Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Covering everything from pre-fab houses to inflatable buildings, Teflon membranes to zero-gravity designs, utopian architecture to virtual cities, this fascinating exploration of lightness in architecture offers exciting glimpses into a future in which gravity is optional. Book jacket.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• The Weight of the World or: The Invention of Lightness in Architecture Introduction (p. 7)
• Five Pioneers of Light Architecture
• Building with Light. Bruno Taut's Glass Fantasies (p. 16)
• Light and Heavy. Eero Saarinen's Trans World Airlines Terminal in New York (p. 26)
• Geometry: Go and No-Go. Richard Buckminster Fuller's Visions (p. 36)
• Master of the Universe. Archigram's Pencil Revolution (p. 46)
• Escaping from Slab Construction. Ulrich Muther's Shell Artworks (p. 56)
• Looking Ahead. Light, Mobile and Floating Architecture
• Lightweight Construction
• In the Beginning was the Bubble. Frei Otto Moves into New Construction Territory (p. 70)
• The Next Generation. Werner Sobek's Art of Archi-neering and His R 128 House (p. 76)
• Membranes and Light Materials
• The Mother of All Tents. Richard Rogers' Millennium Dome in London (p. 82)
• Membranes Over Plush. Klaus Latuske's Musical Theatre in Hamburg for The Lion King (p. 84)
• Two Extraordinary Travelling Exhibition Buildings. Andreas Heller's LiebesLeben and SehnSucht (p. 88)
• Surfing the Wave. Benno Bauer's Culture Centre in Puchheim, Munich (p. 91)
• Inflatable Architecture
• There's Something in the Air. Axel Thallemer's Airtecture and Airquarium (p. 96)
• Cool Britannia. Doug Branson's and Nigel Coates' Powerhouse::UK (p. 100)
• Modern Nomads
• Temporary Buildings for All Seasons. Shigeru Ban's Curtain Wall House in Tokyo, His Expo 2000 Pavilion in Hanover and His Emergency Accommodation for Kobe (p. 104)
• Mobile Community Centre in No-Man's Land. Florian Nagler's Burgerhaus in Neuperlach, Munich (p. 108)
• More Than a Container. Matthias Loebermann's Infobox in Nuremberg (p. 110)
• A House on Wheels. Johannes Kaufmann's Su-Si (p. 114)
• Broom Dome, Lounge Tube or Bamboo Cube. Moritz Hauschild's Summerhouse Projects (p. 118)
• Building a World of Bits and Bytes
• Place of Origin, the Computer. Zaha Hadid's Mind Zone in London (p. 123)
• Following Lined Paths. Greg Lynn's Architectural Animations (p. 126)
• The Influence of the Exhibition. Bernhard Franken's BMW Pavilion in Frankfurt (p. 128)
• Fascinating Spatial Sculpture. Frank O. Gehry's Deutsche Genossenschafts Bank in Berlin (p. 130)
• The Art of Reconstruction. Johannes Herold's Archivision Project (p. 134)
• Looking for Lost Synagogues. Manfred Koob's and Marc Grellert's Virtual Reconstructions (p. 136)
• Virtual Spaces. Florian Raff's Exhibition Design (p. 138)
• Views of the Future of the City 1. Bill Wright's SimCity--Town Planning for All (p. 140)
• Views of the Future of the City 2. Peter Haimerl's Zoomtown (p. 142)
• Architecture in Space
• Gracious Living in Space. Richard Horden's and Andreas Vogler's Space Design Project (p. 146)
• Room With a View. Howard Wolff's Plans for a Space Hotel (p. 150)
• A Little Featherweight Glossary (p. 152)
• Endnotes (p. 156)
• Selected Bibliography (p. 158)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

These are the first in Prestel's new "Architecture in Focus" series, "examining important themes, cycles, styles and movements in contemporary architecture." Both are slim, large-format volumes with flexicovers and fine illustrations. Featherweights looks at the idea of lightness in modern architecture. Herwig, a freelance journalist, begins with historical sketches of five well-known designers whom he considers pioneers of light architecture. He then ventures into recent examples of lightweight construction, membranes, inflatable architecture, mobile architecture, virtual architecture, and space station design. Examples include the Millennium Dome in London and Frank O. Gehry's Deutsche Genossenschafts Bank in Berlin. The book touches on many visionary and offbeat concepts, but it's a stretch to find a unifying theme of lightness among them all. Minimal Architecture's four authors, all art historians or architects, differentiate minimalism from modernism. They identify subtypes of essential minimalism, metaminimalism, and transminimalism. Their analysis is detailed and academic. The examples illustrated are mostly from Europe in the 1990s, and they include Herzog and de Meuron's Tate Modern and John Pawson's series of boutiques for Calvin Klein. Both these books are recommended for academic libraries with an interest in global contemporary architecture.-David R. Conn, Surrey P.L., B.C. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.