Jim Olson Houses Hardcover – November 17, 2009

This is a great book about the work of a master architect. I don't think the pictures can do sufficient justice to the spaces as presented...I can only imagine how lovely these buildings might be in real life. The houses are lovely!

This book is great for a person who appreciates great simple yet elegant design in Architecture.

The book is a great introduction to a regional architect and his most iconic works. Pictures are good. A good guide for inspiration.

This is a beautiful book with extremely high quality images. My only complaint, and it is minor, is that I would like to see captions to the photos describing materials used or space considerations, etc. Each project does include a floor plan which is very helpful.

The lost book

I received this book as a Christmas gift and was extremely excited to dig in, however there isn't much to this book. Maybe I had high expectations because Tom Kundig's (the K in OSKA) book is amazing. When compared to Kundig's book there is hardly any process sketches, or details, or text for that matter. Each project begins with an extremely short project description and a small sketch, the floor plans are also small and contain no legend. The pictures in this book while nice, seem repetitive and many are just unnecessary. Lastly the architectural designs themselves apart from the Glass Farmhouse & Bird Watcher's Residence come off as Lavish McMansions.

Nice book. Recommended

The book has drawings and images that really help to unpack the architect's work. The perspective images chosen, alongside their respective house's plans show exactly how a certain plan configuration feels in real life. This, to me, is incredibly indispensable to someone trying to understand more about a residential architect's decision making. The diversity of work showcased is also wonderful. While all are the architect's own brand of modernism, they showcase eclectic, but always appropriate material choices. The only thing that might make the book better is a few more drawn instances of each project (a section or detail in particular) but that may only appeal to aspiring architects who want to know more about each project's anatomy rather than the each project as a showcase. This book is a great resource that I imagine will age well and be very helpful to anyone affiliating themselves with residential design.