Compiled by Oscar Riera Ojeda (The Monacelli Press, $65)

I don't think it was by accident that soon after acquiring a copy of OSKA's new monograph I felt the urge to reread Mary Shelley's superbly mirthless and tragic Frankenstein. Were she a client, Shelley, I'm convinced, would have had great fun with these architects, and they with her.

Architecture, Art, and Craft surveys twelve homes by Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen with trim, introductory paragraphs and moody, razor-sharp photographic portraits. What makes this book satisfying, however, is the impression you get that these architects enjoy getting dirt under their fingernails during the creative process. And here is where Shelley and OSKA enjoy a kinship. With the same fascination she had with the soul of the monster, they approach their own craft.

The architects appear keenly attuned to what concrete, wood and steel want to be-- to what their dispositions lend themselves. A creator understands that material, be it fleshy or wooden, is but a means to an end. And if creation is done with dramatic flair, so much the better. In this book, architecture is not so much a transformation as a reanimation of natural materials.

OSKA, like the 19th-Century author, understands that beauty need not be twee, or even pretty, for that matter. "Pretty" is limp, and they know it. But the homes glow with spirit and presented as they are, they're stunning.

The enjoyment of this work stems from the structure of the book's layout, as well. Architecture, Art, and Craft feels a bit like a scientist's lab diary. Thumbing through the pages of "Steel Apartment" or "Studio House" is more like browsing lab notes than a portfolio, a private working diary of ideas riddled with scrawled sentence fragments and detail sketches, counterbalanced with pictures of the finished product.

Considerable attention is given to how the book can deliver the quiet thrill of both architecture and art gallery; outstanding examples of work from world-class artists add highlights to the architecture that surrounds them.

In Paul Goldberger's introductory essay, he relates the delight with which Tom Kundig AIA received photographs of rocks and moss from a client as a means of aesthetic self-description. The following quote from Shelley's story might well describe his wishes for the house that would evolve soon after:

"In a fit of enthusiastic madness I created a rational creature and was bound towards him to assure, as far as was in my power, his happiness and well-being."

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