Ivan Margolius

Reflections of Prague is the story of how a Czech Jewish family become embroiled in the most tragic and tumultuous episodes of the twentieth century. Through their eyes we see the history of their beloved Prague, a unique European city, and the wider, political forces that tear their lives apart. Their moving story traces the major events, turmoil, oppression and triumphs of Europe through the last hundred years – from the Austro-Hungarian Empire to the First World War; from the vibrant artistic and intellectual life of Prague in the times of Kafka, the Capek Brothers and Masaryk to years of hunger in a Polish ghetto and the concentration camps of Hitler; from the tyrannous rule of Stalin to the rekindled hopes of Dubcek and the subsequent Soviet occupation to liberation under Havel. Told from Ivan’s perspective, it is a poignant but uplifting tale that tells of life lived with purpose and conviction, in the face of personal suffering and sacrifice. ‘A remarkable book. This archetypical story of the twentieth century is intertwined with an almost stream-of-consciousness narrative of the history of the Czechs, of Prague, interspersed with samples of exquisite poetry by great contemporary poets. So the narrative flows like Eliot’s sweet Thames full of the debris of tragic lives, of horrors, of moments of beauty and testimonies of love – all against the backdrop of man’s inhumanity.’ Josef Škvorecký ‘A poignant and vivid mémoire of a child searching for traces of his father, lost in the murky ideologies of post war Central Europe. An engrossing book.’ Sir John Tusa

Journeys Through the 20th Century

Reflections of Prague

John G. Henry

Tatra – The Legacy of Hans Ledwinka is the story of the Tatra company, which originated in the Central European country of Czechoslovakia. It is a tale of great innovation and avant-garde design in automobile engineering. It is also the story of one man – Hans Ledwinka – and his visionary concepts which have become highly influential, although often undervalued, contributions to the development of car technology. Until now, Hans Ledwinka's talent has hardly been recognised; in retrospect, he can be judged equal to car designers such as Benz, Daimler and Porsche, whose endeavours have been fully recorded many times over. With his revolutionary Tatra cars, Ledwinka consistently pushed back the frontiers of automobile construction, and it’s certain that without his inspiration, the Volkswagen in its air-cooled rear-engined form would perhaps never have been conceived. This book suggests that Ledwinka played a greater part in this development than has previously been appreciated. The authors have covered the full history of the Tatra company, which is one of the oldest factories in continuous automobile manufacture, dating back to the 19th century. By doing this, they have placed both Ledwinka and the Czechoslovak Tatra company in their rightful place in the history of car design, and provided a fully comprehensive assessment of the influence of Tatra car designs and their inspired creator. The text of this larger format 2nd edition has been fully revised and updated since the 1990 edition. This new edition also contains many additional illustrations. The book also has a new foreword, written by Norman Foster, the British architect, and proud owner of a Tatra T87, who pays tribute to the aesthetic qualities of this design classic and captures the fascination of both designers and motor historians with the development of Tatra.

Tatra - The Legacy of Hans Ledwinka

Richard Rogers

- Lavishly produced with silk case, one gatefold, and 28 pages of insertions on special pages - A collaboration between renowned architect Richard Rogers and architect and writer Ivan Margolius - Features the drawn designs for some of Kaplický's best work -- including the International Space Station - An excellent reference for architects and students of architecture Jan Kaplický (1937-2009) was a visionary architect with a passion for drawing. It was his way of discovering, describing and constructing; and through drawing he presented beguiling architectural imagery of the highest order. Many of his sketches, cutaway drawings and photomontages are brought together and celebrated in this book. These drawings date from the early years of his independent practice, Future Systems, in the 1970s, to his final ink drawings, executed in the mid-1990s. Featured projects range from design studies for the International Space Station, undertaken with NASA, to the Media Centre at Lord's Cricket Ground, in London, winner of the 1999 Stirling Prize.

Jan Kaplický Drawings

putování 20. stoletím

Praha za zrcadlem

This book applauds the union of architecture and engineering both today and throughout the history of building and construction. The relationship between the two fields is multifaceted. Some architects may have had an engineering background, and some engineers have experience of architecture. Some unacknowledged engineers have stood modestly behind great architects, and a number of architects have been encouraged and supported by their engineer-collaborators in designing structures that appear to defy gravity. Architects + Engineers = Structures focuses on the ideal: on a cohesive building design team where the members contribute equally, resulting in unique and exceptional designs. These are architects and engineers who entice beauty into buildings not just with lines on paper and calculations but with intuition, innovation and feeling for the needs of people, materials, strength, proportion, lightness and elegance. Structures featured include: * dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence * Church of the Sagrada Familia, Barcelona * Eiffel Tower, Paris * Sydney Opera House, Sydney * Marina City, Chicago * Olympic Swimming Pool Arena, Tokyo * London Eye, London * many other international examples, both celebrated and less well-known "This subject is very important, and I hope the book will attract the attention of many architects and engineers." Professor Mamoru Kawaguchi Also by Ivan Margolius: Automobiles by Architects, Wiley-Academy, ISBN 047160786X "How rare it is to put down a book with the sense of pleasure satisfied, the mind excited by ideas and information, nostalgia stimulated, the eye amused by illustrations." Brian Sewell, The Spectator "Superbly entertaining book." Edwin Heathcote, The Architects' Journal "This is an enjoyable read." Building Design "Excellent book." FX Magazine "Purchasers are likely to have something unique on their bookshelves." The Automobile "A pleasant surprise is the density and clarity of the text, usefully accompanied by a wealth and diversity of iconography." L'Architecture d'aujourd'hui

Architects + Engineers = Structures

John G Henry

Hans Ledwinka’s innovative Tatra cars were models of design excellence, and were highly influential in shaping modern car design concepts and the development of the Volkswagen. This book places Ledwinka in his well-deserved place amongst the great car designers. This enlarged 2nd edition contains updated material and additional illustrations.

Ivan Margolius

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