ARQUITECTURA Y DISEÑO

Carlo Colombo was born in Brianza, the land of the greatest Italian furniture companies and home to several key figures of contemporary design. Having graduated with a degree in architecture from the Politecnico di Milano, his career has grown with great intensity and success, including his iconic pieces such as the Minerva chairs or the Bali armchairs, the award-winning Albume washbasins, and the Sveva sofa. This book recounts the multifaceted universe of a designer poised between passion and rationality. It draws on a selection of his most significant design products, his methodology, creative inputs and collaborations with protagonists from the business and finance worlds, as well as enlightened clients and artists.

Carolyne Roehm's bestselling books have been a source of inspiration, pleasure, and education for thousands of readers. Now for the first time she shares her life story, from her small-town Missouri childhood to her New York fashion career that began with Oscar de la Renta, to her role as an author and tastemaker. There are the influential figures from her past, including: her grandmother, who sewed beautifully and ran a successful shop; her mother, who taught her that women need clothes to suit the many roles they have to play; her mentor, Oscar de la Renta, from whom she learned the fashion business. Roehm tells the story of launching, running, and ultimately closing her own fashion line, and her subsequent reinvention through books, gardening, entertaining, and decor. Through it all she shows how the constant threads of character and creativity, and a passion for nature, colour, quality, and classicism can inform your work, style, and life.

The Case Study House program (1945–1966) was an exceptional, innovative event in the history of American architecture and remains to this day unique. The program, which concentrated on the Los Angeles area and oversaw the design of 36 prototype homes, sought to make available plans for modern residences that could be easily and cheaply constructed during the postwar building boom. The program’s chief motivating force was Arts & Architecture editor John Entenza, a champion of modernism who had all the right connections to attract some of architecture’s greatest talents, such as Richard Neutra, Charles and Ray Eames, and Eero Saarinen. Highly experimental, the program generated houses that were designed to redefine the modern home, and had a pronounced influence on architecture―American and international―both during the program’s existence and even to this day. TASCHEN brings you a retrospective of the entire program with comprehensive documentation, brilliant photographs from the period and, for the houses still in existence, contemporary photos, as well as extensive floor plans and sketches.

The Case Study House program (1945–66) was an exceptional, innovative event in the history of American architecture and remains to this day unique. The program, which concentrated on the Los Angeles area and oversaw the design of 36 prototype homes, sought to make available plans for modern residences that could be easily and cheaply constructed during the postwar building boom. The program’s chief motivating force was Arts & Architecture editor John Entenza, a champion of modernism who had all the right connections to attract some of architecture’s greatest talents, such as Richard Neutra, Charles and Ray Eames, and Eero Saarinen. Highly experimental, the program generated houses that were designed to redefine the modern home, and thus had a pronounced influence on architecture―American and international―both during the program’s existence and even to this day. TASCHEN brings you a monumental retrospective of the entire program with comprehensive documentation, brilliant photographs from the period and, for the houses still in existence, contemporary photos, as well as extensive floor plans and sketches.

Elegido libro de arquitectura del año en el Festival Internacional del Libro de Arte y de Cine de Perpiñán, en Francia, el Cosmic Communist Constructions Photographed de Frédéric Chaubin explora 90 edificios situados en 14 ex repúblicas soviéticas. Estas estructuras representan lo que Chaubin considera la cuarta edad de la arquitectura soviética, una época de prosperidad desconocida que abarca de 1970 a 1990. Al contrario que en los años 1920 y 1950, durante este periodo no surgió ninguna gran escuela ni tendencia. Estos edificios representan un impulso caótico fruto de un sistema en decadencia. Aprovechando el colapso de la estructura monolítica, los arquitectos fueron mucho más allá del modernismo, regresando a los orígenes o innovando con libertad. Algunos de los más audaces completaron proyectos que habrían sido un sueño para los constructivistas (Sanatorio Druzhba, Yalta) y otros dieron rienda suelta a su imaginación de un modo expresionista (Palacio de Weddings, Tbilisi). Del mismo modo, un campamento de verano, inspirado en bocetos de un prototipo de base lunar, reclama su influencia suprematista (Campamento juvenil Prometeo, Bogatyr). Después llega el despliegue de la arquitectura parlante en los últimos años de la URSS: un crematorio adornado con llamas de hormigón (Crematorio, Kiev), un instituto tecnológico con un platillo volante estrellado en su techo (Instituto de investigación científica, Kiev), un centro político que observa como un Gran Hermano (Casa de los Sóviets, Kaliningrado).