Articles by Clifford A. Pearson

By Brian Lutz. Pointed Leaf Press, November 2012, 224 pages, $85. This is a book on the model of Marilyn and John Neuhart’s The Story of Eames Furniture (Gestalten, 2010). It shares with that two-volume set an agenda—an emphasis on process and manufacturing—and a large size (14.2 by 11.8 inches) that does neither the reader nor the illustrations great service. Eero Saarinen: Furniture for Everyman, by Brian Lutz. Pointed Leaf Press, November 2012, 224 pages, $85. First, the agenda. Lutz, a former Knoll associate, argues in his introduction that Saarinen’s furniture has never attracted the same scholarly interest as his

EcoArchitecture: The Work of Ken Yeang, by Sara Hart. John Wiley & Sons, 2011, 272 pages, $75. WOHA: Selected Projects, Volume 1, by Patrick Bingham-Hall. Pesaro Publishing, 2011, 280 pages, $65. In the present environment of instant communications and global architectural practices, the swirl of influences between East and West is as dynamic and complex as the trade winds that blow between continents. This pair of publications, EcoArchitecture, The Work of Ken Yeang, by Sara Hart, and WOHA: Selected Projects Volume 1, by Patrick Bingham-Hall, captures the complexity and promise of this moment. WOHA: Selected Projects, Volume 1, by Patrick

Photo © John Scourkes The Dodge Chapel Auditorium at Asilomar, designed by Julia Morgan and built in 1915. An eclectic mix of international stars, leading American architects, and emerging voices will present their work at the Monterey Design Conference (MDC) from September 27 through September 29. Held at the Asilomar Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove, California, where Julia Morgan designed many of the rustic buildings in the early 20th century, the event offers a camp-like setting on the Monterey Peninsula for a rambling examination of the state of design both in California and around the world. The California chapter of

This Trey Trahan-designed 28,000-square-foot building, set in the oldest settlement in the Louisiana Purchase, aims to resolve a number of conflicting demands—bringing contemporary design to a historic context and finding a common language for a program that involves both a history museum and a sports hall of fame. In deference to its neighbors on Natchitoches’ main public square, the $12.6-million museum maintains the area’s two-story scale and wraps itself in a louvered copper rainscreen that alludes to the shaded porches of Creole architecture. The architects pinched the copper louvers at various locations to create a pleated effect that animates the

On a recent hard-hat tour of the Whitney Museum of American Art’s new building in Downtown Manhattan’s Meatpacking District, the project’s architect Renzo Piano emphasized the way it will connect to its surroundings.

An innovative pinwheel plan brings daylight into a rugged cubic building that strengthens the public realm's imprint in a historic part of the Texas capital.

By Christopher Bascom Rawlins. Foreword by Alastair Gordon. Metropolis Books/Gordon de Vries Studio, 2013, 202 pages, $60. Consider this book a handy time machine set to take you to a sun-soaked place in a hedonistic era. Bring your Speedo and Ray-Bans and let go of your hang-ups. Both a cultural history and an architectural meditation, Fire Island Modernist captures the look, feel, and sensation of gay society in the 1960s and '70s that flourished on the sandy shores and shifting dunes of the 31-mile-long barrier island of its title. Separated from the Hamptons by Great South Bay, Fire Island developed