Book recommendation; Vortex: Architecture of the Circle

From the publisher:

Vortex: Architecture of the Circle
Author Philip Jodidio

A study of the striking Vortex building in Lausanne, Switzerland, a powerful reflection of circles in architecture.

Edited and authored by the renowned architecture expert Philip Jodidio, this book is dedicated to a new, eye-catching building by Swiss architect Jean-Pierre Dürig located in Lausanne, also known as the “Olympic Capital.” As the structure’s name suggests, Vortex is an 88-foot-high tower in the shape of a cylinder, rising around a single, continuous 1.7-mile-long ramp. Its spiraling movement creates an emblematic shape reminiscent of Olympic rings—a fitting tribute for a building that housed the 1,700 talented young athletes who competed in the Winter Youth Olympic Games in January 2020.

Over 130 photographs, sketches, plans, and models illuminate this enormous undertaking, while Jodidio’s informative text offers detailed insight into the phases of design and construction. Imagery of circular references from art, architecture, and nature highlight the inspiration behind the building’s extraordinary shape. Printed in Italy using the finest European papers, this volume is a beautiful ode to Vortex and Lausanne’s forward-looking spirit.

About The Author
Philip Jodidio is a specialist in contemporary architecture. As well as having been editor in chief of the French art monthly Connaissance des Arts for more than twenty years, he is the author of over 100 books on architecture and art.

Look inside

Publish Date: September 14, 2021
Format: Hardcover
Category: Architecture – Individual Architects & Firms – Monographs
Publisher: Rizzoli Electa
Trim Size: 7-3/4 x 10-1/2
Pages: 168
US Price: $60.00
CDN Price: $80.00
ISBN: 978-0-8478-6953-4

 

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Book recommendation; Images of the Past: Wembley: The History of the Iconic Twin Towers

From the publisher:

Images of the Past: Wembley: The History of the Iconic Twin Towers
Maurice Crow

It was the field of dreams, the birthplace of legends, the hallowed home of our sporting gods. Historic Wembley Stadium, with its iconic Twin Towers, was truly the most revered of venues.

Until the Millennium, when the world-renowned colossus was demolished to make way for its futuristic replacement, the famous old Stadium witnessed some of the most heroic events of the Twentieth Century. But its history, although always exciting, was also often uncertain– and not a little bizarre.

So, despite most eyes being on future fixtures as the sporting hub heads towards it centenary, it is the ancient edifice’s often forgotten past that is the subject of this book. And the uncomfortable truth is that Wembley’s original debut was anything but auspicious. In fact, it was once viewed as a debt-ridden disaster. So doomed was it deemed to be that the North London complex was about to be knocked down – and was rescued only at the last moment, in the most extraordinary circumstances. Happily, it recovered to become a success story, the memories of which are recorded here, hopefully to open the floodgates of nostalgia for followers of sport.

Wembley, it must be remembered, came to the rescue of the first post-War Olympics when no other nation on earth would accept the challenge. It gripped greyhound racing aficionados and it thrilled to the roar of speedway stars. The giants of American football also muscled in to display their skills there.

Great Britons like Frank Bruno and Henry Cooper stepped into the ring (and Cassius Clay was felled to the canvas) before stunned boxing fans. And, of course, Wembley crowds gasped in awe at the footwork of Stanley Matthews and wept in ecstasy at the triumph of Bobby Moore.

But the North London location is more than just the Holy Grail of sport. It has seen defining moments in pop music history, such as Live Aid. It has given platforms to the Pope and evangelist Billy Graham. It has staged breathtaking spectaculars no other venue could hope to accommodate, growing in stature over the course of an astonishing century.

This then, for both sports buffs and social historians, is historic Wembley’s story … an unfolding saga played out beneath those symbolically soaring Twin Towers.

 

By Maurice Crow
Imprint: Pen & Sword History
Series: Images of the Past
Pages: 133
Illustrations: 150
ISBN: 9781526702074
Published: 5th March 2018

 

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Book recommendation; Otl Aicher – Guidelines and Standards for the Visual Design The Games of the XX Olympiad Munich 1972

From the publisher:

Guidelines and Standards for the Visual Design The Games of the XX Olympiad Munich 1972
Otl Aicher

German with booklet in English, French, Spanish, 22 Ausklappbögen / 44 pages, 22.5 / 63 x 30 cm, ring binder
ISBN 978-3-7212-0999-0
Release date: 10/2019

 

_First reprint ever of the original manual of most famous design for Olympic Games
_With booklet including all texts in English, French and Spanish
_Ring binder in original style with 22 foldout sheets
_Design concept set new standards for branding and corporate identity

Almost a quarter of a century after the end of National Socialism in Germany, Otl Aicher was commissioned to design the “cheerful” Olympic Games in Munich 1972. He systematically and scientifically approached this task and liberated visual communication from national pathos by reducing it to the essential in the Bauhaus sense: the use. The manual, completed in 1967, contains a flexible system of colors, forms and fonts that enabled Aicher’s team and partners to “play freely” and saved “unnecessary preparatory work and time-consuming detailed decisions”.

With the use of this kind of visual grammar more than 100 design areas were developped. They were successfull to create an extraordinary broad impact of the appearance and set new standards for branding and corporate design. Munich 1972 is still regarded as the most successful design project of all the Olympic Games.

 
You can order this book here.

 

Source: Braun Publishing AG / niggli Verlag

Book recommendation; Olympic Games – The Design by Markus Osterwalder

 

From the publisher:

Olympic Games – The Design
Markus Osterwalder

English, 2 x 776 pages, 6000 illustrations, 21 x 28.5 cm, 2 hardcover volumes in box
ISBN 978-3-7212-1000-2
Release date: 10/2019

 

_The design of all Olympic Games of modern times including Tokyo 2020
_Author has the worldwide biggest collection of Olympic objects
_With essays by leading designers on selected design topics
_Olympic design as study of coporate identity

Is there a bigger challenge for a designer than the creation of an identity for the Olympic Games? Each venue has developed its own unique image, merging national spirit and international trends with the Olympic spirit of friendship, solidarity and fairness. “Olympic Games – The Design” provides an in-depth overview of the history of the Games, with for the first time the visual appearance in the center of attention: logos, mascots, medals, pictograms, uniforms, tickets, luggage tags, posters, souvenirs and much more.

The author Markus Osterwalder presents a total of around 6,000 illustrations on over 1,500 pages in two volumes with 58 chapters including astonishing facts and stories about who created what and how. For each of the Games, the passionate Swiss collector has systematically chosen examples from the fields of graphic design, typography, fashion design and product design that enable viewers and readers to fully grasp the design identity of the respective Games. In addition, this title also shows an extraordinarily exciting development in the field of corporate identity and brand design.

 
You can order this book here.

 

Source: Braun Publishing AG / niggli Verlag

Book recommendation; Olympische Spiele: Architektur Und Gestaltung. Berlin – Munchen – Stuttgart (German)

From the publisher:

Olympische Spiele: Architektur Und Gestaltung. Berlin – Munchen – Stuttgart
Begleitbuch zur Ausstellung
Bearbeitet von Bohl, Peter / Friedrich, Markus

ISBN / Artikel-Nr: 978-3-17-036208-6
Auflage: 1. Auflage
Seiten: 192
Illustrationen etc.: 152 Abb.
Erschienen: 2018
Maße: 245mm x 215mm x 17mm

 

Die Olympischen Spiele der Neuzeit sind seit 1896 “das” Weltereignis des Sports. Als globale Medienereignisse stellen sie an Architektur und grafische Gestaltung höchste Anforderungen: der Auftritt muss unverwechselbar und “omnipräsent” sein. Der Katalog wird gemeinsam mit dem Institut für Sportgeschichte Baden-Württemberg e. V. präsentiert, das sein 25jähriges Bestehen feiert. Die Spiele von München 1972 sollten das Gegenmodell zu 1936 werden. Deutschland präsentierte sich weltoffen und modern. Dafür steht das Konzept der “visuellen Kommunikation” von Anton Stankowski und Otl Aicher. Bekannte Architekten aus dem Südwesten, Günter Behnisch, Frei Otto und Fritz Auer, waren in München beteiligt. Der Begleitband zur Ausstellung umfasst neben dem umfangreich bebilderten Katalogteil eine Einführung in die gesellschaftliche, architektonische und kulturelle Bedeutung der Spiele für den Südwesten.

Book recommendation; PyeongChang 2018: The Olympic Games Through the Photographer’s Lens

From the publisher:

PyeongChang 2018: The Olympic Games Through the Photographer’s Lens
Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-911282-38-9
88 Pages
180 x 180 mm (7 ⅛ x 7 ⅛ in)
62 colour
In association with the International Olympic Committee, Lausanne
October 2018

 

This fourth volume in a series celebrating the Olympic Games presents stunning photographs from the Winter Games in PyeongChang 2018.

The Olympic Games produce an untold number of breathtaking images: athletes at work and rest, events from ski-jumping and bobsleighing, sporting facilities, venues from rugged mountains to indoor ice-rinks, and unique moments that allow the viewer to share the passion of the Olympic Games.

Photographers John Huet, David Burnett, Jason Evans and Mine Kasapoglu Puhrer were granted access to the training zones and accompanied the athletes as they prepared for their events before the arrival of the crowds. These unconventional images show the intensity of training and the mental state of the Olympians. The photos are accompanied by detailed commentaries by the photographers, describing the thought and planning behind the images, and the exact moment when the images were captured.

Book recommendation; Japanese Creativity — Contemplations on Japanese Architecture

From the publisher:

Japanese Creativity—Contemplations on Japanese Architecture
Yuichiro Edagawa
Foreword by Kengo Kuma

What lies at the root of Japanese creativity and its architectural artifacts? In his new book, the Japanese architect Yuichiro Edagawa explores this question in detail. By analyzing a wide variety of unique exemplary buildings from the sixth century to the present, he determines twelve distinctive characteristics of Japanese architectural creativity and composition, including: intimacy with nature, importance of materials, bipolarity and diversity, asymmetry, devotion to small space, and organic form. The key understanding, which pervades all these characteristics, is that “parts precede the whole.” The Japanese process of creation begins with designing parts and details and ends with combining them to one edifice.

With Japanese Creativity—Contemplations on Japanese Architecture Edagawa provides a personal and comprehensive understanding of Japanese creativity and the architectural process. The book gives us an inspiring insight into Japanese culture and identity, which in its essence is deeply traditional and modern at the same time. With a preface by Kengo Kuma.

 

Hardcover
14.8 x 21 cm
192 pages, approx. 199 col.
English
ISBN 978-3-86859-508-6
05.2018

Book recommendation; Will It Stand Up?: A Professional Engineer’s View of the Creation of the London 2012 Olympic Stadium

Will It Stand Up?: A Professional Engineer’s View of the Creation of the London 2012 Olympic Stadium
Will it Stand Up? Uses the London 2012 Olympic Stadium to demonstrate the seven principles for running successful projects. As well as sharing what went on behind the scenes of this iconic stadium, it provides you with a clear blueprint for improving your own project outcomes. Whether you’re an architect, engineer, developer or contractor, you’ll find this book both entertaining and educational.

Paperback: 168 pages
Publisher: Rethink Press (22 Oct. 2017)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1781332800
ISBN-13: 978-1781332801
Product Dimensions: 20.3 x 1 x 20.3 cm

Book recommendation; Rio 2016: The Olympic Games Through the Photographer’s Lens

From the publisher:

Rio 2016: The Olympic Games Through the Photographer’s Lens
Paperback: 88 pages
Publisher: D Giles Ltd (1 May 2017)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1911282115
ISBN-13: 978-1911282112

This, the third volume in a new series celebrating the Olympic Games, offers up a selection of photographs from the Games in Rio in 2016. Photographers John Huet, David Burnett, Jason Evans and Mine Kasapoglu were granted access to the training zones and accompanied the athletes as they prepared for their events before the arrival of the crowds.

David Burnett, an American photographer, has covered numerous conflicts for Time magazine, as well as every Olympic Games since 1984. American photographer John Huet began photographing competitive athletes 25 years ago. In 2004 he was selected an official Olympic Games photographer. Jason Evans’s work has been recognised by American Photography, the International Photography Awards, Photo District News, and American Photographic Artists. Mine Kasapoglu is a travelling freelance photographer who has been covering the Olympic Games and the Youth Olympic Games since 2010.