In American Ski Resort, Margaret Supplee Smith combines her passion for the sport and academic understanding of modern architecture in a comprehensive study of the lodges, A-frames, condos and planned "villages" that made downhill skiing into a popular industry. She traces the evolution of resort design from the conversion of Stowe, Vt., into the first American destination ski center in the 1930s (with the support of the federal government) to the elaborately planned mega-resorts at Vail and Whistler.
With hundreds of photos illustrating design solutions to the challenges of mountain terrain, deep snow and a high density of skiers, Smith shows that the innovative architecture of ski resorts also tracked our economic path out of the Depression, through the post-war middle-class explosion to the extravagant sprawl of the wealthy. American Ski Resort is much more than a glossy photo-spread--it's history. --Bruce Jacobs, founding partner, Watermark Books & Cafe, Wichita, Kan.