The Beauty of Absence, 12 Aug 2008
The slim volume of less than one hundred pages and small format is in a way in harmony with the minimalist aesthetics of the charismatic architect. The book is a distillate of beauty.

The exquisite colour photographs display the magic of the spare aesthetics, elegance and strength of Ando's buildings and surrounding landscape. The accompanying text is succinct and incisive and does justice to the architect and its creations through dissecting and providing a penetrating analysis of the elements that characterize Ando's architecture and individual buildings.

In all, nineteen projects are presented covering a broad spectrum of Ando's work comprising houses, apartment buildings, churches, temples, museums, art foundations, the Japan pavilion expo '92 and the Meditation Space, Unesco.

Three are the primary characteristics in Ando's architecture: the geometry of walls, the geometry of sky and elements derived from the Japanese minimalist aesthetics.

Ando's architecture is an architecture of walls e.g. a freestanding wall, an angled wall piercing a concrete cube or a wall, bisected horizontally, encircling an inner courtyard like a medieval rampart.

Ando employs a limited range of materials and expresses their naked textures. His choice of materials gives his work its characteristic ascetism and tension. His buildings convey a feeling of purity, beauty and strength.

Ando though a master of poured concrete, still relies on natural materials for points that a human being may touch. He invariably uses natural wood for floors, doors, and furniture. As natural materials decay, they become repositories for memory.

Nature, especially the sky, plays a crucial role in Ando's architecture. He abstracts it to his purposes. In order to elude architecture's fundamental nature as a closed-off box, he relies on the sky as the natural element which most affects architectural interiors. In Ando's architecture, the sky is a crucial spatial-structural element. The interplay of light and shadow created by a sharply delineated sky and the three-dimensional forms expressed in concrete walls generate a special fascination in Ando's architecture.

The interlocking relationship between site, structure and empty space provides a formula for bringing a confined area to life.

Ando's architecture is simple, strong and gentle. It joins simplicity of form to complexity of space. It uses naked materials delicate to the touch. Ando's architecture is considered the culmination of Japanese aesthetics. Because the place of nothing is the essence of Japanese culture. A container of aesthetic emotions.

What Ando's buildings always communicate to us is the conviction that architecture is able to give order to the world only when it is based on strong emotions, and the faith that strong emotions are born only by taking up challenges and prevailing. Beauty is not the goal of architecture, only the result.

The Beauty of Absence, 12 Aug 2008
The slim volume of less than one hundred pages and small format is in a way in harmony with the minimalist aesthetics of the charismatic architect. The book is a distillate of beauty.

The exquisite colour photographs display the magic of the spare aesthetics, elegance and strength of Ando's buildings and surrounding landscape. The accompanying text is succinct and incisive and does justice to the architect and its creations through dissecting and providing a penetrating analysis of the elements that characterize Ando's architecture and individual buildings.

In all, nineteen projects are presented covering a broad spectrum of Ando's work comprising houses, apartment buildings, churches, temples, museums, art foundations, the Japan pavilion expo '92 and the Meditation Space, Unesco.

Three are the primary characteristics in Ando's architecture: the geometry of walls, the geometry of sky and elements derived from the Japanese minimalist aesthetics.

Ando's architecture is an architecture of walls e.g. a freestanding wall, an angled wall piercing a concrete cube or a wall, bisected horizontally, encircling an inner courtyard like a medieval rampart.

Ando employs a limited range of materials and expresses their naked textures. His choice of materials gives his work its characteristic ascetism and tension. His buildings convey a feeling of purity, beauty and strength.

Ando though a master of poured concrete, still relies on natural materials for points that a human being may touch. He invariably uses natural wood for floors, doors, and furniture. As natural materials decay, they become repositories for memory.

Nature, especially the sky, plays a crucial role in Ando's architecture. He abstracts it to his purposes. In order to elude architecture's fundamental nature as a closed-off box, he relies on the sky as the natural element which most affects architectural interiors. In Ando's architecture, the sky is a crucial spatial-structural element. The interplay of light and shadow created by a sharply delineated sky and the three-dimensional forms expressed in concrete walls generate a special fascination in Ando's architecture.

The interlocking relationship between site, structure and empty space provides a formula for bringing a confined area to life.

Ando's architecture is simple, strong and gentle. It joins simplicity of form to complexity of space. It uses naked materials delicate to the touch. Ando's architecture is considered the culmination of Japanese aesthetics. Because the place of nothing is the essence of Japanese culture. A container of aesthetic emotions.

What Ando's buildings always communicate to us is the conviction that architecture is able to give order to the world only when it is based on strong emotions, and the faith that strong emotions are born only by taking up challenges and prevailing. Beauty is not the goal of architecture, only the result.

Hundertwasser rocks!!, 01 Nov 2007
The colours of Hundertwasser's paintings practically leap off the pages at the reader. I have several Taschen 25th Anniversary books on artists, but IMHO Harry Rand's book on Hundertwasser is the best yet! Told in English as a series of intimate interviews between Rand and the artist, it contains hundreds of colour and black&white pictures of Hundertwasser's art and of the Man himself.

I knew nothing about Hundertwasser before I bought the book, but I bought the book because the vibrant, pulsating colours of the dustcover called to me. Inside, page after page of the most beautifully coloured paintings led me into a fantasy world filled with lines, spirals, circles and always those vibrant colours. Hundertwasser has now become my favourite artist. When I feel down, all I have to do is gaze at one of his paintings and then suddenly the world is a brighter place again.

Hundertwasser rocks!


A winner of a book!, 28 Aug 2001
This is an art book to die for! Hundertwasser is a miraculous artist whose use of colour is mouthwatering and done full justice to by this publication. Harry Rand's writing is illuminated by quotations from conversations he has conducted with the painter, thus bringing the reader very close to the thinking of the artist. Explanations of paintings and the media in which they are executed add a rich dimension to the colour reproductions which, on their own, make you reluctant to put the book down! Hilary Minor, Guildford, 2001.

The Beauty of Absence, 12 Aug 2008
The slim volume of less than one hundred pages and small format is in a way in harmony with the minimalist aesthetics of the charismatic architect. The book is a distillate of beauty.

The exquisite colour photographs display the magic of the spare aesthetics, elegance and strength of Ando's buildings and surrounding landscape. The accompanying text is succinct and incisive and does justice to the architect and its creations through dissecting and providing a penetrating analysis of the elements that characterize Ando's architecture and individual buildings.

In all, nineteen projects are presented covering a broad spectrum of Ando's work comprising houses, apartment buildings, churches, temples, museums, art foundations, the Japan pavilion expo '92 and the Meditation Space, Unesco.

Three are the primary characteristics in Ando's architecture: the geometry of walls, the geometry of sky and elements derived from the Japanese minimalist aesthetics.

Ando's architecture is an architecture of walls e.g. a freestanding wall, an angled wall piercing a concrete cube or a wall, bisected horizontally, encircling an inner courtyard like a medieval rampart.

Ando employs a limited range of materials and expresses their naked textures. His choice of materials gives his work its characteristic ascetism and tension. His buildings convey a feeling of purity, beauty and strength.

Ando though a master of poured concrete, still relies on natural materials for points that a human being may touch. He invariably uses natural wood for floors, doors, and furniture. As natural materials decay, they become repositories for memory.

Nature, especially the sky, plays a crucial role in Ando's architecture. He abstracts it to his purposes. In order to elude architecture's fundamental nature as a closed-off box, he relies on the sky as the natural element which most affects architectural interiors. In Ando's architecture, the sky is a crucial spatial-structural element. The interplay of light and shadow created by a sharply delineated sky and the three-dimensional forms expressed in concrete walls generate a special fascination in Ando's architecture.

The interlocking relationship between site, structure and empty space provides a formula for bringing a confined area to life.

Ando's architecture is simple, strong and gentle. It joins simplicity of form to complexity of space. It uses naked materials delicate to the touch. Ando's architecture is considered the culmination of Japanese aesthetics. Because the place of nothing is the essence of Japanese culture. A container of aesthetic emotions.

What Ando's buildings always communicate to us is the conviction that architecture is able to give order to the world only when it is based on strong emotions, and the faith that strong emotions are born only by taking up challenges and prevailing. Beauty is not the goal of architecture, only the result.

Hundertwasser rocks!!, 01 Nov 2007
The colours of Hundertwasser's paintings practically leap off the pages at the reader. I have several Taschen 25th Anniversary books on artists, but IMHO Harry Rand's book on Hundertwasser is the best yet! Told in English as a series of intimate interviews between Rand and the artist, it contains hundreds of colour and black&white pictures of Hundertwasser's art and of the Man himself.

I knew nothing about Hundertwasser before I bought the book, but I bought the book because the vibrant, pulsating colours of the dustcover called to me. Inside, page after page of the most beautifully coloured paintings led me into a fantasy world filled with lines, spirals, circles and always those vibrant colours. Hundertwasser has now become my favourite artist. When I feel down, all I have to do is gaze at one of his paintings and then suddenly the world is a brighter place again.

Hundertwasser rocks!


A winner of a book!, 28 Aug 2001
This is an art book to die for! Hundertwasser is a miraculous artist whose use of colour is mouthwatering and done full justice to by this publication. Harry Rand's writing is illuminated by quotations from conversations he has conducted with the painter, thus bringing the reader very close to the thinking of the artist. Explanations of paintings and the media in which they are executed add a rich dimension to the colour reproductions which, on their own, make you reluctant to put the book down! Hilary Minor, Guildford, 2001.

Absolutely Gorgeous!, 25 Jan 2007
This book is the best collection of beautiful photos I have ever seen. If you want a coffee table book to impress, this is the one. It is 99% full-page colour photos, with very little accompanying text, so if you're after the written word, this book is not for you. But if you want stunning photography, full colour and gorgeous detail - buy it - you won't be disappointed!

The Beauty of Absence, 12 Aug 2008
The slim volume of less than one hundred pages and small format is in a way in harmony with the minimalist aesthetics of the charismatic architect. The book is a distillate of beauty.

The exquisite colour photographs display the magic of the spare aesthetics, elegance and strength of Ando's buildings and surrounding landscape. The accompanying text is succinct and incisive and does justice to the architect and its creations through dissecting and providing a penetrating analysis of the elements that characterize Ando's architecture and individual buildings.

In all, nineteen projects are presented covering a broad spectrum of Ando's work comprising houses, apartment buildings, churches, temples, museums, art foundations, the Japan pavilion expo '92 and the Meditation Space, Unesco.

Three are the primary characteristics in Ando's architecture: the geometry of walls, the geometry of sky and elements derived from the Japanese minimalist aesthetics.

Ando's architecture is an architecture of walls e.g. a freestanding wall, an angled wall piercing a concrete cube or a wall, bisected horizontally, encircling an inner courtyard like a medieval rampart.

Ando employs a limited range of materials and expresses their naked textures. His choice of materials gives his work its characteristic ascetism and tension. His buildings convey a feeling of purity, beauty and strength.

Ando though a master of poured concrete, still relies on natural materials for points that a human being may touch. He invariably uses natural wood for floors, doors, and furniture. As natural materials decay, they become repositories for memory.

Nature, especially the sky, plays a crucial role in Ando's architecture. He abstracts it to his purposes. In order to elude architecture's fundamental nature as a closed-off box, he relies on the sky as the natural element which most affects architectural interiors. In Ando's architecture, the sky is a crucial spatial-structural element. The interplay of light and shadow created by a sharply delineated sky and the three-dimensional forms expressed in concrete walls generate a special fascination in Ando's architecture.

The interlocking relationship between site, structure and empty space provides a formula for bringing a confined area to life.

Ando's architecture is simple, strong and gentle. It joins simplicity of form to complexity of space. It uses naked materials delicate to the touch. Ando's architecture is considered the culmination of Japanese aesthetics. Because the place of nothing is the essence of Japanese culture. A container of aesthetic emotions.

What Ando's buildings always communicate to us is the conviction that architecture is able to give order to the world only when it is based on strong emotions, and the faith that strong emotions are born only by taking up challenges and prevailing. Beauty is not the goal of architecture, only the result.

Hundertwasser rocks!!, 01 Nov 2007
The colours of Hundertwasser's paintings practically leap off the pages at the reader. I have several Taschen 25th Anniversary books on artists, but IMHO Harry Rand's book on Hundertwasser is the best yet! Told in English as a series of intimate interviews between Rand and the artist, it contains hundreds of colour and black&white pictures of Hundertwasser's art and of the Man himself.

I knew nothing about Hundertwasser before I bought the book, but I bought the book because the vibrant, pulsating colours of the dustcover called to me. Inside, page after page of the most beautifully coloured paintings led me into a fantasy world filled with lines, spirals, circles and always those vibrant colours. Hundertwasser has now become my favourite artist. When I feel down, all I have to do is gaze at one of his paintings and then suddenly the world is a brighter place again.

Hundertwasser rocks!


A winner of a book!, 28 Aug 2001
This is an art book to die for! Hundertwasser is a miraculous artist whose use of colour is mouthwatering and done full justice to by this publication. Harry Rand's writing is illuminated by quotations from conversations he has conducted with the painter, thus bringing the reader very close to the thinking of the artist. Explanations of paintings and the media in which they are executed add a rich dimension to the colour reproductions which, on their own, make you reluctant to put the book down! Hilary Minor, Guildford, 2001.

Absolutely Gorgeous!, 25 Jan 2007
This book is the best collection of beautiful photos I have ever seen. If you want a coffee table book to impress, this is the one. It is 99% full-page colour photos, with very little accompanying text, so if you're after the written word, this book is not for you. But if you want stunning photography, full colour and gorgeous detail - buy it - you won't be disappointed!

A special talent?, 21 Dec 2006
This is a really nice volume with excellent photography and descriptions of the houses. It's also quite a revealing book in terms of Adjaye's techniques and 'tricks' for acieving certain effects (which is welcome for students and practitioners alike), and also in terms of his status as one of the leading young architects in the U.K right now.

There is perhaps no architect in the U.K today who has divided opinion so much, but whatever you think of him, he's the only well known black architect I know and he seems to have risen to success from nowhere (although he was also a distinguished student). Both reasons for admiration.

My own opinion is that his work to date has very high points (at least some his work IS astounding I believe. I makes me sort of want to give up and go home) and some not so high points (it could be that certain work is less photogenic than others, or it could be that his ideas didn't quite come off).

I think his potential is huge, but I think the fact that he is black will be a barrier/issue, as much for the psycological baggage that this brings (speaking from experience, I'm also of Ghanaian descent) as for any real threat of racism. He'll need to be a strong character. It hasn't effected his progress so far though.

Whatever you think of him, the book shows that Adjaye is clearly very very talented, extremely interesting and thats why the book is worth getting.

I really hope he realises his potential.

The Colours of Light is a beautiful, compact, dense little book that showcases English photographer Richard Pare's stunning takes on the respected, influential Japanese architect Tadao Ando. Pare photographed Ando's work over a 10-year period and, with remarkable consistency, has realised the intricacies of Ando's constructed confrontations between architecture and nature. Pare translates this dialogue with great skill in his photographs and easily manages to convey (convert?) the conversations about space, the absence/presence dialectic, that all buildings declaim. Pare, in his overview essay at the end of the book, says: "Space itself is immovable. It has no movement, though all movement is in space. All space is actually static, and potentially dynamic. We conceive space statically, but we experience it dynamically. The space that is rendered in a photograph is a static space of potential movement". His photographs bear out, but overcome, this tension. Tom Heneghan's introduction wonders if Pare's career as a "photographer of architecture rather than an architectural photographer" have enabled him to so keenly grasp the nature of Ando's work. Whatever the reason this is a remarkable collection. --Mark Thwaite

The Beauty of Absence, 12 Aug 2008
The slim volume of less than one hundred pages and small format is in a way in harmony with the minimalist aesthetics of the charismatic architect. The book is a distillate of beauty.

The exquisite colour photographs display the magic of the spare aesthetics, elegance and strength of Ando's buildings and surrounding landscape. The accompanying text is succinct and incisive and does justice to the architect and its creations through dissecting and providing a penetrating analysis of the elements that characterize Ando's architecture and individual buildings.

In all, nineteen projects are presented covering a broad spectrum of Ando's work comprising houses, apartment buildings, churches, temples, museums, art foundations, the Japan pavilion expo '92 and the Meditation Space, Unesco.

Three are the primary characteristics in Ando's architecture: the geometry of walls, the geometry of sky and elements derived from the Japanese minimalist aesthetics.

Ando's architecture is an architecture of walls e.g. a freestanding wall, an angled wall piercing a concrete cube or a wall, bisected horizontally, encircling an inner courtyard like a medieval rampart.

Ando employs a limited range of materials and expresses their naked textures. His choice of materials gives his work its characteristic ascetism and tension. His buildings convey a feeling of purity, beauty and strength.

Ando though a master of poured concrete, still relies on natural materials for points that a human being may touch. He invariably uses natural wood for floors, doors, and furniture. As natural materials decay, they become repositories for memory.

Nature, especially the sky, plays a crucial role in Ando's architecture. He abstracts it to his purposes. In order to elude architecture's fundamental nature as a closed-off box, he relies on the sky as the natural element which most affects architectural interiors. In Ando's architecture, the sky is a crucial spatial-structural element. The interplay of light and shadow created by a sharply delineated sky and the three-dimensional forms expressed in concrete walls generate a special fascination in Ando's architecture.

The interlocking relationship between site, structure and empty space provides a formula for bringing a confined area to life.

Ando's architecture is simple, strong and gentle. It joins simplicity of form to complexity of space. It uses naked materials delicate to the touch. Ando's architecture is considered the culmination of Japanese aesthetics. Because the place of nothing is the essence of Japanese culture. A container of aesthetic emotions.

What Ando's buildings always communicate to us is the conviction that architecture is able to give order to the world only when it is based on strong emotions, and the faith that strong emotions are born only by taking up challenges and prevailing. Beauty is not the goal of architecture, only the result.

Hundertwasser rocks!!, 01 Nov 2007
The colours of Hundertwasser's paintings practically leap off the pages at the reader. I have several Taschen 25th Anniversary books on artists, but IMHO Harry Rand's book on Hundertwasser is the best yet! Told in English as a series of intimate interviews between Rand and the artist, it contains hundreds of colour and black&white pictures of Hundertwasser's art and of the Man himself.

I knew nothing about Hundertwasser before I bought the book, but I bought the book because the vibrant, pulsating colours of the dustcover called to me. Inside, page after page of the most beautifully coloured paintings led me into a fantasy world filled with lines, spirals, circles and always those vibrant colours. Hundertwasser has now become my favourite artist. When I feel down, all I have to do is gaze at one of his paintings and then suddenly the world is a brighter place again.

Hundertwasser rocks!


A winner of a book!, 28 Aug 2001
This is an art book to die for! Hundertwasser is a miraculous artist whose use of colour is mouthwatering and done full justice to by this publication. Harry Rand's writing is illuminated by quotations from conversations he has conducted with the painter, thus bringing the reader very close to the thinking of the artist. Explanations of paintings and the media in which they are executed add a rich dimension to the colour reproductions which, on their own, make you reluctant to put the book down! Hilary Minor, Guildford, 2001.

Absolutely Gorgeous!, 25 Jan 2007
This book is the best collection of beautiful photos I have ever seen. If you want a coffee table book to impress, this is the one. It is 99% full-page colour photos, with very little accompanying text, so if you're after the written word, this book is not for you. But if you want stunning photography, full colour and gorgeous detail - buy it - you won't be disappointed!

A special talent?, 21 Dec 2006
This is a really nice volume with excellent photography and descriptions of the houses. It's also quite a revealing book in terms of Adjaye's techniques and 'tricks' for acieving certain effects (which is welcome for students and practitioners alike), and also in terms of his status as one of the leading young architects in the U.K right now.

There is perhaps no architect in the U.K today who has divided opinion so much, but whatever you think of him, he's the only well known black architect I know and he seems to have risen to success from nowhere (although he was also a distinguished student). Both reasons for admiration.

My own opinion is that his work to date has very high points (at least some his work IS astounding I believe. I makes me sort of want to give up and go home) and some not so high points (it could be that certain work is less photogenic than others, or it could be that his ideas didn't quite come off).

I think his potential is huge, but I think the fact that he is black will be a barrier/issue, as much for the psycological baggage that this brings (speaking from experience, I'm also of Ghanaian descent) as for any real threat of racism. He'll need to be a strong character. It hasn't effected his progress so far though.

Whatever you think of him, the book shows that Adjaye is clearly very very talented, extremely interesting and thats why the book is worth getting.

I really hope he realises his potential.

Ando and Pare - What rice is to sushi!!, 26 Jul 1999
If you have a slither of appreciation for the finer things on this planet, you definately should not pass up the opportunity to own this title. A book that left me speechless and I mean that!! - 10 Stars -

The Nature of the Unnatural, 17 Apr 1998
The sublime architecture of Ando, delivered on a haunting polychromatic plate by R. Pare. The photos discover many of the wonderful uses of space and form Ando masters and manipulates to tame light into a force that is nearly unrivaled by any other modern architect. Certainly it makes the oft ludicrous shapes of several (ahem) "Experienced" LA-types appear clumsy and banal (Basque'ing in their own glory perhaps?). Most wonderful is the way in which he can make one look at the 'ordinary' materials used (exposed concrete, etc.), and focus on the forms themselves; or better, to enjoy the materials in their place. Why a '9' rather than a perfect score? Though less artistic, I would have enjoyed a few more full-shots along with the other photos to better put each structure into a perspective understandable by those of us unable to visit the sites in person.

The Beauty of Absence, 12 Aug 2008
The slim volume of less than one hundred pages and small format is in a way in harmony with the minimalist aesthetics of the charismatic architect. The book is a distillate of beauty.

The exquisite colour photographs display the magic of the spare aesthetics, elegance and strength of Ando's buildings and surrounding landscape. The accompanying text is succinct and incisive and does justice to the architect and its creations through dissecting and providing a penetrating analysis of the elements that characterize Ando's architecture and individual buildings.

In all, nineteen projects are presented covering a broad spectrum of Ando's work comprising houses, apartment buildings, churches, temples, museums, art foundations, the Japan pavilion expo '92 and the Meditation Space, Unesco.

Three are the primary characteristics in Ando's architecture: the geometry of walls, the geometry of sky and elements derived from the Japanese minimalist aesthetics.

Ando's architecture is an architecture of walls e.g. a freestanding wall, an angled wall piercing a concrete cube or a wall, bisected horizontally, encircling an inner courtyard like a medieval rampart.

Ando employs a limited range of materials and expresses their naked textures. His choice of materials gives his work its characteristic ascetism and tension. His buildings convey a feeling of purity, beauty and strength.

Ando though a master of poured concrete, still relies on natural materials for points that a human being may touch. He invariably uses natural wood for floors, doors, and furniture. As natural materials decay, they become repositories for memory.

Nature, especially the sky, plays a crucial role in Ando's architecture. He abstracts it to his purposes. In order to elude architecture's fundamental nature as a closed-off box, he relies on the sky as the natural element which most affects architectural interiors. In Ando's architecture, the sky is a crucial spatial-structural element. The interplay of light and shadow created by a sharply delineated sky and the three-dimensional forms expressed in concrete walls generate a special fascination in Ando's architecture.

The interlocking relationship between site, structure and empty space provides a formula for bringing a confined area to life.

Ando's architecture is simple, strong and gentle. It joins simplicity of form to complexity of space. It uses naked materials delicate to the touch. Ando's architecture is considered the culmination of Japanese aesthetics. Because the place of nothing is the essence of Japanese culture. A container of aesthetic emotions.

What Ando's buildings always communicate to us is the conviction that architecture is able to give order to the world only when it is based on strong emotions, and the faith that strong emotions are born only by taking up challenges and prevailing. Beauty is not the goal of architecture, only the result.

Hundertwasser rocks!!, 01 Nov 2007
The colours of Hundertwasser's paintings practically leap off the pages at the reader. I have several Taschen 25th Anniversary books on artists, but IMHO Harry Rand's book on Hundertwasser is the best yet! Told in English as a series of intimate interviews between Rand and the artist, it contains hundreds of colour and black&white pictures of Hundertwasser's art and of the Man himself.

I knew nothing about Hundertwasser before I bought the book, but I bought the book because the vibrant, pulsating colours of the dustcover called to me. Inside, page after page of the most beautifully coloured paintings led me into a fantasy world filled with lines, spirals, circles and always those vibrant colours. Hundertwasser has now become my favourite artist. When I feel down, all I have to do is gaze at one of his paintings and then suddenly the world is a brighter place again.

Hundertwasser rocks!


A winner of a book!, 28 Aug 2001
This is an art book to die for! Hundertwasser is a miraculous artist whose use of colour is mouthwatering and done full justice to by this publication. Harry Rand's writing is illuminated by quotations from conversations he has conducted with the painter, thus bringing the reader very close to the thinking of the artist. Explanations of paintings and the media in which they are executed add a rich dimension to the colour reproductions which, on their own, make you reluctant to put the book down! Hilary Minor, Guildford, 2001.

Absolutely Gorgeous!, 25 Jan 2007
This book is the best collection of beautiful photos I have ever seen. If you want a coffee table book to impress, this is the one. It is 99% full-page colour photos, with very little accompanying text, so if you're after the written word, this book is not for you. But if you want stunning photography, full colour and gorgeous detail - buy it - you won't be disappointed!

A special talent?, 21 Dec 2006
This is a really nice volume with excellent photography and descriptions of the houses. It's also quite a revealing book in terms of Adjaye's techniques and 'tricks' for acieving certain effects (which is welcome for students and practitioners alike), and also in terms of his status as one of the leading young architects in the U.K right now.

There is perhaps no architect in the U.K today who has divided opinion so much, but whatever you think of him, he's the only well known black architect I know and he seems to have risen to success from nowhere (although he was also a distinguished student). Both reasons for admiration.

My own opinion is that his work to date has very high points (at least some his work IS astounding I believe. I makes me sort of want to give up and go home) and some not so high points (it could be that certain work is less photogenic than others, or it could be that his ideas didn't quite come off).

I think his potential is huge, but I think the fact that he is black will be a barrier/issue, as much for the psycological baggage that this brings (speaking from experience, I'm also of Ghanaian descent) as for any real threat of racism. He'll need to be a strong character. It hasn't effected his progress so far though.

Whatever you think of him, the book shows that Adjaye is clearly very very talented, extremely interesting and thats why the book is worth getting.

I really hope he realises his potential.

Ando and Pare - What rice is to sushi!!, 26 Jul 1999
If you have a slither of appreciation for the finer things on this planet, you definately should not pass up the opportunity to own this title. A book that left me speechless and I mean that!! - 10 Stars -

The Nature of the Unnatural, 17 Apr 1998
The sublime architecture of Ando, delivered on a haunting polychromatic plate by R. Pare. The photos discover many of the wonderful uses of space and form Ando masters and manipulates to tame light into a force that is nearly unrivaled by any other modern architect. Certainly it makes the oft ludicrous shapes of several (ahem) "Experienced" LA-types appear clumsy and banal (Basque'ing in their own glory perhaps?). Most wonderful is the way in which he can make one look at the 'ordinary' materials used (exposed concrete, etc.), and focus on the forms themselves; or better, to enjoy the materials in their place. Why a '9' rather than a perfect score? Though less artistic, I would have enjoyed a few more full-shots along with the other photos to better put each structure into a perspective understandable by those of us unable to visit the sites in person.

Don't be put off by the title, 19 Aug 2006
This is a really lovely book that can be read cover to cover or dipped into when the mood takes you. I'm a self builder, eco-building anorak and know-all, but still found loads of inspiration in these sumptuous pages. The author has a refreshingly rigorous approach to sustainable design combined with, IMHO, a great visual design sense that made me re-think a number of my assumptions.

Issues are explored and uncertainties are aired and I hope there is a follow up that builds on the lessons learned.

Whether you are a weekend DIY dabbler, serious self builder or 'Grand Designs' dreamer, buy this book, it's a bargain and also makes a great present.

The Beauty of Absence, 12 Aug 2008
The slim volume of less than one hundred pages and small format is in a way in harmony with the minimalist aesthetics of the charismatic architect. The book is a distillate of beauty.

The exquisite colour photographs display the magic of the spare aesthetics, elegance and strength of Ando's buildings and surrounding landscape. The accompanying text is succinct and incisive and does justice to the architect and its creations through dissecting and providing a penetrating analysis of the elements that characterize Ando's architecture and individual buildings.

In all, nineteen projects are presented covering a broad spectrum of Ando's work comprising houses, apartment buildings, churches, temples, museums, art foundations, the Japan pavilion expo '92 and the Meditation Space, Unesco.

Three are the primary characteristics in Ando's architecture: the geometry of walls, the geometry of sky and elements derived from the Japanese minimalist aesthetics.

Ando's architecture is an architecture of walls e.g. a freestanding wall, an angled wall piercing a concrete cube or a wall, bisected horizontally, encircling an inner courtyard like a medieval rampart.

Ando employs a limited range of materials and expresses their naked textures. His choice of materials gives his work its characteristic ascetism and tension. His buildings convey a feeling of purity, beauty and strength.

Ando though a master of poured concrete, still relies on natural materials for points that a human being may touch. He invariably uses natural wood for floors, doors, and furniture. As natural materials decay, they become repositories for memory.

Nature, especially the sky, plays a crucial role in Ando's architecture. He abstracts it to his purposes. In order to elude architecture's fundamental nature as a closed-off box, he relies on the sky as the natural element which most affects architectural interiors. In Ando's architecture, the sky is a crucial spatial-structural element. The interplay of light and shadow created by a sharply delineated sky and the three-dimensional forms expressed in concrete walls generate a special fascination in Ando's architecture.

The interlocking relationship between site, structure and empty space provides a formula for bringing a confined area to life.

Ando's architecture is simple, strong and gentle. It joins simplicity of form to complexity of space. It uses naked materials delicate to the touch. Ando's architecture is considered the culmination of Japanese aesthetics. Because the place of nothing is the essence of Japanese culture. A container of aesthetic emotions.

What Ando's buildings always communicate to us is the conviction that architecture is able to give order to the world only when it is based on strong emotions, and the faith that strong emotions are born only by taking up challenges and prevailing. Beauty is not the goal of architecture, only the result.

Hundertwasser rocks!!, 01 Nov 2007
The colours of Hundertwasser's paintings practically leap off the pages at the reader. I have several Taschen 25th Anniversary books on artists, but IMHO Harry Rand's book on Hundertwasser is the best yet! Told in English as a series of intimate interviews between Rand and the artist, it contains hundreds of colour and black&white pictures of Hundertwasser's art and of the Man himself.

I knew nothing about Hundertwasser before I bought the book, but I bought the book because the vibrant, pulsating colours of the dustcover called to me. Inside, page after page of the most beautifully coloured paintings led me into a fantasy world filled with lines, spirals, circles and always those vibrant colours. Hundertwasser has now become my favourite artist. When I feel down, all I have to do is gaze at one of his paintings and then suddenly the world is a brighter place again.

Hundertwasser rocks!


A winner of a book!, 28 Aug 2001
This is an art book to die for! Hundertwasser is a miraculous artist whose use of colour is mouthwatering and done full justice to by this publication. Harry Rand's writing is illuminated by quotations from conversations he has conducted with the painter, thus bringing the reader very close to the thinking of the artist. Explanations of paintings and the media in which they are executed add a rich dimension to the colour reproductions which, on their own, make you reluctant to put the book down! Hilary Minor, Guildford, 2001.

Absolutely Gorgeous!, 25 Jan 2007
This book is the best collection of beautiful photos I have ever seen. If you want a coffee table book to impress, this is the one. It is 99% full-page colour photos, with very little accompanying text, so if you're after the written word, this book is not for you. But if you want stunning photography, full colour and gorgeous detail - buy it - you won't be disappointed!

A special talent?, 21 Dec 2006
This is a really nice volume with excellent photography and descriptions of the houses. It's also quite a revealing book in terms of Adjaye's techniques and 'tricks' for acieving certain effects (which is welcome for students and practitioners alike), and also in terms of his status as one of the leading young architects in the U.K right now.

There is perhaps no architect in the U.K today who has divided opinion so much, but whatever you think of him, he's the only well known black architect I know and he seems to have risen to success from nowhere (although he was also a distinguished student). Both reasons for admiration.

My own opinion is that his work to date has very high points (at least some his work IS astounding I believe. I makes me sort of want to give up and go home) and some not so high points (it could be that certain work is less photogenic than others, or it could be that his ideas didn't quite come off).

I think his potential is huge, but I think the fact that he is black will be a barrier/issue, as much for the psycological baggage that this brings (speaking from experience, I'm also of Ghanaian descent) as for any real threat of racism. He'll need to be a strong character. It hasn't effected his progress so far though.

Whatever you think of him, the book shows that Adjaye is clearly very very talented, extremely interesting and thats why the book is worth getting.

I really hope he realises his potential.

Ando and Pare - What rice is to sushi!!, 26 Jul 1999
If you have a slither of appreciation for the finer things on this planet, you definately should not pass up the opportunity to own this title. A book that left me speechless and I mean that!! - 10 Stars -

The Nature of the Unnatural, 17 Apr 1998
The sublime architecture of Ando, delivered on a haunting polychromatic plate by R. Pare. The photos discover many of the wonderful uses of space and form Ando masters and manipulates to tame light into a force that is nearly unrivaled by any other modern architect. Certainly it makes the oft ludicrous shapes of several (ahem) "Experienced" LA-types appear clumsy and banal (Basque'ing in their own glory perhaps?). Most wonderful is the way in which he can make one look at the 'ordinary' materials used (exposed concrete, etc.), and focus on the forms themselves; or better, to enjoy the materials in their place. Why a '9' rather than a perfect score? Though less artistic, I would have enjoyed a few more full-shots along with the other photos to better put each structure into a perspective understandable by those of us unable to visit the sites in person.

Don't be put off by the title, 19 Aug 2006
This is a really lovely book that can be read cover to cover or dipped into when the mood takes you. I'm a self builder, eco-building anorak and know-all, but still found loads of inspiration in these sumptuous pages. The author has a refreshingly rigorous approach to sustainable design combined with, IMHO, a great visual design sense that made me re-think a number of my assumptions.

Issues are explored and uncertainties are aired and I hope there is a follow up that builds on the lessons learned.

Whether you are a weekend DIY dabbler, serious self builder or 'Grand Designs' dreamer, buy this book, it's a bargain and also makes a great present.

A fantastic read!, 11 Aug 2008
This is an original and fascinating new study of one of England's great architects. The book explains why Vanbrugh's buildings look the way they do, why Blenheim has the great curved court and why Castle Howard has its Ionic Temple of the Four Winds. Each of Vanbrugh's buildings is interpreted by Hart as a reflection of its patron's character and, more often than not, Whig ambitions. A fascinating read!

The Beauty of Absence, 12 Aug 2008
The slim volume of less than one hundred pages and small format is in a way in harmony with the minimalist aesthetics of the charismatic architect. The book is a distillate of beauty.

The exquisite colour photographs display the magic of the spare aesthetics, elegance and strength of Ando's buildings and surrounding landscape. The accompanying text is succinct and incisive and does justice to the architect and its creations through dissecting and providing a penetrating analysis of the elements that characterize Ando's architecture and individual buildings.

In all, nineteen projects are presented covering a broad spectrum of Ando's work comprising houses, apartment buildings, churches, temples, museums, art foundations, the Japan pavilion expo '92 and the Meditation Space, Unesco.

Three are the primary characteristics in Ando's architecture: the geometry of walls, the geometry of sky and elements derived from the Japanese minimalist aesthetics.

Ando's architecture is an architecture of walls e.g. a freestanding wall, an angled wall piercing a concrete cube or a wall, bisected horizontally, encircling an inner courtyard like a medieval rampart.

Ando employs a limited range of materials and expresses their naked textures. His choice of materials gives his work its characteristic ascetism and tension. His buildings convey a feeling of purity, beauty and strength.

Ando though a master of poured concrete, still relies on natural materials for points that a human being may touch. He invariably uses natural wood for floors, doors, and furniture. As natural materials decay, they become repositories for memory.

Nature, especially the sky, plays a crucial role in Ando's architecture. He abstracts it to his purposes. In order to elude architecture's fundamental nature as a closed-off box, he relies on the sky as the natural element which most affects architectural interiors. In Ando's architecture, the sky is a crucial spatial-structural element. The interplay of light and shadow created by a sharply delineated sky and the three-dimensional forms expressed in concrete walls generate a special fascination in Ando's architecture.

The interlocking relationship between site, structure and empty space provides a formula for bringing a confined area to life.

Ando's architecture is simple, strong and gentle. It joins simplicity of form to complexity of space. It uses naked materials delicate to the touch. Ando's architecture is considered the culmination of Japanese aesthetics. Because the place of nothing is the essence of Japanese culture. A container of aesthetic emotions.

What Ando's buildings always communicate to us is the conviction that architecture is able to give order to the world only when it is based on strong emotions, and the faith that strong emotions are born only by taking up challenges and prevailing. Beauty is not the goal of architecture, only the result.

Hundertwasser rocks!!, 01 Nov 2007
The colours of Hundertwasser's paintings practically leap off the pages at the reader. I have several Taschen 25th Anniversary books on artists, but IMHO Harry Rand's book on Hundertwasser is the best yet! Told in English as a series of intimate interviews between Rand and the artist, it contains hundreds of colour and black&white pictures of Hundertwasser's art and of the Man himself.

I knew nothing about Hundertwasser before I bought the book, but I bought the book because the vibrant, pulsating colours of the dustcover called to me. Inside, page after page of the most beautifully coloured paintings led me into a fantasy world filled with lines, spirals, circles and always those vibrant colours. Hundertwasser has now become my favourite artist. When I feel down, all I have to do is gaze at one of his paintings and then suddenly the world is a brighter place again.

Hundertwasser rocks!


A winner of a book!, 28 Aug 2001
This is an art book to die for! Hundertwasser is a miraculous artist whose use of colour is mouthwatering and done full justice to by this publication. Harry Rand's writing is illuminated by quotations from conversations he has conducted with the painter, thus bringing the reader very close to the thinking of the artist. Explanations of paintings and the media in which they are executed add a rich dimension to the colour reproductions which, on their own, make you reluctant to put the book down! Hilary Minor, Guildford, 2001.

Absolutely Gorgeous!, 25 Jan 2007
This book is the best collection of beautiful photos I have ever seen. If you want a coffee table book to impress, this is the one. It is 99% full-page colour photos, with very little accompanying text, so if you're after the written word, this book is not for you. But if you want stunning photography, full colour and gorgeous detail - buy it - you won't be disappointed!

A special talent?, 21 Dec 2006
This is a really nice volume with excellent photography and descriptions of the houses. It's also quite a revealing book in terms of Adjaye's techniques and 'tricks' for acieving certain effects (which is welcome for students and practitioners alike), and also in terms of his status as one of the leading young architects in the U.K right now.

There is perhaps no architect in the U.K today who has divided opinion so much, but whatever you think of him, he's the only well known black architect I know and he seems to have risen to success from nowhere (although he was also a distinguished student). Both reasons for admiration.

My own opinion is that his work to date has very high points (at least some his work IS astounding I believe. I makes me sort of want to give up and go home) and some not so high points (it could be that certain work is less photogenic than others, or it could be that his ideas didn't quite come off).

I think his potential is huge, but I think the fact that he is black will be a barrier/issue, as much for the psycological baggage that this brings (speaking from experience, I'm also of Ghanaian descent) as for any real threat of racism. He'll need to be a strong character. It hasn't effected his progress so far though.

Whatever you think of him, the book shows that Adjaye is clearly very very talented, extremely interesting and thats why the book is worth getting.

I really hope he realises his potential.

Ando and Pare - What rice is to sushi!!, 26 Jul 1999
If you have a slither of appreciation for the finer things on this planet, you definately should not pass up the opportunity to own this title. A book that left me speechless and I mean that!! - 10 Stars -

The Nature of the Unnatural, 17 Apr 1998
The sublime architecture of Ando, delivered on a haunting polychromatic plate by R. Pare. The photos discover many of the wonderful uses of space and form Ando masters and manipulates to tame light into a force that is nearly unrivaled by any other modern architect. Certainly it makes the oft ludicrous shapes of several (ahem) "Experienced" LA-types appear clumsy and banal (Basque'ing in their own glory perhaps?). Most wonderful is the way in which he can make one look at the 'ordinary' materials used (exposed concrete, etc.), and focus on the forms themselves; or better, to enjoy the materials in their place. Why a '9' rather than a perfect score? Though less artistic, I would have enjoyed a few more full-shots along with the other photos to better put each structure into a perspective understandable by those of us unable to visit the sites in person.

Don't be put off by the title, 19 Aug 2006
This is a really lovely book that can be read cover to cover or dipped into when the mood takes you. I'm a self builder, eco-building anorak and know-all, but still found loads of inspiration in these sumptuous pages. The author has a refreshingly rigorous approach to sustainable design combined with, IMHO, a great visual design sense that made me re-think a number of my assumptions.

Issues are explored and uncertainties are aired and I hope there is a follow up that builds on the lessons learned.

Whether you are a weekend DIY dabbler, serious self builder or 'Grand Designs' dreamer, buy this book, it's a bargain and also makes a great present.

A fantastic read!, 11 Aug 2008
This is an original and fascinating new study of one of England's great architects. The book explains why Vanbrugh's buildings look the way they do, why Blenheim has the great curved court and why Castle Howard has its Ionic Temple of the Four Winds. Each of Vanbrugh's buildings is interpreted by Hart as a reflection of its patron's character and, more often than not, Whig ambitions. A fascinating read!

Zaha Hadid at the Guggenheim , 08 Nov 2006
Buying this book at the exhibition at the Guggenheim museum in New York felt natural after spending hours looking at her drawings, paintings, models, movie interviews and products, and the book did'nt dissapoint me. Maybe except for lacking a few versions of her biggest paintings, but it does not matter so much.

Even if you might be unsure that Zaha Hadid, the first female Pritzker price winner may have architecture that is new to the architect world, this book is a very fine overview of her production. And even if you might not find the similarities between her presentations of a building, her paintings, her models and the building itself, this book presents her in a good way and lets you study her architecure on paper and her techniques.

The book itself is good quality with most of it in thick, black pages (this makes the book bigger and containg less than you would belive when you see it), and it feels good to read. Can be recommended.