Wiel Arets: Works, Projects, Writings
This first full-length monograph devoted to the talented 47-year-old Dutch architect Arets contains a complete list of his works, a beautiful photographic catalog of his built commissions, and a small selection of theoretical writings. It comes with prestigious endorsements by the great critic and historian Anthony Vidler and two cutting-edge American architects, Greg Lynn and Stan Allen, all of whom contribute critical essays. Arets is almost totally unknown to Americans, unlike his analogous Swiss contemporaries Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron. The spare, economical, harsh forms of all three architects wring industrial poetry from steel, glass, concrete, and metal, giving new meaning to the "Calvinist austerity" of modern architecture. Arets's work will not be richly appreciated in America except by an architectural elite; his esoteric forms are too hard-edged and antisocial. Indeed, most of his buildings look like prisons. For specialized architecture and fine arts libraries.Peter S. Kaufman, Boston Architectural Ctr.Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.