Books

Books on Architecture

Island Style
Jim Kemp
Barnes & Noble Books; March 2004

Casually refreshing Island Style has hit the decorating world with the power of a tidal wave. Sisal and bamboo carpeting, rattan furnishings, palettes of bright whites and tropical pastels all come accompanied by such delightful accents as carved wooden bowls, netting, and cool motifs. If you want your home to look like a Caribbean or South Pacific heaven, just open these pages for sun, sky, and sea-blessed ideas to welcome into every room. Any house will evoke warmer climes when it's dressed in natural earth tones and creamy white linens, with an evocative ceiling fan and a screen reminiscent of shutters. A soaring roof reaching toward the sky gives drama to an outdoor room--especially when supported by columns and painted in sunset pinks and golds. Attain a light and airy atmosphere, add an abundance of plants, fill the space with local materials--the results will carry you straight to paradise.

Prairie Style
Lisa Skolnik
Metro Books; March 2004

Originated and championed by Frank Lloyd Wright, the Prairie style is as fresh today as it was at its inception 100 years ago, as evidenced by some of the finest and most original structures and interiors America has ever known. By taking a total approach to the environment, Wright and his contemporaries blur the line between architecture and design. With striking color photographs and illuminating text, Lisa Skolnik's Prairie Style highlights the sweeping lines, natural materials, precise forms, and integration of building and landscape that are the hallmarks of this design aesthetic. Discover for yourself the refined elegance that makes this original American style such a favourite.

Brunelleschi's Dome
Ross King
Penguin Group (USA); October 2001

By all accounts, Filippo Brunelleschi, goldsmith and clockmaker, was an unkempt, cantankerous, and suspicious man-even by the generous standards according to which artists were judged in fifteenth-century Florence. He also designed and erected a dome over the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore-a feat of architectural daring that we continue to marvel at today-thus securing himself a place among the most formidable geniuses of the Renaissance. At first denounced as a madman, Brunelleschi literally reinvented the field of architecture amid plagues, wars, and political feuds to raise seventy million pounds of metal, wood, and marble hundreds of feet in the air. Ross King's captivating narrative brings to life the personalities and intrigue surrounding the twenty-eight-year-long construction of the dome, opening a window onto Florentine life during one of history's most fascinating eras.

(Source: Dhaka New Market)

Compiled by: Sanyat Sattar

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