The Architecture of Trees

The Architecture of Trees is a legendary and unsurpassed botanical masterwork.This lavish large-format volume features more than 400 exquisite quill-pen illustrations of 211 tree species. Each is drawn to a scale of 1:100, with and without foliage, complete with tables of seasonal color variations and projections of shadows cast during the hours of daylight and season by season. L'Architettura degli Alberi, first published in 1982, has been out of print for two decades. This is the first Englishlanguage edition of a landmark study that took more than twenty years to complete. This gorgeous book is an essential addition to the library of architects, designers, botanists, and anyone fascinated by trees and by nature in all its varieties.

About the authors

In 1963, as an undergraduate at Florence University of the Arts, Cesare Leonardi (1935-) opened a design practice with Franca Stagi (1937-2008), a postgraduate at Milan Polytechnic. Together they designed the celebrated Nastro, Eco, and Dondolo chairs before turning to urban and landscape design, renovation, and redevelopment in Modena and its surroundings.

Reviews

The Architect's Newspaper

Any landscape architect worth their soil should pick up The Architecture of Trees, an all-encompassing atlas of all things tree-related.

Economic Botany

Each drawing is carefully crafted and the passion for each tree reaches out from the pages to engage the reader. In an era where computers have become the "fallback" for graphic representation, these ink drawings transport the reader into the artist's and scientist's love for each tree. From the shade diagrams for all seasons to the origin and etymology of names of genera, this book provides both visual beauty and practical information. The Architecture of Trees is a true treasure for both the arboriculture novice and the meticulous scientist.

The New York Times

The Italian designers Cesare Leonardi and Franca Stagi spent their spare time obsessively sketching trees in all seasons for editions of The Architecture of Trees. The book is newly available in English, and expanded into a sumptuous format weighing six and a half pounds. It combines quill-pen outlines of leafed and leafless specimens--as varied within strict parameters as Bernd and Hilla Becher's factory photos--with bare-boned but poetic texts. Captions and a glossary shed light on how to identify epicarps (fruit skins) and flabellate (fan-shaped) foliage. An essay by Ms. Stagi meditates on how 'nature experiments in infinite ways' within the confines of trees that 'grab on to the planet' and thrive only where it suits them.

Western Art & Architecture

This book could be considered the Bible for tree lovers. Its large format is perfect for pouring over more than 200 species, hand-drawn to scale. We think The Architecture of Trees is a must-have for those who are interested in landscape design, botany, or just love shady places in the summertime.