ARQUITECTURA Y DISEÑO

JLF Architects, based in Bozeman, Montana, and Jackson Hole, Wyoming, believe first and foremost that architecture should be rooted in its particular place, responding in a meaningful way to the natural or built environment. Using local materials and partnering with the best local craftsmen, JLF Architects seeks to create buildings that are tactile and modern, environmentally responsible and authentic, artful and crafted. Now more than 30 years since its founding, the firm has grown along with the range and complexity of its projects, and still considers the desire to build in part-nership with the land to be an approach that remains valid and increasingly resonant. JLF Architects’ first projects were houses and these projects excite the firm still. JLF Architects have found that by exploring the inti-mate relationship between family, place, and building they can create unique living environments that possess a compelling authenticity and beauty.

A stunning selection of projects from the Spanish architect and interior designer Fran Silvestre, known for his sleek, luxurious aesthetic. In 2005, Fran Silvestre founded his Valencia-based interior design studio and architecture firm, Fran Silvestre Arquitectos. With its clean lines and minimalist yet sophisticated style, the practice rapidly attracted international renown. This monograph presents Fran Silvestre’s finest projects that display his ethos of “efficient beauty.” Driven by the search for architectural continuity and the aim to create ideal places to live in, Silvestre pays special attention to the cohesion of his buildings within their natural environment—the volumes celebrate their surroundings rather than take away from them. From the sunny shores of Valencia and Alicante in Spain to the verdant hillsides of Brazil and Colombia to Los Angeles and China, the striking projects illustrate Silvestre’s approach of conceiving architecture that “holds onto air and walks on water.” Complete with an informative text written by leading expert Philip Jodidio, this new title will inspire readers to see architecture in a new way.

A wide-ranging book on the timeless, elegant interiors of the versatile Frances Elkins, the grande dame of early twentieth-century design who influenced so many important designers of our time. Called “the most creative designer we have ever had” by Billy Baldwin, Frances Elkins has been revered for her classic, erudite, and multidimensional decor. Ahead of her time, Elkins became a successful decorator who by the early 1930s had reached the top of her profession and was considered the only rival to Elsie de Wolfe. Working throughout the United States, Elkins brought an international perspective and architectural sensibility to her work. Elkins traveled widely with her architect brother David Adler, educated at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, and he was a strong influence on her. Her social circle included interior designer Jean-Michel Frank, couturière Coco Chanel, aesthete Charles de Beistegui, arts patron Misia Sert and painter Salvador Dali, For her clients, she brought a modern European chic as well as a melding of the best of American, English, French,, Asian and Mexican traditions. A talented furniture and fabric designer as well as interior designer, she collaborated with many luminaries, including Frank; architects Adler, Gardner Dailey, and William Wurster; weaver Dorothy Liebes; decorator Syrie Maugham; the artist Bruton sisters; and furniture maker Myron Oliver. Her carefully planned interiors were known for their distinctive sophistication and polish, and an inviting sense of comfort.

Fresh Fly Fabulous: 50 Years of Hip Hop Style draws on the experiences and memories of those who were there, from a foreword by Slick Rick, to interviews with Disco Fever club owner Sal Abbatiello and designers Dapper Dan and April Walker, to chapters from Vibe stylist Emil Wilbekin and former editor of The Source Kim Osorio. Topics cover the range of hip hop’s influential style over the past half century, tracing the evolution from early hip hop style, born of aspiration, individuality, and practicality to contemporary fashion steeped in luxury brands. Hip hop style is a local story, told through spotlights on Times Square as an early fashion space, as well as an international phenomenon, shown in the prominence of hip hop fashion leaders on red carpets. Inventiveness, the art of the remix, and a diverse set of influences are consistent themes in sections that examine hip hop style from hair and nails to shoes and sneakers.

Beauty and elegance mingle with extravagance in the Palm Beach style of architect Marion Sims Wyeth, a kind of home design that takes the standard fixtures of paradise palm trees, ebullient fountains, glistening pools and gardens, views of the sea and mixes them with a dash of the exotic a Moorish-style balcony or doorway, Venetian archways, fanciful courtyards in the Spanish style, and spiralling staircases in stone and iron. Featured here are the legendary abodes of Marjorie Merriweather Post and Doris Duke Mar-a-Lago and Shangri La, respectively as well as the less well known but equally spectacular Hogarcito and La Claridad, to name but a few. For those unfamiliar with these dream palaces, intimate homes of repose and reflection, for the enjoyment of life and the living of it, the book serves at once as a revelation and an inspiration.

A tribute to the unique, historic home and New York City treasure--a classic volume first published in 2005 is here revised and updated for today, with a new foreword by Mayor Bill de Blasio and First Lady Chirlane McCray. In this handsomely illustrated paean to New York City's mayoral residence, author Ellen Stern charts the history of Gracie Mansion from its construction as Archibald Gracie's country home in 1799, to its importance as the home of New York City's mayors and their families, to its splendid restoration in 2002, to its new role today as a center of diversity and openness--the people's house. Blending the mansion's architectural and decorative progress with anecdotal portraits of the mayoral families, exclusive interviews with many of those who have lived and worked here, and over 200 paintings and watercolors, letters and maps, invitations and elevations, designers sketches, and before and after photos, this beautiful volume, written with the cooperation of the Gracie Mansion Conservancy, is the definitive account of a beloved New York landmark that is more popular today than ever before.