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| Photo staging credit: T Illustration by Alexandre Verhille and Sarah Tavernier from The Illustrated Atlas of Architecture and Marvelous Monuments, Copyright Little Gestalten 2016 |
Translated from the French by Noelia Hobeika
Published in September, 2016
Why we chose this book:
T and I both dove into architecture books when the summer reading theme was "Build a Better World." The fascination has remained, but the quantity of architecture books we read has waned. From the cover and description, I anticipated that this would be enthralling. Little Gestalten provided a copy for review.
Mom's Review
An eye-catching atlas of astounding architecture. It is incredible!
Divided into geographic regions, The Illustrated Atlas presents brightly colored maps with select buildings shown alongside many numbered circles. On the next pages, each numbered building from the map is illustrated and accompanied by a few notable facts, the architect, the city and country, and the building dates. The scope is wide, the content fascinating, and anyone with an interest in architecture will be over the moon!
T and I both learned, and will continue to learn, from this oversize picture book. The content is not overwhelming, but ample enough to return to time and time again. I could pour over each page, but T is more interested in flipping back and forth. Some structures we recognized, like the leaning tower of Pisa, the Sydney Opera House, and Angkor Wat. Most were new, and now I want to travel. And I want to travel now! I would particularly like to visit The Great Mosque in Tanzania, which is "the oldest mosque to be found on the East African coast," and I'd like to walk the "320 feet of red curves" leading up to the Niterói Contemporary Art Museum in Brazil. So many incredible buildings, too many to visit in a lifetime, but this book allows one to dream (and it inspires further reading).
T was excited to learn about the buildings that Lightening McQueen and Mater visit in his Golden Book, Travel Buddies, and that Big Anthony visits in Big Anthony: His Story. The leaning tower of Pisa features in several of his books, actually, and he was excited to learn about "the real one!" from this book. I have some kitschy nicknacks in my office, including the Eiffel Tower, Neuschwanstein castle, and the Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed. T was likewise gleeful when he recognized these structures in the book, and matched the models to the illustrations. I think he was most enthusiastic about making personal connections to The Illustrated Atlas. When I asked him about a favorite, he first selected the Sydney Opera House, but then jumped around the world, selecting whatever caught his eye. I guess we have the same problem - with so many incredible creations, how do you select a favorite?
Son's Review
(Age: almost 4)
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| Illustration by Alexandre Verhille and Sarah Tavernier from The Illustrated Atlas of Architecture and Marvelous Monuments, Copyright Little Gestalten 2016 |
Son: What was exciting was that I got to see the tipping tower of Pisa.
Mom: Would you want to visit any of these buildings?
Son: Yeah. I'll show you what I would want to visit. This one [Sydney Opera House].
Mom: It took fifteen years to make!
Son: I wouldn't think it would take so long. I would think it would take fifteen months to make it.
Mom: So is this your favorite building?
Son: Yeah.
Mom: If you could meet the architect of the Sydney Opera House, Jorn Utzon, what would you say to him?
Son: "When I grow up, I'm gonna be a Notre Dame player." Since builders don't know about playing football, I'll tell him about playing football.
Mom: Would you want to build a building or a monument?
Son: A sculpture and a building. I would make a sculpture of a guy sticking his tongue out and waving his arms. Then I would build a building and I would open the door and put the sculpture inside.
Mom: What did you like learning?
Son: What I liked learning was that Mozart got married at Stephansdom.
Mom: I want to learn more about how they built buildings in the sea, like the Hassan II Mosque. What would you like to learn more about?
Son: I would also like to learn more about it. Why did the building on the sea and not on the land? Did they stand in the water or did they stand on land?
Mom: What do you think is the most important thing to know about this book?
Son: The most important thing to know about this book is that it's mainly about buildings. The most important thing to know about this book is that it's a great thing to travel to all these places.
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