Product Details
Salmela Architect

Salmela Architect
By Thomas Fisher

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Product Description

Salmela Architect provides an in-depth look at one of America's leading "critical regionalist" architects. Salmela's buildings resolve a central question of our time: how to balance the various extreme positions that characterize contemporary architecture and culture. Salmela accomplishes this by juxtaposing opposites: modernist and traditional forms, open and cellular plans, large and small scales, familiar elements used in unfamiliar ways. His projects range from a small stand-alone sauna to commercial spaces visited by thousands of people, and his buildings, mostly situated in the upper Midwest, have become nationally and internationally known. Salmela Architect showcases twenty-six completed buildings and sixteen current projects in lavish color photographs and architectural drawings, enabling readers to get a full sense of the practicality, ethnicity, and playfulness apparent in David Salmela's work. Architecture critic Thomas Fisher explores Salmela's propensity to draw from regional roots as he creates designs particular to individual places and cultures yet with universal appeal. Fisher illuminates this synchronicity with projects as prominent as the Gooseberry Falls Visitors Center and Wild Rice Restaurant as well as residential projects including the acclaimed Jackson Meadow community and photographer Jim Brandenburg's Ravenwood Studio.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #254356 in Books
  • Published on: 2005-05-05
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 200 pages

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Thomas Fisher is dean of the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of Minnesota. He is the former editor of Progressive Architecture magazine and is the author of In the Scheme of Things (Minnesota, 2000). David Salmela is a self-trained architect practicing in Duluth, Minnesota. Since 1985 his projects have won fourteen Minnesota AIA Honor Awards and sixteen national level awards including a National AIA Honor Award for Architecture.

Customer Reviews

An Important Voice in American Architecture4
I was introduced to Salmela's work through some friends living in Minnesota. One wintry weekend we toured his Jackson Meadow subdivision, taking our time to examine nearly every property: the specific architecture of each structure, the landscaping, and the feel of the development as a whole. Our feelings were substantially complex, ranging from awe and intrigue to doubt and disturbance. But Salmela's signature on the land was definitely singular, and we all agreed that in some way, his work had blended with the natural world.

This book is a great primer for entering Salmela's world. The photography is clean and expansive and the chosen sites are almost all spectacular. In particular, the coverage of Jim Brandenburg's home is noteworthy. Salmela's work on Brandenburg's property is spectacular and resonant with Falling Waters in my humble opinion.

If you are a Midwesterner interested in architecture, buy this book and enjoy.

Spectacular photography and architecture!5
This book is a lyrical tribute to the work of Minnesota architect David Salmela. The text is knowledgeable and engaging (Fisher is dean of the U of M's College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture), and the large format photographs are beautiful and vivid, inviting the viewer to "walk right in." Highly recommended for anyone interested in architecture, interior design or photography!

Excellent overview of extraordinary work5
This is a handsome book, well organized and full of excellent photographs and clear, readable plan and elevation drawings. It is a wonderful addition to the library of anyone interested in thoughtful and articulate architecture. Salmela's work is beautiful and rich, and this book does it justice. I'm very glad to have this in my library.