BELLAS ARTES

This book will represent one of the most effective and extravagant visions of architecture, one that links the new generations and the old world. In the past few years, Mexico has brought to light a new generation of architects whose extraordinary vision and productivity has positioned the country among the most creative design cultures of the world. Under his own firm FR-EE, since 2000 Fernando Romero has designed and created a number of projects which represent a new vision of Mexican and world architecture. Romero's approach to architecture is innovative and an inspirational tool for empowering future generations. The volume will focus on three themes that intertwine throughout the content of the book. On-site photographs (mainly aerial views) highlight the different places where FR-EE works, from urban centers to the desert. The location is what drives FR-EE's creative work, while the practice strives to investigate the dynamic forces of each site and client. Inspirational photographs give the reader a vision of how Romero's perspective shifts between different focuses of references, and reimagines them in new symbolic visions of the world (from monuments to colors, from natural elements to animals). The images include renderings, photographs, diagrams, plans, and sections. The projects are presented in situ and through architectural drawings, so as to explain the projects' concepts and contents.

“The Tower is also present to the entire world... a universal symbol of Paris... from the Midwest to Australia, there is no journey to France which isn’t made, somehow, in the Tower’s name.” ― Roland Barthes When Gustave Eiffel completed his wrought iron tower on Paris’s Champ de Mars for the World’s Fair in 1889, he laid claim to the tallest structure in the world. Though the Chrysler Building would, 41 years later, scrape an even higher sky, the Eiffel Tower lost none of its lofty wonder: originally granted just a 20-year permit, the Tower became a permanent and mesmerizing fixture on the Parisian skyline. Commanding by day, twinkling by night, it has mesmerized Francophiles and lovers, writers, artists, and dreamers from all over the world, welcoming around seven million visitors every single year. Based on an original, limited edition folio by Gustave Eiffel himself, this fresh TASCHEN edition explores the concept and construction of this remarkable building. Step by step, one latticework layer after another, Eiffel’s iconic design evolves over double-page plates, meticulous drawings, and on-site photographs, including new images and even more historical context. The result is at once a gem of vintage architecture and a unique insight into the idea behind an icon.