The upscale art book for opera lovers this holiday season is George Tsypin Opera Factory: Building in the Black Void (Princeton University Press). Tsypin is designer of choice to directors Julie Taymor, Peter Sellars and Francesca Zambello; his most familiar work to New Yorkers is perhaps his Met Zauberfloete in collaboration with Ms. Taymor. The volume overflows with huge color photos of Tsypin’s massive constructivistic settings for everything from Les Troyens to West Side Story. (This musical was done for the outdoor Bregenz Festival in Austria and is based on the image of an immense steel skyscraper melting and collapsing — a chilling allusion to 9/11 for this New York-based show.) Tsypin’s two takes on Wagner’s Ring include a a thrust set of metal and wood with ramps extending out into the audience area (Amsterdam, 1997), and the new Kirov Opera production which is scheduled for the 2007 Lincoln Center Festival. The striking still photographs whet the appetite for seeing Tsypin’s work in the theater.