Marc Treib

This is a book I wish I had a dozen years ago when I made my first and so far only trip to Japan. Half of my two weeks was spent in Tokyo, while the other half was a road trip, two days of which were in Kyoto. There, my friends and I saw numerous temples and gardens, many that I fail to remember by name. Of course we went to see Ryoan-ji's famous rock garden, and I convinced my friends to see a modern glass temple on the outskirts of the town. With this book, we would have known about show more less-obvious, but still notable, gardens, such as Mirei Shigemori's traditional/contemporary Tofuku-ji. (Years later one of my friends reminded me we actually went there!)

Updated and revised from its initial 1980 release, the book is small, befitting a guidebook. The more than forty gardens, which span seven centuries, are organized geographically in six chapters that are accompanied by maps. Introductory chapters on the history, cultural context, and landscape morphology of Kyoto are particularly helpful, while some color plates up front partially make up for the b/w photos that predominate throughout the rest of the book. show less

At the forefront of the postwar phenomenon known as tropical modernism, Vladimir Ossipoff (1907–1998) won recognition as the “master of Hawaiian architecture.” Although he practiced at a time of rapid growth and social change in Hawaii, Ossipoff criticized large-scale development and advocated environmentally sensitive designs, developing a distinctive form of architecture appropriate to the lush topography, light, and microclimates of the Hawaiian islands.



This book is the first to show more focus on Ossipoff’s career, presenting significant new material on the architect and situating him within the tropical modernist movement and the cultural context of the Pacific region. The authors discuss how Ossipoff synthesized Eastern and Western influences, including Japanese building techniques and modern architectural principles. In particular, they demonstrate that he drew inspiration from the interplay of indoor and outdoor space as advocated by such architects as Frank Lloyd Wright, applying these to the concerns and vernacular traditions of the tropics. The result was a vibrant and glamorous architectural style, captured vividly in archival images and new photography.



As the corporate projects and private residences that Ossipoff created for such clients as IBM, Punahou School, Linus Pauling, Jr., and Clare Boothe Luce surpass their fiftieth anniversaries, critical assessment of these structures, offered here by distinguished scholars in the field, will illuminate Ossipoff’s contribution to the universal challenge of making architecture that is delightfully particular to its place and durable over time. show less

Exhibition catalog: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art February 2 - March 31, 1996