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Common Knowledge

Canonical name: Jodidio, Philip
Birthdate: 1954-04-24
Gender: male
Education: Harvard University (BA)
Occupations: art historian
editor
Organizations: Connaissance des Arts
Awards and honors: Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
Prix de Briey du Livre d'Architecture
Short biography: Philip Jodidio, né en 1954, est un écrivain et critique d'art américain originaire du New Jersey, .
Il a étudié l'histoire de l'art et l'économie à la Université Harvard, et a été rédacteur en chef du magazine français Connaissance des Arts pendant plus de vingt ans. Il a publié de nombreux articles et livres sur l'architecture contemporaine, dont, chez TASCHEN, la série Architecture Now!, Building a New Millenium, des ouvrages sur des architectures originales (dans les arbres ou intégrant de la verdure) ainsi que des monographies sur Tadao Ando, Norman Foster, Richard Meier, Jean Nouvel et Zaha Hadid. Il est un des auteurs internationaux les plus lus dans le domaine de l'architecture.
La somme de ses travaux sur l'architecture contemporaine représente un témoignage exceptionnel du patrimoine mondial.
Nationality: USA
Birthplace: Orange, New Jersey, USA
Places of residence: Lausanne, Switzerland
Associated Place (for map): USA

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48 reviews

Stevil2001 2,704 reviews

Richard Meier & Partners: White is the Light by Philip Jodidio

Over winter break this year, I traveled to the greater Los Angeles area on a trip that was a combination of business (doing research in the Eaton Collection at the University of California, Riverside) and pleasure (seeing my sister who lives in Costa Mesa). One weekend where my sister was otherwise engaged, I spent in the Getty Center, an incredible (and free!) art museum. What I loved was not just the works of art contained in the museum, but the museum as a work of art. Designed by Richard show more Meier, the museum is white, full of light, and constructed out of a number of straight lines. It looks like it comes straight out of a utopian future, and indeed, its entrance hall (pictured on the cover of Jodido's book) was used as part of Starfleet Command in Star Trek Into Darkness. I spent a lot of time just walking around looking at the buildings themselves, and I even went on an architecture tour (me and a bunch of old ladies).

Therefore I spent some time scouring the museum bookstore, looking for a good book on Richard Meier, ideally with a lot of pictures, and I found this gorgeous little volume from Taschen. Philip Jodido provides a nine-page overview of Meier's life and career, and then writeups on 21 different buildings, each with a page or two of text, and 2-4 pages of high-quality photographs. It's exactly what I wanted out of a book on Meier: there are a lot of amazing buildings to pore over, and I appreciated the insight into his process. Meier's works, from a 1965 Connecticut house to the 1998 domed San Jose City Hall, from 1978 Arp Museum in Germany to the 1996 Jubilee Church in Rome, share a consistent design aesthetic without ever feeling repetitive. The book is filled with great photographs (the majority are by Scott Frances and Ezra Stoller) that really show off the majesty of Meier's vision. I'd love to visit more of these places and just walk through them, but for now this book is the best substitute I've got. show less

Aug 9, 20151 other review

archidose 2,206 reviews

Green Architecture by James Wines

Years after I bought this book by James "SITE" Wines, I saw the outspoken architect lecture (I wrote about some of his talk here) when he asserted that he was practicing "green architecture" before it was a thing, before it could be labelled as such, before it became popular with mainstream architects. But he didn't do it by building earth-berm houses or the like in the 70s; he designed temporary structures and art installations that merged art, architecture and landscape in ways that others show more weren't doing at the time. One of his BEST Showrooms, in fact, was "green" in that it had a zone of trees between the detached facade and the showroom proper (it is now a church). So it makes some sense that Wines would pen a book of green architecture, reaching back far in time but focusing on recent exemplars of environmental architecture. The latter is not made up of LEED-accredited buildings or other mainstream examples, but instead follows his alternative means of seeing how architecture and landscape can relate, both intellectually and formally. His prose is not the most graceful, but the book is a good one for this clear eye for good green architecture and the strength of his convictions. show less

Apr 12, 2015 (Edited)3 other reviews

annbury 1,502 reviews

Renzo Piano (Taschens Basic Architecture) by Philip Jodidio

This agreeably compact Taschen review of the work of Renzo Piano is mostly about the photos, which are beautiful and evocative of the buildings they present. Otherwise, the book provides a quick introduction to Piano's career and works. For serious study one would need more, but this is great to take along if you are travelling to the places where these buildings are located

Jul 14, 2014

archidose 2,206 reviews

The New Pavilions by Philip Jodidio

I'd say this is the latest book by prolific architectural writer Philip Jodidio, but by the time this post is online another book of his will probably be released. Like other books by Jodidio, this one collects a bunch of contemporary buildings, in this case pavilions, be they temporary, like the annual PS1 and Serpentine pavilions, or permanent, as in the cover project by Snøhetta. Pavilions are a perfect subject for a contemporary collection, since they enable young and established firms show more alike to experiment with form, program, and other features. The numerous projects are put into seven quasi-typological chapters: gather, objets d'art, learn, exhibit, look/listen, live/work/play, and shelter. I say quasi-typological, since many pavilions are devoid of programmatic functions, and therefore projects in this book can fall easily into one or another chapter. show less

Dec 17, 2023

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