CUBA WITHOUT A VISA
Two books offer readers revealing looks at Cuba—vistas that will spur many to visit the island nation by any means possible.
For years Hermes Mallea, a Cuban-American architect and principle in M (Group), has collected photographs of Cuba. He puts these images to great use in Great Houses of Havana, a pictorial history of Cuban design from the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth century. By 1860, Havana was the third largest city in the new world, and Cuban craftsmen and designers appropriated and adapted European and American styles—baroque, neoclassical, art deco—for their well-heeled clients. Soon, foreign designers were bringing their plans to the island. Mallea takes us inside former homes of presidents, ambassadors, tobacco barons and archbishops, showing us, via contemporary and historical photos, courtyards and grand halls, replete with ironwork, marble floors and high-style furnishings. Here are interiors by Maison Jansen (the first truly global design firm) and houses by Beaux Arts greats Carrère & Hastings and Modernist Richard Neutra, as well as Finca Vigía (Lookout Farm), Hemingway’s home. Monacelli Press. Available in November, pre-order through Amazon.com; $75.
Finca Vigía also shows up in The Splendor of Cuba: 450 Years of Architecture and Interiors. Antiquarian Michael Connors and photographer Brent Winebrenner were the first to be allowed in the house-cum-museum after a meticulous restoration by Cuban and American preservationists. (In 2005 Finca Vigía was listed as an endangered site by both the National Trust and the World Monuments Fund.) Connors, who advises private collectors and museums, notes that Cuba is the only place in the Western Hemisphere that has every kind of architectural style from the last 500 years; many of those styles are shown in this book. Rizzoli; $85.
MUSEUM IN A BOOK
Ten years in the making, Phaidon’s monumental The Art Museum brings together highlights from the history of art, all three millennia of it. Artworks from 650 museums, galleries and private collections are laid out in 450 “rooms” (what a less ambitious tome would term pages), divided into 25 “galleries” according to genre or region—such as Byzantine, Neoclassical, Japan, Africa. Sixty-fiverenowned art scholars and specialists share their expertise throughout the 992-page book. A wonderful resource for even the most knowledgeable art buff, it is not for the feeble, weighing in at almost 18 pounds; attempts to read it on one’s lap will lead to loss of circulation. Phaidon, $200.
PUSHING BOUNDARIES
A manifesto urging architects to merge the often-independent realms of architecture and landscape, Diana Balmori and Joel Sanders’ Groundwork is an impressive conversation starter. The authors argue that architects who embrace an integrated practice can actually heal the environment, and give examples to prove it. Projects include homes, public spaces (Seattle Art Museum Olympic Sculpture Park), pavilions and corporate headquarters (Philadelphia’s Urban Outfitters), both built and unrealized, by firms including Snøhetta and Zaha Hadid Architects. Sections—topography, ecology and biocomputation—offer vertical gardens and other mind-bending ideas about how to integrate structures with the exterior world. Monacelli, $50.
