Architect’s Tour Book, Ben Jacks Architecture Publication, Culicidae Architectural Press, Images

The Architect’s Tour: Notes for the Design Traveler

New US Architecture Book: Key Contemporary European Buildings – author: Ben Jacks

page updated with new photos 24 Dec 2016 ; 26 Apr 2015

The Architect’s Tour: Notes for the Design Traveler Book

Author: Ben Jacks

The Architect’s Tour: Notes for the Design Traveler, 2015

Ben Jacks’ book The Architect’s Tour: Notes for the Design Traveler, by Culicidae Architectural Press.

This publication records a lovely project, a wander through some of the most important European buildings of the last century.

Ben and his family have had the good fortune – yes I am envious – to find time to visit a huge range of classic 20th Century European architecture – such as Ronchamp (France), Heidi Weber Museum (Switzerland), La Tourette (France) and the Brion Cemetery (Italy) – but also some more recent works which may become the classics of the future – such as Beyeler Foundation (Switzerland) and St Benedikt Chapel (Switzerland).

Chapelle Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp, France – by architect Le Corbusier:

Heidi Weber Museum – Center Le Corbusier, Switzerland – by Le Corbusier:

Sainte Marie de La Tourette, near Lyon, France – by architect Le Corbusier and Iannis Xenakis:

Brion Cemetery, Italy – by architect Carlo Scarpa:

Beyeler Foundation, Switzerland – by architect Renzo Piano:

St Benedikt Chapel, Switzerland – by architect Peter Zumthor:

I loved the personal nature of this publication, including random photos every now and then of family. Ben also observes other architectural travellers, like the Japanese potential architecture student on his way to Corb’s La Tourette.

I also thought the cover photograph of Barcelona Pavilion might strike some people as traditional, but I know of no other building that draws architecture students and students of architecture. Isabelle and I have drawn, rested, photographed and walked around it on various occasions, even after all these years it is hard to beat it. I think it classic, it deserves to be the front cover.

The book isn’t a pristine theoretical work (it makes an antidote to the excellent ‘100 Mile City’ by Deyan Sudjic which I’m currently reading), nor does it attempt to be a definiteive list of European buildings one must visit. The open-ended nature is also refreshing, the author suggests for example a future alternative La Tourette tour that takes in the newly restored Villa E-1027 by Eileen Gray (which we previewed recently in early April), I’d like to join him on that leg!

Brief Review by architect Adrian Welch, editor of e-architect

Buildings featured in ‘The Architect’s Tour: Notes for the Design Traveler’

Chapelle Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp:

Heidi Weber Museum – Center Le Corbusier:

Sainte Marie de La Tourette, France:

Brion Cemetery, Italy:

Beyeler Foundation, Switzerland:

St Benedikt Chapel, Switzerland:

Ben Jacks Book images / information received April 2015

The Architect’s Tour: Notes for the Design Traveler – Book Details

Paperback List Price: $32.50 in the US, £20.89 in the UK, €26.65 in countries of the European Union.
Dimensions: 5.5” x 8.5” (13.97 x 21.59 cm)
Publisher: Culicidae Architectural Press, an Imprint of Culicidae Press, LLC ISBN-13: 978-1941892022

The Architect’s Tour is available now worldwide at culicidaepress.com, amazon.com and other retailers.

Ben Jacks is a designer, architect, writer and teacher.
He holds degrees from the University of Chicago, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Stonecoast MFA Program in Creative Writing at the University of Southern Maine.
He teaches at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, USA, ncluding courses in beginning design, human behavior, design detailing, and understanding architecture through drawing.

Location: USA

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