ARQUITECTURA Y DISEÑO

This comprehensive monograph is an exclusive look inside the château that inspired the design of Versailles and today continues to enchant visitors and film directors alike. Vaux-le-Vicomte’s rich history began in 1641 when infamous French finance minister Nicolas Fouquet, the original owner, surrounded himself with the most skilled and talented artisans of the time: the architect Louis Le Vau, the painter Charles Le Brun, and the garden designer André Le Nôtre, to create a perfect harmony between architecture and landscape. The Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte and its spectacular gardens fascinated Louis XIV and were the inspira­tion for Versailles. Classified as a historical monument since 1875 under the impetus of the owner at the time, the castle of Vaux-le-Vicomte quickly became a model of the artistic genius of the seventeenth century. This volume traces the château’s history from the seventeenth century through the Belle Époque, World War I, and its public opening in 1968. Exclu­sive photography and archival documents offer unprecedented access to the château, furnishings, and gardens, and illuminate the extraordinary secrets of court life and centuries of celebrations that include the enchanting candlelit tours held today.

A new tower stands out against the city skyline: the Unipol Tower designed by Mario Cucinella Architects, an internationally renowned architecture studio based in Milan and Bologna. The Unipol Tower is a 124-meter elliptical tower in the Porta Nuova area, in the heart of the city. Made from glass and steel, it has a glasshouse on the rooftop serving as a cultural venue. Commissioned by Unipol, the leading Italian insurance company, the tower looks beyond the corporate identity and headquarters of Unipol and has been acclaimed as one of the most advanced architecture projects ever created.

The first book to feature the interior design of the stylish, award-winning firm RRP / Rees Roberts + Partners, led by Interior Design–hall of fame inductee Lucien Rees-Roberts. As Pilar Viladas writes in her introduction, “Rees-Roberts does not have a signature style. Instead, the interiors designed by his New York firm … have style, period, and lots of it.” Well-known for his subtle use of color, texture, and fabric, Rees-Roberts’s designs capture the essence of modern living. Descended from generations of painters, his love for art is an important source for his inspiration and indelibly marks the work. Functionally elegant designs are characterized by a deference to art as well as to light and the views provided by natural surroundings. Each designed home reflects the owner’s character as well as the needs of everyday life, incorporating custom furniture and unusual antiques. The book, bound in sumptuous cloth and wrapped in a jacket with French folds, reflects the firm’s ever-present attention to detail.

Todo el mundo conoce las cajitas azules de Tiffany & Co., pero esta es la fascinante historia real que hay detrás del éxito de la marca de joyería más famosa del planeta. Descubra cómo el valiente emprendedor Charles Lewis Tiffany, recién llegado a la ciudad de Nueva York en 1837, consiguió convertirse en el «Rey de los diamantes». La historia de grandes ganancias y pérdidas, del descubrimiento de gemas inéditas y genios del diseño, y de la creación de algunas de las joyas más emblemáticas de nuestro tiempo, entre las que se incluye el clásico anillo de compromiso Tiffany.

The Wrigley represents the high-water mark of Beaux Arts Classicism in the city, a gleaming white palazzo at the head of Chicago’s grandest boulevard, Michigan Avenue. With lavish terra-cotta ornamentation, it was Chicago’s tallest building when it opened in 1921. The book focuses on the intertwined stories of William Wrigley Jr., the larger-than-life founder of the chewing gum empire, and Charles Gerhard Beersman, the relatively unknown architect who, mentored by architect Julia Morgan, brought the building to life.