[.ca] Patkau Architects (ISBN 1580931693)

Not a great buy:
The book includes nice photography of the firm's work, some section details and floor plans. No construction detailing is included. Most of the photographs, however, are available through the firm website. They are photographs of either the finished building or the finished study model. Otherwise, it is sparse and underwhelming. The project descriptions are short (and describe the final product only), which altogether with the photographs, do not bother to instruct us on the progression of thought and work that went into the projects. The few concept diagrams are not self-explanatory, but are left unlabelled and unexplained. Rather the opposite, the sparseness feels secretive and maybe pretentious. If you are looking for a general overview of work by the Patkau firm, their website is enough. If you are hoping to gain some deeper insight into the firm and their work, the Patkau Architects book may not be the best way to do that.

Serious People....Serious Work:
This is a gorgeous book documenting the recent work of Canada's best architecture firm.The serious commitment to the exploration of the genesis of space is a rare a beautiful task to behold. Buy the book....the apirations within trancend the here and now.