Arata Isozaki

Philip Drew

Arata Iozaki is one of the most prolific and creative personalities in contemporary architecture. The Museum of Modern Art, Gunma, arguably the architect's masterwork, was the first in a line of commissions for modern and contemporary art museums on a worldwide scale. Completed in 1974 it was refurbished and extended by Isozaki in 1994. The museum is located in the rural surroundings of the Gunma-no-Mori park, and is the most complete realization by Isozaki of conceptual architectural approach - a pristine, essential structure composed of an arrangement of cubes taking the form of a large rectangular block with projecting wings. The 1994 addition consists of a cube added to the main entrance facade housing the new Highvision Theatre, and a restaurant which occupies part of the area beneath one of the wings.

Gunma Museum

Harry Seidler

Harry Seidler, Australia Square, MLC Centre

Two Towers

Tadao Andō

These two small and exquisite churches by Tadao Ando - one rural and 'open', the other urban and 'enclosed' - complement each other perfectly and together provide an insight into Ando's creation of sacred space. The Church on the Water occupies an idyllic pastoral site and consists of two squares, one large, one small, that overlap and are arranged facing a man-made pool. The Church of the Light is built in a quiet residential area of Osaka. Here Ando explores the spiritual force of the effects of sunlight on raw concrete. Slits cut in the form of a cross perforate the chapel's front wall; when lit up by the morning sun they create what Ando describes as a 'cross of light'. With these two churches, Ando provides a synthesis of opposites, creating spaces that attain a purity and calm through powerful architectonic forms.

Church On the Water, Church of the Light

A dual biography of the Sydney Opera House and its elusive master craftsman. Utzon was desperate to escape the fame that followed him after his creation came to fruition in 1966, and he remains resistant to any serious reflection on his life and work. It has taken 30 years of persistent research to gain an understanding of his character.

Jorn Utzon, a Secret Life

The Masterpiece

A detailed survey of the Sydney Opera House, illustrated with photographs and drawings. Sydney Opera House (1957-73) is one of the best-known buildings of the late twentieth century and perhaps Australia's most potent landmark, its white shell-like forms inextricably linked with the image of Sydney itself. A momentous breakthrough for the architecture of its time, Jørn Utzon's building remains monumental in contemporary world architecture across the world. Launched in 1991, the Architecture in Detail series attracted immediate acclaim and now comprises more than 60 titles. These books are highly collectable documents, each focusing in depth on a celebrated building. The series covers all sides of the vast spectrum of architecture from the past, present and future; the individual buildings are selected for their exceptional character, innovative design or technical virtuosity. Each volume contains a definitive text by a respected author; a sequence of color and black-and-white photographs; a series of technical drawings; and a set of essential working details. These titles are vital to every architectural library, appealing to the professional and student alike, or indeed anyone with an appreciation of buildings.

Philip Drew

Books

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