Juan Miró and Miguel Rivera, along with other writers, tell about their ideas and design journeys in page after page that foreground gorgeous photography and helpful floor plans...I could spend hours paging through this ravishing book.
~Austin American Statesman
A thoughtfully conceived volume, 'Building a New Arcadia' offers a terrific overview of Miró Rivera’s oeuvre that also, by highlighting examples, widens an understanding of urbanism in Texas, and elsewhere.
~Sightlines
What sets this monograph apart from others is the documentation, especially the drawings...These drawings, which must have been specially made for the book, highlight particular assemblies worthy of the reader's attention and, in the case of exploded axons, peel away the facades and other layers to reveal the spaces within. These twenty buildings spanning twenty years make me eager to see what the next twenty years hold for Miró Rivers Architects.
~A Daily Dose of Architecture
The work of Miró Rivera expresses the tautness of modernism, but does so gently. It is always inflected, more subtle. It is an architecture of stability and shimmer.
~Billie Tsien, cofounder, Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects | Partners
In the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, Austin, Texas, emerged as a prime example of the rise of the creative class. Inside its city limits, live music and innovative filmmaking thrive. Miró Rivera Architects are design leaders in Austin’s creative ecosystem. <i>Building a New Arcadia</i> is a beautiful representation of their leadership. Packed full of stunning photographs, splendid drawings, and thoughtful essays, this book illustrates how brilliant architecture contributes to the landscape mosaic of the built environment.
~Frederick R. Steiner, Dean of the Stuart Weitzman School of Design, University of Pennsylvania, and author of Making Plans: How to Engage with Landscape, Design, and the Urban Environment
It is through the lens of nature and the verdant landscape of Austin that the work of Miró Rivera Architects comes alive. Their formal strategies frame nature and the sky, intensifying our experience with the ever-changing light. This strong sense of place occupies their work. This is a beautifully designed book, featuring an illuminating interview and essays that will help readers to understand the work within the broadest frames of architecture and its history.
~Thomas Phifer, Thomas Phifer and Partners
Miró Rivera Architects: Building a New Arcadia engages nature and the city in a remarkable conversation. The buildings take their cues from their surroundings, exert a quiet but informed presence on their location, and the architecture skillfully accommodates the landscape and often frames it. There is a consciously imposed restraint with no compromise in the rigor with which these buildings are crafted. This book's attention to detail echoes the care the architects demonstrate in their projects. Such care is also captured in the insightful essays and drawings that beautifully illustrate a continuous dialogue with location that makes every project an appropriate response to place as well as the aspirations of both their patron and architect.
~Rahul Mehrotra, Founder, RMA Architects, and Professor and Chair of the Department of Urban Planning and Design, Harvard Graduate School of Design
