Product Description

Among the critical adulation that follows VJAA wherever they build, you'll find words like graceful, beautiful, sublime, quiet, classic, disciplined, and light—all suggesting the kind of alchemy that makes the work of this Minnesota-based firm so highly regarded. The magic they perform—marrying the simple forms of modernism with the rich materials of their sites in a thoughtful framework that encourages social interaction and environmental responsibility—is carefully illustrated and explained in this monograph, which evokes the very qualities that make their work so seductive and compelling. A former furniture maker, principal Vincent James brings the woodworker's appreciation of materials, details, joinery, and structure to the firm's work, which here includes both their award-winning houses such as the Dayton and Type/Variant houses and institutional projects, such as the Minneapolis Rowing Club, Tulane University Center, and St. John's Abbey and Monastery Guesthouse. Along with an introductory essay by Hashim Sarkis, partners Vincent James and Jennifer Yoos provide a captivating and insightful portrait of their talented young firm.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #552926 in Books
• Published on: 2006-12-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

About the Author
Vincent James and Jennifer Yoos are principals of VJAA, an architectural firm established in Minneapolis in 1995.

Customer Reviews

Illustrating the Wide Range of Designs
Through splendid photographs and insiteful text, this book explains the special approach that VJAA brings to architecture. The general style of their designs fits into the modernism but with more of a sense of oneness with the site, not only its physical attributes but the sociological and cultural aspects of the site.

The buildings cover a range of uses from single family residences and a unique house for twin brothers who want to be close to each other but retain their privacy and different life styles, to multi family structures, to institutional buildings for a wide variety of purposes. The smallest units are some apartments in New York, the largest is 200,000 square feet of mixed-use housing.

The range of buildings is striking, even though they could all be called modern, the individual appearances are as different as can be imagined and serve to illustrate the freedom from 'standards' that VJAA uses in their designs.