Hardcover. Impressive oversize hardcover with dustjacket 1998 MIT. Never read; superclean; no marks. Light shelfwear to jacket; bumped corner. 320 pages; Index; Bibliography; B/W photos. Language: English. Graham Foundation/MIT Press Series in Contemporary Architectural Discourse. NOTE: Large format; cannot ship outside U.S. via Flat-Rate envelope; requires additional shipping charges. From the publisher: 'Although others have written eloquently on the relationship of water to built form, until now no one has investigated the swimming pool as a quintessentially modern and American space, reflecting America's infatuation with hygiene, skin, and recreation. In The Springboard in the Pond, Thomas van Leeuwen looks at a familiar hole--the domestic swimming pool--and discovers an icon indispensable to the reading of 20th-century modernism. At one level, the book is a rereading of modern architecture that will leave that story permanently altered. At another level, it is the story of the origin and evolution of the private swimming pool as a building type and cultural artifact. And at still another level, it is a material philosophy of water. Van Leeuwen explores the human relationship to water from a variety of viewpoints: social, religious, artistic, sexual, psychological, technical, and above all architectural. Throughout the book, he weaves a series of analogies to three emblematic animals--frog, swan, and penguin--that represent the three prevailing human attitudes toward water: hydrophilia, hydrophobia, and ambivalence. The book's many illustrations--drawings, plans, and photographs--come from an unusual variety of sources, creating what is surely the most provocative visual archive of the swimming pool ever assembled.' ***** A featured Book of the Day on our Blog.