and a photograph of the final box. Wunderkammer offers a new way to think about art and inventiveness, collection and meaning in everyday objects.

Wunderkammer

Arts & Photography

Williams, Tod

Tsien, Billie

History & Criticism

Yale University Press

Valuable insights into a wide array of architectural practices, methods, and design solutions from the Muslim world. The Aga Khan Award for Architecture was established in 1977 to enhance the understanding and appreciation of Islamic culture as expressed though architecture. Previous winners of this prestigious award, which is given every three years, include such architects as Geoffrey Bawa, Balkrishna Doshi, Ken Yeang, Jean Nouvel, Charles Correa, Frei Otto, and Hassan Fathy. For this current cycle, the Award has paid special attention to identifying examples of the new types of architecture that are emerging throughout the Muslim world. The documented projects represent efforts in the categories of infrastructure, landscaping, community development, public urban spaces, and responses to the growing housing crisis in many Muslim societies. For the 2004 award, the steering committee included Billie Tsien, Jacques Herzog, Glenn Lowry, and Mohsen Mostafavi. Each of the winning projects is profiled and illustrated in depth, and critical essays consider the challenges and rewards confronting architects working in Muslim lands. 270 illustrations, 100 in color.

Architecture And Polyphony: Building In The Islamic World Today

Kara, Hanif

Schulze, Reinhard

Mumtaz, Babar Khan

Özkan, Suha

Sadria, Modjtaba

Tur, Elias Torres

Reference

Thames&Hudson

A comprehensive description and behind-the-scenes look into the architectural evolution of the Barnes Foundation’s new building in downtown Philadelphia. In 2007, Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects received the commission to design the new Barnes Foundation building, an enviable project that was surrounded both by controversy and the excitement of increasing access to one of America’s premier collections of post-impressionist art, amassed by Dr. Albert C. Barnes in the early twentieth century. The book presents photographs and drawings highlighting the new building’s sensitivity to the ideology of Dr. Barnes and the creativity of Paul Cret, who designed the foundation’s gallery in Merion. In the new facility, the Merion galleries are faithfully reproduced at the same scale with similar materials and are seamlessly integrated into the larger new building—a refined modernist masterpiece surrounded by grounds designed by landscape architect Laurie Olin.

The Architecture of the Barnes Foundation: Gallery in a Garden, Garden in a Gallery

Skira/Rizzoli

Architectures du béton: Nouvelles vagues, nouvelles recherches

Science & Math

Forty, Adrian

Picon, Antoine

Nordenson, Guy

G. Martin Moeller Jr.

Ulm, Franz-Josef

Legault, Réjean

COHEN, Jean-Louis

Essays & Commentary

MONITEUR

The Guadalajara-based architecture studio of Salvador Macias and Magui Peredo maintains a close connection to artisan and craft processes, each project drawing on the skills of expert builders. This book compiles some of the practice’s key works.

Macias Peredo

Quetglas, Josep

Macías, Salvador

Peredo, Magui

Ortíz, Sergio

Ickxs, Wonne

Architecture

Arquine

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Books by Tsien, Billie