Mountains, Mounds, and Mesas

Let me begin by saying that this book is beautiful, and I'm not just saying that because it's in Helvetica.  The sketches are well crafted and detailed without being overwhelming, and the information provided is clearly organized.  

Anyway, Civilizing Terrains, like Made in Tokyo, is basically a group of architectural examples, but these pertain to the earth.  I don't really have too much to say, but if you're interesting in the manipulation of natural forms, I recommend you check out the examples yourself.  Instead I'll just note some of the ones that I found particularly interesting.

These are the Storer House, the Ennis House, and the Kaufman House, some notable residences designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.  These particular examples are given to show how Wright adapts the environment to fit his specific needs, or more accurately, how he changes his design in order to compensate for the natural state of space.  He believed that the Kaufman house should belong to the hill, not merely rest atop it.  It is this type of spatial manipulation that is necessary in architecture.

This is called "The Brick Mountain," a ziggurat in Mesopotamia that seems pretty standard to me upon first look.  However, each of the four strata hold a certain meaning.  One is the underworld, another the earth, the heavens, and finally the sun.  It was not uncommon to have meaning within structures, but the preciseness with which they laid buildings out has always fascinated me.