Reviews

Architectural Record editors and critics review the latest books, films, and exhibitions about architecture and design.

ARTICLES

Review of 'Shared Structures, Private Spaces: Housing in Mexico'

By Fernanda Canales

Florian Idenburg

April 8, 2021

No Comments

Mexico City–based architect Fernanda Canales chronicles an extensive collection of housing projects across the country.

Review of 'My House Is Better Than Your House'

By Nader Tehrani

Stella Betts

April 7, 2021

No Comments

Architects Nader Tehrani and Preston Scott Cohen debate the design of the house at a disciplinary level.

The Legacy of Racism in the Making of Cities and Communities

Alicia Olushola Ajayi

March 18, 2021

No Comments

Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness, at MoMA, interrogates the past while imagining a liberated future.

Review of 'Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir with Letters from Louis Kahn'

By Harriet Pattison

March 9, 2021

One Comment

A handsomely illustrated volume of Kahn’s love letters during the last 15 years of his complicated—and architecturally triumphant—life, salted with photographs, sketches, and personal memories.

Building a New World and Avant Garde as Method.

Review of 'Building a new New World: Amerikanizm in Russian Architecture' and 'Avant-Garde as Method: Vkhutemas and the Pedagogy of Space, 1920–1930'

By Jean-Louis Cohen; Anna Bokov

Eric Mumford

March 8, 2021

No Comments

Historians shed light on Soviet Design and pedagogy in two new books.

Bill Gates's Book on How to Save the Planet

Fred A. Bernstein

February 23, 2021

One Comment

The billionaire's new book on the climate crisis is as much about practicality as it is about technology.

Review of 'Japanese Design Since 1945: A Complete Sourcebook'

By Naomi Pollock

Wendy Moonan

February 8, 2021

No Comments

A new book give a comprehensive history of postwar design in Japan.

Review of 'Architectural Styles' and 'The Elements of Modern Architecture'

By Margaret Fletcher and Robbie Polley; Antony Radford, Selen Morkoç, and Amit Srivastava

Josephine Minutillo

February 5, 2021

One Comment

Two new books serve as handy refreshers for understanding architectural styles and structures.

Review of "Brave New Home: Our Future in Smarter, Simpler, Happier Housing"

By Diana Lind

Paul Makovsky

January 12, 2021

No Comments

A new book explores the idea that many problems besetting America connect to the historic fixation on the single-family house.

Books in Brief

Suzanne Stephens Preston Scott Cohen

January 11, 2021

No Comments

Two short reviews interpret themes of space and lateness as they relate to architecture.

IMAGE GALLERIES

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Three Books on Frank Lloyd Wright

In celebration of the architect's 150th birthday, RECORD reviews three new books on Frank Lloyd Wright's life and work:

The Guggenheim: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Iconoclastic Masterpiece, by Francesco Dal Co
An Organic Architecture: The Architecture of Democracy, by Frank Lloyd Wright, with a new introduction by Andrew Saint
Travels with Frank Lloyd Wright: The First Global Architect, by Gwyn Lloyd Jones

Scroll through the slideshow below to read a mini-review of each.