"My buildings are my babies, my legacy. When I watch one of them going up, or when I pass a structure I designed, the sense of awe and wonder is always indescribable. . . They will be there long after I am gone, to explain, in a universal language to generations as yet unborn, how we lived . . . It is a feeling unlike any other. For this I am grateful." - architect Alan Lapidus, author of EVERYTHING BY DESIGN
Alan Lapidus is a true Renaissance man. Well-known in the architecture and real estate worlds as the designer of some of our greatest hotels and casinos - including the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City and the Broadway Crowne Plaza in Manhattan - he is also a pilot, chef, stage-set designer, auxiliary cop, and, most delightfully, an extremely talented story-teller and memoirist.
In his new book, EVERYTHING BY DESIGN: My Life As An Architect, Lapidus takes readers behind-the-scenes for an insider's look at how great buildings are created. He introduces us to his famous clients including Donald Trump, Michael Eisner, John Tishman, Aristole Onassis, and Bob Guccione as well as assorted pit bosses, business moguls, and even CIA operatives.
Not only does Lapidus make architecture come alive, but he paints an endearing picture of growing up in Brooklyn; beating out Woody Allen to become class writer at Midwood High; living under the shadow of his prickly architect father, Morris Lapidus, famous for Miami Beach's Fontainebleau Hotel. Lapidus takes us along on his life's journey, simultaneously enlisting in both the marines and the army; marrying and divorcing his childhood sweetheart; working his way through architecture school; overcoming complex design and construction problems for his clients, and much more.
Whether he's visiting the boardrooms of New York's real estate elite; designing an eco-hotel in the Amazon rain forest; remodeling Stalin's prime jewel in Red Square; or learning the ropes on the Las Vegas strip, Lapidus' razor-sharp wit and powers of observation make EVERYTHING BY DESIGN a fascinating read for anyone interested in American design and culture.