Steven Holl Parallax
By Steven Holl

Steven Holl writes about architecture with poetic, far-reaching words. In his book "Parallax", released in November 2000, he describes the Bellevue Museum and other recent projects in terms of "chemistry of matter" and "pressure of light." Parallax provides a personal tour of the work of one of the world's most esteemed architects.

Photo: Lara Swimmer
A light cove at Bellevue Art Museum

What makes Steven Holl one of the most celebrated architects working today? In Parallax we learn his success comes from his sculptural form making, his interest in the poetics of space, color, and materiality, and his fascination with scientific phenomena. Holl reveals his working methods in this, his biggest and most ambitious book yet on his work-part treatise, part manifesto, and part, as Holl writes,"liner notes" to fifteen recent projects, some never before published.

Sketch courtesy Steven Holl
Concept sketch for the Knut Hamsun Museum, Norway

Drawing courtesy Steven Holl
Sketch for the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Finland

Parallax traces Holl's ideas on topics as diverse as the "chemistry of matter" and the "pressure of light," and shows how they emerge in his architectural work: "strange attractors" at Cranbrook, "porosity" in his new dormitory at MIT, "tripleness" in the new Bellevue Art Museum in Washington.

Sketch courtesy Steven Holl
"Tripleness"
Concept sketch for the Bellevue Art Museum

Parallax is designed by Michael Rock of the award-winning design firm 2x4. It is the fourth book on Holl's work, following Anchoring, Intertwining, and The Chapel of St. Ignatius.

Photo: arcspace
The Chapel of St. Ignatius, Seattle