THE CLASSICIST, No. 5, annual journal of the Institute for the Study of Classical Architecture. ISBN: 0-7658-0492-1, (paper). 164 pages; 127 photos, 44 pieces of line art. Limited edition of 1200; $39.95 (plus $4.50 for shipping) ppd. in Please contact Transaction Publishers, Department 99OFCL, 390 Campus Drive, Somerset, New Jersey 08873. Telephone 888-999-6778, Fax: 908-748-9801.the U.S.
| Noted for its high graphic standards as well as its advocacy of contemporary classicism, this issue celebrates the fifth year of publication with a spectacular full-color cover, "Allegory of Architecture," commissioned from artist John Woodrow Kelley, a fellow of the Institute. To keep pace with the burgeoning interest in traditional architecture, interiors, and the decorative and allied arts, the journal's collaborative team of editorial staff, designer, and printer has provided its readers with a thought provoking and informative volume. |
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Old and new readers alike will be delighted with an expanded Essays section that features articles by acclaimed architect and urban theorist Leon Krier and Scottish architect and author Robert Adam. Mr. Krier's essay Howard Roark Defended Against Some of his Admirers rebuts popularly held ideas about Ayn Rand's aesthetic philosophy and her ideas on architecture. Mr. Adam in an essay titled The Other Modern: Tradition in Architecture and Society examines the nature of tradition and its role as a powerful social force that bonds individuals to the community in an ever changing world. |
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The Portfolio section of the journal follows the essays and consists of five distinct parts. The first, the Professional Portfolio, includes the current work of several large, well known architectural and planning firms, as well as that of lesser known architects. Robert A.M. Stern; Ann Beha Associates in Boston, Massachusetts; Carden & Godfrey Architects in London; Cooper Robertson & Partners in New York City; and John Malick & Associates in San Francisco are among the nine offices that have their work represented here. There is a public library, a guesthouse, several residences, two master plans, student housing for a university, and an art gallery, all which display a lively response to working within the classical tradition.
Also included in the portfolio section is a brief View of the Process interview with Thomas Gordon Smith. The former Chairman of the School of Architecture at the University of Notre Dame, Smith discusses the changes he helped facilitate in the curriculum as well as the renovation of the building in which the architecture program is taught. Student work from Notre Dame, the Institute for the Study of Classical Architecture, University of Bologna, Drexel University, and The Prince of Wales's Institute of Architecture are featured in the Academic Portfolio. The Competitions Portfolio gives examples of submissions and winning entrants for the Royal Oak Center in London, a new town center for the village of Plainfield, Illinois, and the Oklahoma City Memorial, Oklahoma City. And finally, the delicate and detailed field sketches by architect Milton Grenfell are reproduced at actual size in the Sketchbooks Portfolio.
The final four sections of THE CLASSICIST, No. 5 begin with a Good Practice article on the practical application of traditional roofing, called "Rafter Tales." The author offers diagrammatic illustration from a variety of sources including J.J Coulton's Ancient Greek Architects and Richard Harris' Discovering Timber Framed Buildings. Following this, journalist Kanchan Limaye provides the reader with a survey of the Allied Arts entitled "Millennial Pioneers, The Artists of Synthesis." Her discussion of the poetry of Michael Lind and Frederick Turner; the music of composer Stephania de Kenessey; the paintings of John Woodrow Kelley and Leonard Porter; as well as the work of numerous others, illustrates how they are attempting to create art that is fully reflective of the human condition in innovative yet enduring ways.
Ex Libris, the journal's book review section includes a recommended reading list as well as reviews of several recently published volumes. Among them, the reviewers give commentary on The Library of Congress: The Art and Architecture of the Thomas Jefferson Building, edited by John Y. Cole and Henry Hope Reed; and Architecture: Choice or Fate, by Leon Krier; as well as On Garden Style, by Bunny Williams with Nancy Drew. The Classicist's Bookshelf provides a comprehensive list of literature of the classical interior from eighteenth century France and England to mid-eighteenth century American to the present.
Lastly, the News of the Institute summarizes the activities and programs of the Institute for the Study of Classical Architecture. Since the 1994-95 premier issue of The Classicist (now out of print), the annual journal has become a harbinger of promoting education and professional practice of contemporary classicism without being dogmatic or elitist. With each issue, the readership expands across the country and reaches lonely classicists, lay, student, or professional, as far away as Australia. Its very existence insures the generation of support and interest necessary to continue the work of the Institute and other related organizations. All this in turn provides a welcome venue for publishing work that mainstream architectural magazines cannot. -- Richard Cameron