Stone Work - Designing with Stone

Stone's richness of texture, colour, and finish cannot be found in other materials; it is senuous to the touch, striking to the eye, and pleasing to the soul. Malcolm Holzman's Stone Work demonstrates not only that the application of stone can still result in architecture unlike that created from other materials, but also that it can be of more interest today than it has been in the recent past. His objective is to raise public awareness about the material and to inlfuence architects to explore this natural building material. Stone is not a vanishing resource, rather the opposite is true. However, making architecture with this material often requires putting aside accepted strictures and finding a means to work with, and understand, its physical qualities. Stone Work features vignettes about observing antiquities as well as commonplace structures, and about manufacturing stone and making buildings. It focuses on the role stone can play in making exceptional architecture. The book features many of Ho

Building with stone and buildings in stone by award-winning U.S. practitioner Holzman (b. 1940) are featured in this pictorial album, first published last year in Australia. Holzman, a founder of Hardy Holzman Pfieffer Associates and architect of the acclaimed San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, TX, and the Highland House (Madison, WI), recounts his clarity of vision and passion for stone construction in a concise, jargon-free accompanying text. An appendix lists 17 projects (including public libraries, performing arts centers, museums, and municipal and university commissions), along with construction and engineering details, elevations, and site plans; a biography notes that Holzman's buildings appear in 25 states and that he prefers local quarries whenever possible. Unfortunately, dates are not given for the buildings on display; equally bewildering is the absence of an index or a bibliography of the mostly positive literature regarding Holzman's projects. These flaws aside, the book works well: the photos are evocative, and there's much of interest to both architects and stone masons. For general collections. Russell T. Clement, Northwestern Univ. Lib., Evanston, IL
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