Antoine Predock, Architect

New York: Rizzoli, 1994. Paperback. VG-. Color-illustrated wraps with gray and blue lettering. 232 pp. BW and color illustrations. From the beginning, Antoine Predock's architecture has drawn from his surroundings: the desert Southwest, with its sparse beauty, its special qualities of light and air. This book presents, chronologically, twenty-nine of Predock's most important buildings. In the text, he discusses the pertinent aspects and idiosyncrasies of each scheme. The organization thus shows the architect's evolution, starting with the early projects in Albuquerque that culminated in his Rio Grande Nature Center, an interpretative learning and exhibit center in a wetlands zone. In the 1980s, Predock's commissions spread farther afield; his best-known project from this time is perhaps the celebrated Nelson Fine Arts Center at Arizona State University. Recently, he has completed the Hotel Santa Fe at Euro Disney, outside Paris - the first realization of his unique idiom in Europe - and the powerful American Heritage Center and Art Museum in Laramie, Wyoming. Private houses, including the landmark Zuber and Venice residences, are shown, as well as housing complexes, hotels, educational buildings, arts projects, and public structures. Predock's own words set the tone for the book, tracing his career from the exceptional 1967 La Luz Community in Albuquerque through his work today.