Michael Graves: Design for Life

by Ian Volner

One of the most prominent and prolific designers and architects of the late twentieth century, Michael Graves is best known for his popular product designs, including the world-famous Alessi whistling-bird teakettle, and controversial buildings, such as the Portland Building in Oregon, Humana Building in Kentucky, and Dolphin and Swan Hotels at Walt Disney World, Florida. Graves was widely seen as the leading voice of postmodernist architecture, which reintroduced human scale, color, and, sometimes, playful forms into the stark white vocabulary of modernism. Following a devastating illness that paralyzed him from the chest down, Graves became a tireless designer and advocate of improved health-care products and facilities before his sudden death in 2015. Shortly before this, he began a series of interviews with journalist Ian Volner, which form the basis of this biography of a remarkable designer. Volner also conducted numerous interviews with Graves's family, patrons, colleagues, and friends. What emerges is a meticulously researched, anecdote-rich human story, as well as a primer on the American architecture scene of the past sixty years and a portrait of a man whose deep passion for his art brought pleasure to millions.

Genres: Architecture

499 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 24, 2017

Reviews

[Martin Hernandez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Este libro cayó en mis manos como un "regalo inesperado", producto de la promoción de una cadena de librerías que aprovecha fechas como el "Día del Libro" para deshacerse del catálogo obsoleto. Casi siempre te permiten escoger entre una pila de libros con títulos que parecen aburridos, o de auto-ayuda que nadie quiere, o así... al menos éste parecía serio, una edición de tapa dura, bien impreso en papel de calidad, etc, así que no lo pensé demasiado y lo escogí pensando que por el título sería algún texto académico sobre diseño industrial o arquitectura.
Resultó ser la biografía de Michael Graves, un importante arquitecto estadounidense que, además de bien narrada, fue educativa, porque aprendí cosas sobre el lenguaje arquitectónico de las corrientes Modernista y PostModernista :)
Definitivo, no es un libro que yo hubiera comprado, pero resultó una buena adición a mi biblioteca.

[Mills College Library]

Biog G7765v 2018