David Adjaye : making public buildings /

This is the second book to appear on African-born, London-based architect Adjaye. It accompanies an exhibition called Making Public Buildings at the Whitechapel galleries in London. This exhibition, accompanying books, and other awards confirm Adjaye's status as a rising architectural superstar, a Zaha Hadid in the making. The other book on Adjaye's work, David Adjaye: Houses: Recycling, Reconfiguring, Rebuilding (CH, Nov'05, 43-1367), also edited by Allison, focused on Adjaye's seductive and provocative residential designs. The book at hand extends Adjaye's unique, unsettling design vocabulary to the public realm, illustrating such works as the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, Norway, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver. The secret of Adjaye's success is that he bridges Third World and Free World, i.e., the archaic and allusive world of primitive artifacts and the brave new world of 21st-century technology and materials. Trenchant essays and interviews by cutting-edge critics and teachers. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals; two-year technical program students. P. Kaufman Boston Architectural Center