Icons of World Architecture

As architect, designer and especially author, Swiss master Werner Blaser has always asked, ''What is good architecture?'' In this copiously illustrated, comprehensive book, Blaser - author of books on Mies Van Der Rohe, Aalto, Meier, Piano, Jahn and Ando, among many others - offers his answer. Drawing on photographs from his impressive archive, which he accompanies with short explanatory texts, Werner Blaser vividly demonstrates the basic foundations of architecture and perception. In a few fascinating sections, for example, he describes the relation between the Finnish landscape and the works of Aalto; shows how Calatravas uses natural principles in his architecture; reveals how Piano works with light. He also considers traditional Chinese and Indian architecture, and the relation between archetype and image and the element of silence. A brilliant summing-up by archtecture's geat thinkers.