The Most Beautiful House in the World

This book is like a conversation with an architect and as conversations sometimes go, Rybczynski goes on many rabbit trails, some interesting, some tedious. And then he will land upon a nugget of real value to someone interested in designing a house. Things like, "A building has to be simple enough t......more

Just lovely. The whole project sounded awesome from the beginning and I simply loved how all architects and writers were weaved in the narration. This is a gem.......more

Every so often I find a book that is exceptionally good, to me at least. A couple weeks ago while rummaging through a couple boxes of books at my favorite book store, (City Books) I came across a book with a nice looking dust cover, pebbled paper with a watercolor of a house on it. It was entitled......more

Beginning in whimsy and dream, Rybczynski was one day called upon to begin sailing, and, not only to sail, but to build the craft of his dreams. To that end, he needed a location; finding land, he found that, through the twists of fate, he and his wife accidentally ended up with their dream home. Th......more

A fascinating look at the world of architecture. Rybczynski is an architect himself and in this book he tells the story of building what was to be a boat building shed that morphs into a house for he and his wife. Along the way he makes several digressions into the history of architecture.......more