Fusion, with photos, but still lacking
Extensions & Renovations
Philip Jodidio
Images Publishing Group, $60
The title is enticing, the cover photo audacious: A vermilion cube-house is perched like a bird’s nest high above the street, between two ancient apartment buildings. This book looks as if it could be a keeper, the kind of volume that would-be remodelers might pore over tirelessly, ingesting inspiration for their own future home projects.
And, yes, there are great extension and renovation ideas by some of the world’s great architects, 11 of them here in Southern California.
There’s the majestic addition of a painter’s studio, loft and master bedroom suite grafted seamlessly onto a Wallace Neff house in Hollywood by Tighe Architecture. And Daly Genik Architects’ corrugated-steel studio added onto the back of an older Silver Lake house. And Lorcan O’Herlihy’s brilliant renovation of a ranch house in Brentwood, with extensive use of glass, including a glass-walled bridge.
Multiple photos illustrate each of the projects culled from around the globe. But they are mostly uninspired and often fail to answer the layman’s basic questions. What did the exterior look like before renovations and additions? And how does the total residence look after blending the old with the new?
Jodidio’s premise -- that a new kind of fusion architecture is emerging globally -- is valid.
Renovations and additions to original structures are becoming more popular, he writes, as the tear-down syndrome eases and homeowners seek to preserve the heritage and dignity of their homes while expanding them with something architecturally compatible but totally new.
This is a grand concept for a book -- maybe one that has yet to be written.
Indigenous creativity
Vietnam Style
Bertrand de Hartingh and Anna Craven-Smith-Milnes
Periplus Editions, $44.95
If you’ve never visited Vietnam or studied its culture, this book on the country’s architecture and interior design might start you on that path. It puts into easy perspective the spectacular natural beauty and resources of the region and the way in which occupiers -- first the Chinese for 1,000 years and later the French -- influenced the stylistic sensibilities of a large segment of the people.
Americans who know the country only as it relates to the Vietnam War may be surprised to see the rich array of local design and creativity.
The indigenous woods used in construction of homes and furniture are spectacular. The architecture is often an inventive homage to the warm, damp climate and the year-round need for air circulation. There are airy uncluttered spaces, high ceilings, wraparound porches and walls with lattice-work openings that allow air but not sunlight to enter the house.
In the country’s highlands, homes are often on stilts, made of lightweight woods that can be dismantled and transported when the ground becomes barren or resources dwindle.
“The Muong are among the oldest residents of Vietnam,” the authors write, “and their houses among the most beautiful.” The book shows Vietnamese artist An Khanh’s traditional two-story Muong house. Handcrafted of wood, with a thick thatched roof, the home is strikingly simple and handsome. Its layout is the centuries-old original of what we now like to call an “open floor plan.”
In big-city homes and apartments, the sophistication born of the mixed cultures is evident in some Western-influenced construction and furnishings. But the true heart of Vietnam style, as described in the fine photos and thoughtful text, still emanates from the ancient aesthetic and traditions of the Vietnamese people.
-- B.L.
