Summary

The 31 buildings in question are recipients of the American Institute of Architects' 25-Year Award, granted annually to a structure whose impact has stood the test of a quarter century of time.

Going beyond appreciation, Shepherd's book is a search for meaning, exploring each building's conception, design process, and impact on community, users, architecture, and the culture itself.

Featuring work by immortals such as Frank Lloyd Wright; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; Louis Kahn; Ludwig Mies van der Rohe; Eero Saarinen; and Charles and Ray Eames, Structures of Our Time takes you behind the drawing boards where historic breakthroughs first occurred. Less well-known architects and structures are also examined, bringing a rare balance to the story of 20th Century architecture.

The book's 400 lush images are a mix of historic and more recent photos, some iconic and some never before published. Preliminary plans and drawings fill out the rich visual array and tell as much as the text itself. Structures of Our Time is the first in a series of Architectural Record Books.

A traveling exhibition will premiere at Shepherd's book signing at the Octagon Museum in Washington, D.C. on January 10, 2002. The show will then be at the annual "Accent on Architecture" Gala at the National Building Museum in DC (organized by the American Architectural Foundation) on March 1, 2002 and be featured at the AIA Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina in May, 2002. The exhibition

Choice Review

What makes a building successful? This is the theme and key question answered in the presentation of the edifices in Structures of Our Time. Shepherd (designer, Parsons School of Design) prepared this volume in honor of the 110th anniversary of the Architectural Record. The first in a series, Structures is a testament to the virtues of modernism, from its emergence to the initial decline of its authority. The selected structures, constructed from 1930 to 1970, all have won the American Institute of Architects' 25-year award and are grouped, by affinity, into eight chapters. The text for each building ranges from conception to completion, including architect's discussions and thoughts on customizing and expression, the materials employed, and the fit into the surrounding environment. Color, black-and-white, and historic photographs superbly illustrate the text and the building. This work would be interesting if it stopped here, but the best part is the sidebars on each page. They uniquely complement the main text with tidbits of relevance such as architectural precedents, fashionable interiors, period publications, and futuristic influences. The final product is a well-rounded publication on modernism, select architecture, and its impact on society. Graduate students; faculty; professionals. L. B. Sickels-Taves Eastern Michigan University