From the Enrichment Committee:
We began this year filled with ideas for fun and enriching gatherings to build closer connections between members of the docent and the volunteer ranks. Then, Corona.
We’re hanging on to all of those plans and once non-essential social gatherings are a bit safer, we’ll be rolling them out and hope that all of you will be as eager to get back together as the members of this committee are.
But, as we also have more quiet time to read and have become accustomed to Zoom, we’d like to assess your interest in forming virtual book discussion groups for the Summer/Early Fall. The link below has only 3 questions. Please take a look, give us your feedback by Monday, June 8. We’ll publish results/next steps in the Bridge on Friday, June 12.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/J5VDJ83
You can click on the name of the book below to learn more about it:
Genius of Place by Justin Martin
The Architect of Desire: Beauty and Danger in the Stanford White Family by Suzannah Lessard
From Bauhaus to Our House by Tom Wolfe
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
The Gray Cloth by Paul Scheebart
Artificial Love: A Story of Machines and Architecture by Paul Shepheard
Building Art: The Life and Work of Frank Gehry by Paul Goldberger
Stay safe, stay well.
There are some very active book clubs, and this is a good way for people to learn yet more about architecture. I’d like to suggest that the books in the Monkey Survey be listed separately, so docents can do a bit of research before responding to the survey. It would also be good to have docents suggest architecture related books that might generate conversations.
Hi Barbara,
The post has been updated with links to learn more about each book!
Two of my all time favorite books on architecture are “How Buildings Learn, What happens after they’re built”, by Stewart Brand (creator of The Whole Earth Catalog) and “A Place of My Own: The Education of an Amateur Builder” by Michael Pollan, yes the same guy that wrote Omnivore’s Dilemma.
This looks interesting. However, I don’t know many of the books and I can’t get the links for more information to work. I can’t even copy them from the form, so I can’t really respond in an informed manner. Is there another way to share those links? I tried 2 different browsers, but had the same problem in both.
Hi Steve,
The post has been updated with links to learn more about each book!
I love the idea of uniting us. I am in 2 book clubs so one more sounds overwhelming. Any thoughts to articles or short videos?
It’s been a struggle to get hands on real Books but maybe the libraries are opening soon. Prefer shorter content. I do my best to get to articles on the Bridge and am keeping engaged with CAC live. Appreciate the contact for sure.
Love Suzy’s suggestion! A discussion group for shorter content sounds great, hard for me to commit to longer form content – video, or article based would be awesome!
Kevin, “A place if my own” very difficult to buy. No paperbacks available. It’s on kindle but don’t use it.
I have read The Glass Room by Simon Mawer-the somewhat overwrought Amazon review doesn’t quite make the case for the architecturally compelling appeal. This is a haunting re-imaging of Mies’ Villa Tugendhat in Brno in what is now the Czech Republic. Here the architect is Rainer Von Abt (though Mies is mentioned in passing ) and this is Landauer Haus, the client a wealthy Jewish manufacturer. The building itself has the wight and gravity of a primary character. Its cool calm rationality embodies the spirit of modernity and the forward looking new republic of Czechoslovakia. .Mawer vividly evokes the, political optimism and cultural vibrancy of this young country, all cut short when it is betrayed and abandoned by the West.Like a number of British authors, his writing and research skills are equally impressive (this was short listed for Mann Booker prize). Robert Harris (Enigma, Fatherland) comes to mind as a similar type of novelist. .
For those interested in WWII spy novels, I would recommend Trapeze, in which his heroine parachutes into occupied France as a Special Operations Executive agent, knowing it is likely she will not come out of this alive. Recently there has been more awareness and emphasis on the courageous female SOE agents, many of whom were betrayed, captured by the Nazis, tortured and imprisoned and even executed.
I love the idea of a virtual book group! My only concern is accessibility of books–those that might be accessed through the library (e-books?) would be preferable. They ALL look interesting!
Ingrid