Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Structures of Utility by David Stark Wilson ISBN: 1-890771-62-7 Publisher: Heyday Books Pub. Date: May, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $45.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: The antidote for soulless design
Comment: Among countless books of beautiful photographs, I've found few that change the way I look at the world. What Ansel Adams did for the sights of Half Dome and El Capitan in Yosemite, David Stark Wilson has done for the lowly silo, the aging mine complex, the agricultural shed. After looking over his photos of those structures-the 'structures of utility' of his title-I will never take a drive in rural America with the same old eye again. Wilson has ground a new lens for all of us that could and should impact the design of what he terms the "built environment", the spread of buildings that has become a texture on the landscape in so many areas outside of cities. Wilson makes a strong case for examining structures largely overlooked until now to rescue us from the endless expansion of tilt-up warehouses or soulless stucco cartoons. We have an incredibly rich tradition of utilitarian design, Wilson shows us, that should be drawn upon to help make the structures we build worthy of the landscapes they occupy. Every county planner, every mall designer, every architect, every student of design should own a copy of his important book.
Rating: 5
Summary: Roughshod Symmetry
Comment: Beautifully printed, the entire book is consistent and engaging in its design. The pages alternate between large full-bleed spreads and smaller collections of photos which complement one another, or photos offset by text, all of which lead the eye nicely through the book.
I appreciate how the book features just enough text to tell the story behind these photographs. The text itself is reflective and articulate, written by Wilson himself, and stops well short of becoming overbearing. Lots of room is left over for the viewer to simply meditate on the quiet and strange beauty in these utilitarian structures of the past.
Not a single person is seen in any of Wilson's photograph's here, but the human imprint on and within the land is the photographs' nexus. It helps, of course, to already be interested in this stuff. But even if you've never pulled off the side of the road in the middle of nowhere to look at an ancient grain silo or collapsing sheets of rusty corrugated metal walls, the photos and accompanying text offer some engaging food for thought about where we've come from and where we're going, and what will change in between.
I feel that book could have done away with a few of the photographs in order to better focus on the best of the best, but overall this is a nice comprehensive spread of Wilson's work that I know I'll come back to again and again.
 |
Title: David Plowden: The American Barn by David Plowden ISBN: 0393025578 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: November, 2003 List Price(USD): $50.00 |
 |
Title: Edward and Brett Weston: Dune by Edward Weston, Brett Weston, Kurt Markus, Charis Wilson, John Woods ISBN: 0967732123 Publisher: Wild Horse Island Press Pub. Date: August, 2003 List Price(USD): $65.00 |
 |
Title: Robert Polidori: Zones of Exclusion: Pripyat and Chernobyl by Robert Polidori, Elizabeth Culbert ISBN: 3882439211 Publisher: Steidl Pub. Date: September, 2003 List Price(USD): $75.00 |
 |
Title: 25 Houses Under 2,500 Square Feet by James Grayson Trulove ISBN: 006008944X Publisher: Harper Design International Pub. Date: 04 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $40.00 |
 |
Title: Photography: No particular order by Gilles Bensimon ISBN: 2850186783 Publisher: Filipacchi Publishing Pub. Date: 10 May, 2004 List Price(USD): $75.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
