Gift List for Selected Readership

Having spent much of the year chastising many in the planning, design and development communities for reasons too numerous to reiterate here, in the spirit of this day and the holiday season, I now present some gift books they and others might appreciate.

To Mayor Tom Bradley, in his obviously sincere but often misguided, stumbling quest for a grander Los Angeles, “The Public Face of Architecture: Civic Culture and Public Space,” edited by Nathan Glazer and Mark Lilla, (Free Press: $35). The book is a broad, reasoned anthology of essays focusing on the history and social importance of civic structures, streets, parks, plazas, and other public spaces and buildings, and the responsibility of government to better shape and maintain them.

To Zev Yaroslavsky, the irrepressible councilman who is thinking of challenging Bradley for the mayoralty: “Livable Cities,” by Suzanne and Henry Lennard (Gondolier Press, Box QQQ, Southampton, N.Y. 11968: $30). Subtitled “People and Places: Social and Design Principles for the Future of the City,” the modest compilation of articles contains a fragmented wealth of ideas to make cities more humane.

To Ken Topping, the city’s planning chief, who has received more than his share of nudges here only because I know he is pointed in the right direction, “Camillo Sitte: The Birth of Modern City Planning” (Rizzoli: $25), the classic text published 100 years ago that still stands today as an inspired guide to civic design.

To Topping’s embattled staff, other planners and concerned citizens in the neighborhood war zones, “Traffic Restraints in Residential Neighborhoods,” edited by George Wynee (Council for International Urban Liaison, Transaction Books, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J.), a compendium of ideas to enhance residential streets that have been tested and proved successful in Europe.

To Andy Lipkis and the Tree People for all their good will and works, and to Bob Kennedy of the city’s street tree division, “Exceptional Trees of Los Angeles,” by Donald Hodel (California Arboretum Foundation: $14.95), a selection of 167 representative trees that lend shade, color and comfort to the local landscape.

To Gary Squire, the city’s forthright housing coordinator, “Building Community,” (Building Community Books, P.O. Box 28, Dumfries DG2 ONS, Scotland, United Kingdom: $25), which describes major breakthroughs in self-help housing being made today by the poor of the Third World that increasingly has applicability here. The book is a product, in part, of John Turner, an English architect who recently received a coveted Right Livelihood Award, the so-called alternative Nobel Prize, for his “practical and exemplary solutions to real problems today.”

To Richard Norfolk, so he can be brought up to speed as the new head of the Pacific Design Center, “Twentieth Century Decoration,” by Stephen Calloway (Rizzoli: $100), an exceptionally well-organized, clearly written and lushly illustrated history of interior design over the last 100 years, with informed bows to passing fads, fashions and personalities.

To Arthur Erickson, upon publication of “The Architecture of Arthur Erickson,” (Harper & Row: $45), an attractive monograph of his work, a copy of “Life Between Buildings: Using Public Space,” by Jan Gehl (Van Nostrand Reinhold: $23.95). Perhaps it can help him overcome some of the urban design problems of his California Plaza scheme. Those working on Armand Hammer’s museum in Westwood also would do well to read this book.

To Frank Gehry, who recently was awarded the commission to design the Disney Concert Hall downtown, “Sydney Opera House: How It Was Built and Why It Is So,” written and illustrated by Michael Pomeroy Smith (Collins: $12), a simplified story of the complex design and construction process of an architectural landmark.

To Michael Rotundi and Thom Mayne, in their continuing intuitive exploration of architecture, “What It Feels Like To Be a Building,” by Forrest Wilson (Preservation Press: $15.95). First published in 1969 and recently reprinted, this delightful young-adult book personifies building parts to illustrate the architectural and construction process.

To the young architects emulating Rotundi and Mayne who are challenged by this process, a bevy of attractive books from Rizzoli: “High Tech Architecture,” by Colin Davies ($45 hard-cover; $29.95 paperback), an overview and selection of the best examples of the machine-like style; and “Kisho Kurokawa: The Architecture of Symbiosis,” and “Fumihiko Maki: An Aesthetic Fragmentation,” both $25 original paperbacks, and both offering insights into the theories behind the provocative designs of two of Japan’s leading architects.

Also of interest should be “Deconstruction,” (An Architectural Design Profile/ St. Martin’s Press: $19.95 paperback), which explores through the words and works of select designers the search for a rationale and label for an arbitrary collection of projects, some good, some bad. In the same spirit but more studied, detailed and academically detached is “The History of Postmodern Architecture,” by Heinrich Klotz (MIT: $60).

To other young architects looking for inspiration beyond the hard edges of form, “Hassan Fathy,” by James Steele (Academy Editions/ St. Martin’s: $24.95). Explored is the philosophy and designs of the legendary Fathy, an Egyptian architect who pursued an indigenous design process that used whatever local materials were at hand to produce a wealth of artful, sympathetic structures. In a very different context but also free spirited was Bruce Goff, the architect of, among many things, the new Japanese Pavilion at the County Museum of Art. His work is respectfully reviewed by Dave DeLong in “Bruce Goff: Toward Absolute Architecture” (MIT: $50).

To mark the recently concluded exchange program between the Southern California Institute of Architecture and Moscow Institute of Architecture, to those involved, “Ivan Leonidov,” by Andre Gozak and Andrei Leonidov (Rizzoli: $60). Most of the designs produced in the ambitious program consciously or unconsciously appeared to have roots in the avant-garde, post-constructivist drawings of projects of Leonidov, who practiced architecture a half century ago in the Soviet Union.

And to all the good readers of this column, best wishes for the holidays and a happy new year.