Steven Holl Books

A+U 1994 special edition covering the work of Holl, Pallasmaa, and, Perez-Gomez, titled Questions of Perception. Their three individual essays presented in the book, are thematically linked; each one tries to explain the role man's perception plays in architecture and also explores phenomenal accounts. In their original introduction, the authors write: "The endless cultural limitations and contradictions inherent in artistic work, revealed with impeccable clarity and logic by the critics' deconstructive theory, are ultimately of limited use for the generation of architecture. The architect must take a position, one that necessarily has ethical consequences, and for which words, a theoretical discourse is nevertheless indispensable.Bilingually presented in English and Japanese.

Internationally recognized for his ability to blend space and light with great contextual sensitivity, architect Steven Holl achieves his award-winning designs by beginning each commission with a small watercolor exploring light, color, and form. Paintings help Holl create a concept-driven design that showcases the unique qualities of each project. This collection of watercolors, which are works of art themselves, includes his most recent projects, from the JFK Center for the Performing Arts expansion and Hunters Point Public Library to University College Dublin.

As we learn in Parallax, Steven Holl s success comes from his sculptural form-making, his interest in the poetics of space, colour, and materiality, and his fascination with scientific phenomena. Holl reveals his working methods in this book, part treatise, part manifesto, and part, as Holl writes, "liner notes" to fifteen of his projects. Parallax traces Holl s ideas on topics as diverse as the "chemistry of matter" and the "pressure of light," and shows how they emerge in his architectural "criss-crossing" at the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki, "duration" in the Palazzo del Cinema in Venice, "correlational programming" in the Makuhari housing in Japan. The result is a book that provides a personal tour of the work of one of the world s most esteemed architects. Parallax is designed by Michael Rock of the award-winning design firm 2x4.

Of the 516 entries received in the architectural competition for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki, an entry named 'Chiasma', became the undisputed winner. The submitting architect was Steven Holl and according to Museum Director Tuula "Undoubtedly any architect who was able to comprehend the nature of museum spaces in such a manner had to understand a great deal about art itself." This beautiful book documents in depth how Kiasma has introduced a new dimension to art museum architecture -- one of spatial strength and absence of gesture.

Built as a diary, the 365 watercolors reproduced in Written in Water represent the creative process of famed American architect Steven Holl. Holl's highly individual method of capturing in watercolors his initial ideas and sketches for all major buildings and competition projects was developed over many years. As an architect, Holl is known for the sculptural qualities he gives to structures and for his genuine use of light -- two qualities which are in tune with the characteristics of the watercolor technique. Among the increasingly high-tech working methods common to his profession, Steven Holl's reliance on a highly artistic and resolutely low-tech process becomes spectacular and inspiration.