IS THERE A PR CONSULTANT IN YOUR FUTURE?

Editor's Note: Even if you run a small firm, you might consider hiring a public relations consultant to give your practice a boost. How do you find a PR consultant? What questions should you ask in hiring one? And how do you know if you're getting what you pay for? ArchitectureWeek contributing editor Michael J. Crosbie quizzes public relations consultant Jane Cohn. Illustrations are by the architecture, engineering, and interior design firm of Fletcher-Thompson, Inc., one of Cohn's clients.

A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON FORMING THE AMERICAN LANDSCAPE

Book Review: Organization Space: Landscapes, Highways and Houses in America by Keller Easterling. MIT Press, 1999, ISBN 0-262-05061-7.

Some books about architecture are concerned primarily with individual buildings, or individual architects, or with architectural style. These are all interesting enough subjects, but often far from the built things that most people experience every day.

PALLADIO'S FOUR BOOKS ON ARCHITECTURE

Editor's Note: In the 16th century, the great architect Andrea Palladio wrote "I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura." The influence of "The Four Books on Architecture" is still felt by professionals four centuries later. Octavo, a publisher of rare books in digital formats, has recently issued a CD-ROM reproduction of a first edition of this classic of architectural literature. The following is excerpted from a commentary by architectural historian Robert Tavernor, which is part of Octavo's publication.

THE CHANGING SHAPES OF THE AXE

Editor's Note:  The vernacular houses at the foundation of an American concept of "home" have their origins in simple constructions, where tools and materials coexisted in seemingly rustic harmony. To grasp the spirit of those archetypical structures, it helps to understand the tools that shaped them.

For early Americans who built log houses, the axe was indispensable. The axe is one of the most fundamental woodworking tools, and in skilled hands, one of the most versatile.