Architecture Books

Book SynopsisMuseum architecture has blossomed over the past few decades. Art museums lead the way in terms of new buildings by superstar architects such as Frank Gehry, Herzog and de Meuron, Jean Nouvel, and Renzo Piano, among many more. Those facilities have received public and professional recognition through media attention and design awards. But other museum typologies exist, one such being for buildings that showcase military history and artifacts. All too often, one thinks of these as unsophisticated in their design and amateurish or antiquated in their exhibitions. Nowadays, nothingcan be further from the truth. This volume examines more than thirty of them internationally that were constructed over the past two decades and more. The museums are featured in individual entries and lavish color photography. Some were designed by internationally renowned architects such as Norman Foster, Daniel Libeskind, Skidmore Owings & Merrill, and Robert A.M. Stern, but many more are the products of creative, accomplished designers. Beyond the architecture of these museums, exhibition and installation designs by noted specialist firms such as Ralph Appelbaum Associates, Koosmann.dejong, and Gallagher & Associates, among others, have raised the bar in terms of immersive experiences for their visitors. New military museums presented within the book are examined within the context of the history of war memorials and military museums, the latter being a less well researched subject. In the end, military museums relate back to antique sculptural commemorationsof victorious campaigns and martial leaders, collections and displays of war trophies, and the search to find useful architectural memorials, the latter especially so after the World Wars of the twentieth century. Architectural historian John Zukowsky has an earned doctorate from Binghamton University. While curator of architecture for The Art Institute of Chicago (19782004), he organized a number of award-winning exhibitions accompanied by major books. After that, he held executive positions within military-related museums such as the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum and the Pritzker Military Museum and Library. Since 2012 he has authored several books about architecture and design, including Why on Earth Would Anyone Build That (2015), Building Chicago: The Architectural Masterworks (2016), and Architecture Inside Out: Understanding How Buildings Work (2018).

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Book SynopsisThe Königstein Fortress, located not far from Dresden on a rocky plateau high above the Elbe River, is considered one of the most interesting and best preserved fortifications in Europe. It has a long eventful history dating back to the Bronze Age. Königstein was first mentioned in documents in 1241. It was not until the end of the 16th century that the former castle began to be expanded into a fortress, which was then constantly adapted to new conditions. However, it was spared from warlike destruction over all the centuries. Instead, it was sometimes used as a prison camp in times of war, for example during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71 and for the last time during the Second World War. In 1949, the then GDR set up a youth workshop in the fortress based on the teachings of Soviet pedagogue Anton Semyonovich Makarenko. In 1955, the GDRs Ministry of Culture finally converted Königstein into a museum and since 1991, now owned by the Free State of Saxony, it has undergone extensive structural renovation. The managing director of Festung Königstein gGmbH, Angelika Taube, became aware of Hans Dieter Schaal as early as 1997, and in the following years established an intensive collaboration with him, which has now resulted in six permanent and twelve temporary exhibitions. They illustrate the multifaceted history of the fortress in a way that clearly stands out from pure documentation and always creates something new and original from the factually given. This book presents these exhibitions in large-format colour illustrations. In addition, it contains descriptions and comments by Schaal that clarify the history of the exhibitions and also give the reader insights into the creative processes. Hans Dieter Schaal, born in Ulm in 1943, architect, stage designer, exhibition and landscape planner, makes the complexity of reality visible through his analytically differentiated stagings and brings its background into the field of vision of the attentive viewer. His works, the majority of which have been published by Edition Axel Menges, have since found an audience far beyond the borders of his native country. The author lives and works in a village near Biberach an der Riss.

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Book SynopsisThis is the first monograph on the life and work of the Czech born British architect Kaplicky (1937-2009). It is a fully comprehensive work based on a decade of research and is a distinctive portrait of one of the most distinguished architects and designers of the 20th and 21st centuries. At the same time it is an exploration into historical events, which influenced a number of talented artists, writers and designers, some of whom were forced, like Kaplicky, to emigrate from Czechoslovakia in order to expand their skills and search for beauty through living in freedom in democratic countries. After immigrating to the United Kingdom in 1968, Kaplicky applied his imagination and diligence and enhanced his skills and aptitude, gaining admiration and respect following the cofounding of the innovative Future Systems studio in 1979. With his wide-ranging architectural and design oeuvre Kaplicky affirmed greatness of his immense talent and ability. The author was a friend, through their shared émigré life experience, giving him broad insight into the inception and realisation of this book. He searched family archives and referenced Kaplickys private diaries. The author drew on everybody who had something important to say and gathered written memories and interviews from Kaplickys friends, colleagues, partners and clients, which form the cornerstone of the monograph. His aim was to write a book that would mirror Kaplickys life and work, a representation made up not only from the authors own point of view, but also according to others with whom Kaplicky had been in contact during his life. The book has many voices and has a kaleidoscopic format, which truly explores Kaplickys complex personality and his creativity. It does not overwhelm with excessive information, but builds a picture of the man behind his designs and tells his story. The author presents Kaplickys personal side with sensitivity and explains his dramatic decision-making.Trade Review"The author has placed many voices alongside his own, there are interviews and dedication texts, there are memories and contemporary documents ... The book thus has ... a kaleidoscopic format that really explores Kaplický's complex personality and creativity. A quiet, concentrated and yet also lively representation of what years ago was still thought about the future - including that of construction. The readers will find out or not that beauty played a role." -- Deutsche BauZeitschrift, October 20222021 Miroslav Ivanov Prize for Non-fiction LiteratureThis is the first monograph on the life and work of the Czech-born British architect Jan Kaplicky (1937-2009), cofounder with Amanda Levete of the innovative Future Systems studio in 1979. While the author was a friend and fellow Czech émigré, the book has many voices and a kaleidopscopic format that truly explore Kaplickys complex personality and creativity. Architectural Record, Dec 2022

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Book SynopsisSpread over a hill that climbs up from the plain, Himeji Castle with its white walls shimmering in the sunlight like the feathers of a fantastic bird seems to be rising into the blue sky like a great heron. This impression has given it the name "Castle of the White Heron". The castle, which has nothing martial about it, on the contrary, it is extraordinarily elegant, is undoubtedly one of Japans most impressive fortresses. It was built between 1601 and 1609, when the period of war was almost over, and was used primarily for administration and residence, with defence as a secondary role. Thus its aesthetic impact was as important when it was built as its actual purpose as a fortification. The main building in the castle is the Tenshu or Tenshu-kaku in the northem part of the complex, a wooden structure about 46 m high. Its complicated intermediate roofs make it look more like a skyscraper than a tower. Himeji Castle represents an architectural type that probably does not occur in other areas of the world. Large parts of the building were classified as "Kokuho State Treasure" as early as 1951, and others as "Important Cultural Property". The building was placed on the World Cultural Heritage list in 1993. Art historian Irmtraud Schaarschmidt-Richter specialized in classical and modern Japanese art and architecture at an early stage, as is shown by numerous publications. Her book on the Japanese garden has long been a standard work. Most recently she was involved in publications on architects Kazuo Shinohara and Toyo Ito. Photographer Mo Nishikawa, a pupil of Ken Domon, one of the most important photographers of our century, sees his work as a spiritual and intellectual contemplation of art. His photographs of the Katsura Palace, the Himeji Castle and the Ise Shrine are among the great masterpieces of contemporary photography.

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Book SynopsisIf someone asked me: what is the film about, I would have to say: It is really about the essence of human life! I find it incredibly beautiful! It is really a moving experience ... I think it is obviously art built and master full ..." (Prof. Howard Davis, University of Oregon, on my film and the alley she whitewashed in light blue.) At a time of existential threat to the physical and human environment we live in, architect and film maker Nili Portugali takes the readers through a poetic essay and a spectacular photo gallery, extracted from her awarded new film, into a deeply intimate journey of memories in the Galilean holy "Kabbala" city of Tsefat. A childhood journey that unfolds gradually from her present holistic / Buddhist / phenomenological point of view to a discovery of profound universal insights of what is the secret of all those timeless places endowed with beauty and soul where one feels "at home"? And what is that "one pure art of making" that creates them? At any culture at any place and at any time.

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Book SynopsisText in English & German. An ode to light sings the way of the wandering light, which comes from the universe and is born from the union of night and light. Wandering, it lingers for a short time in each place it visits, wandering around it, going from door to door and leaving its gift of light behind. It overcomes boundaries, falls in love, is angry, shows the future and laughs. It visits places of humiliation, powerlessness and hopelessness, and gives them a home, courage and protection. The wandering light tries to understand each place it visits and shows itself to them in different guises: as a shimmering cube, a folded labyrinth of light, as a pulsating vibration in rainbow colours, as a diamond light floating above the horizon, gently humming the music of the night. It dissolves boundaries, unites continents in the air, transforms what is fear, is here and there at the same time, lifts up the reality of time. At the end of its wanderings around the earth, it moves on into space, but not before leaving behind its scent, like the scent of time and its omnipresence. Beijing, Agra, Barcelona, New York, Gerona, Ankara and Zaatari are the places it encounters on its journey. The movements, frozen for a moment, allow us to sense its vibrations and its pulse on its way around the earth.

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Book SynopsisText in English & German. Since beyond time, rainbow lightning has been exploring space, leaping from star to star and forming light beings and crystals of light on our planet, just as they do there. They bubble, flame, flare, flash, weave a web of light, attract, condense, become space that inspires and into which one can enter. Become figurines, cubes, gurgling sky discs, flying labyrinths -- cathedrals of light! Vibrating, stretching time, laughing, refreshing, exploding like dreams in buds of light, timeless and passing away. The rainbow flashes are particularly attracted to cities. There they magically sparkle pink-red, jasmine-yellow-gold, flower-blue and breathe new life into them. Beauty is their goal. If their light were sound, what sweet melody! What overflowing happiness rained down! What sound of light-worlds! The journey of the rainbow lightning travels to Mongolia, Belize, Rome, Kathmandu, Guilin, Norway, Dubai and Japan. Frozen for a moment, the bubbling lightning and light crystals suggest their vibrations as they travel around the earth and into space.

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Book SynopsisPlay-acting but above all the opera have only seemingly little to do with our everyday life. In fact opera is a very artificial work of art in which reality is nevertheless present, but condensed in such a way that it touches us throughout the ages. In experiencing opera performances, we thus become companions of the bard Orpheus in Monteverdis opera L'Orfeo, who mourns the death of his beloved nymph Eurydice with his laments. We transform ourselves into sympathetic and compassionate brothers and sisters of Orpheus, Wozzeck, Tosca, Tristan, Isolde or Jenufa and are thus directly referred to the perils and also pleasures in our own lives. In order to make the visual and sound dimensions of an opera tangible for the audience, a close interaction of dramaturges, actors, singers, dancers, directors, stage designers and technicians is necessary. What role do stage designers play in this? Dont some performances owe their success primarily to the work of the set designer? The stage settings created by Hans Dieter Schaal, who has worked on almost all German stages, but also in many important international theatre venues, including Vienna, Salzburg, Zurich, Brussels, Paris, Moscow and San Francisco, have, over and over again, such a lasting effect due to their visual power that they remain in the memory of the audience for a long time. The first volume on Hans Dieter Schaals stage settings covered the years 1982 to 2000, and this book now brings out a further volume dedicated to the works from 2001 to 2021. The book is captivating not only because of its abundance of mostly large-format photographs and many design drawings, but also because of the detailed texts written by Schaal himself, which reveal how intensively the artist deals with the respective work. As a result he invents images that often trigger a completely new perspective on the works. Hans Dieter Schaal, born in Ulm in 1943, is an architect, landscape designer, stage designer, exhibition designer and artist. His works, the majority of which have been published by Edition Axel Menges, have found an audience far beyond his home country. The author lives and works near Biberach an der Riß.

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Book SynopsisThe third volume of Erdmut Bramkes catalogue raisonné is devoted to "art in architecture" and temporary works in public spaces. It complements the two volumes already published with the presentations of paintings and works on paper. This makes the artists work accessible to the public in its entirety. The richly illustrated catalogue presents the artists competition entries from 1974 to 2002 in chronological order. The reconstruction of more than 20 realised and unrealised projects on the basis of unpublished material and personal notes from the artists estate provide an insight into her working methods and allow a detailed view of the process of creating the works. Both the sketches and designs and the executed works show an incredible joy for experimenting and variability in the use of materials, ranging from painted metal sheets, holes drilled in wood and stone to tiles, fabrics, canvas, graffiti, glass and paving stones. Embedded in the discourse on "art in architecture" and its genesis in the 20th century, Bramkes works are presented in the context of the design process. Characteristic of her interventions in public space is her sensitiveness to the surrounding space which does not see her work as an addition to the existing architecture, but rather uses the architectural space to evoke quiet, contemplative moments through intense colour experiences or to make the space experienceable. The "Bramke system" manifests itself even with the early, expansive work for the University of Constance. The form-giving element is a variable order structure. The arrangement of the same elements with slight changes and nuances, but following the same laws in rows, condense into a structure and become a vibrating lineament. Even 50 years after its completion, the work is considered as a successful example of how "art in archi- tecture" can have integrative and functional qualities without losing its artistic value. Between this first major work for the University of Constance from 1974 to 1976 and the expansive work for the central library of the University of Tubingen at the end of her life constants in the "Bramke system" become apparent. At the same time, the overall view clearly shows the development of an artist who helped to shape her ambience in a grand gesture. Susanne Grötz, born 1961 in Koblenz, studied art history and German and Italian literature in Marburg and Pisa. She has been working on the estate of Erdmut Bramke for many years. The author lives and works in Stuttgart and Italy as a freelance exhibition curator and tour guide.

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Book SynopsisThe dream of owning your own home in the countryside has led to that Cities are expanding more and more, growing together and the destroy untouched nature. In addition, however, the demand is increasing affordable housing and small residential units in the cities. The proximity to the workplace and the good infrastructure are clear advantages of city life. The concept Penthouses for everyone represents the individual living wishes of people at the center. It shows that sophisticated architecture can be affordable for everyone can and is also possible in cities in the course of densification. The Development of the new living space for everyone takes place via the development of flat roofs, which exist in large numbers in urban areas are. Unfortunately, the possibilities of targeted development remained roofs especially in the new development areas in the past largely unrecognized. So far, flat roofs are mostly only here planted or used for energy production. Here and there will be although they are also subsequently built on, they usually remain unused for residential purposes. How different it is in many people southern countries. It goes without saying there that flat roofs are used To use housing and to include it in the planning right from the start. The book gives an insight into the inexhaustible possibilities that arise when living on roofs. Based on numerous Examples are shown that the dream of home ownership in the countryside can also be realized in the city. It's not just small inexpensive roof houses possible. With special construction kits larger units can also be assembled; also alternatives Forms of living can be thought of and implemented, nothing remains utopia. Ultimately, it's about living in the cities to make it more attractive again, to avoid urban sprawl and the destruction of nature to prevent and people well in the city home and return identity. However, this requires new building laws and development plans create the conditions. So far, a subsequent development of roofs is often prevented or excluded by building laws rejected for aesthetic reasons. A further construction on roof surfaces is paralyzed with the demand for adaptation to the existing situation. Only roof structures are created that are hardly recognizable as such or the given monotonous design elements record to adapt to the inventory.

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Book SynopsisWhat all these buildings have in common is that with the available material, wood, and the most modest means, places of worship, centres in the villages, were built with much feeling and love. The constructions in wood were derived in an old tradition from the dwellings and farm buildings of the peasant population. Their architecture, the typological forms probably penetrated into this seclusion as an idea. "The idea of a church as a building", brought with them by clergymen and wandering master craftsmen from the more fertile plains and the rich, large mining and trading towns.The oldest churches were built as early as in the 15th century, most of those still standing were built in the 18th and 19th centuries, and quite a few are still being built today. Many were destroyed in the two world wars, many fell victim to ethnic cleansing after 1945. Many were destroyed in the two world wars, many fell victim to ethnic cleansing after 1945, some fell into disrepair during the Soviet era, others were burnt down by lightning or short circuits, and quite a few simply gave way to the more "representative" stone churches as early as the 19th century. But a large number are still standing, consecrated, and believers gather in them. In fact, almost all of them in the various Carpathian countries are protected monuments, and many have been lovingly restored in recent times.More than the architectural-historical value, the question arises here of the aesthetic assessment of these small buildings. It is not a refined canon of forms of great architecture that can be derived and proven from the history of architecture that inspires us so much. Basically, they are not overly sophisticated constructions in terms of craftsmanship, they are safe and beautiful in their simplicity. Their aesthetic appeal, however, also includes the surface-weathered material, deformed structures, colour improvisations, recently ornamented sheet metal, inside wall paintings, altar and iconostasis furnishings derived from Renaissance and Baroque periods, but above all their location in the village, mostly isolated, often elevated, surrounded by old trees, enclosures and graves without cemetery order.

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Book SynopsisOriginally part of a set, now sold separately, Volume 2 of Sub-Saharan Africa Architectural Guide is dedicated to Western Africa, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Sahel and includes Cabo Verde, The Gambia, Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. Africa is considered the continent of the future. Nowhere else is urbanisation taking place more quickly and the population growing more rapidly. But are enough of us familiar with the architectural aspects of this change? The seven volumes of Architectural Guide Sub-Saharan Africa present the first comprehensive overview that shows the region’s architecture in all its vast diversity. In 49 chapters, each focusing on one country, detailed texts and illuminating photos document the wealth of architecture south of the Sahara. Featuring 850 selected buildings and over 200 articles, the extensive publication not only showcases but also contextualises the continent’s building culture. This set of books paints a multifaceted picture of sub-Saharan Africa’s architecture across time, revealing how contemporary architecture has been shaped by its traditional and colonial roots as well as globalisation and urbanisation. The diverse contributions by almost 350 African and international authors come together to produce a superlative work giving the region the attention it so rightfully deserves.

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Book SynopsisOriginally part of a set, now sold separately, Volume 4 of Sub-Saharan Africa Architectural Guide is dedicated to Eastern Africa, from the Sahel to the Horn of Africa and includes Chad, Sudan, South ­Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Somalia. Africa is considered the continent of the future. Nowhere else is urbanisation taking place more quickly and the population growing more rapidly. But are enough of us familiar with the architectural aspects of this change? The seven volumes of Architectural Guide Sub-Saharan Africa present the first comprehensive overview that shows the region’s architecture in all its vast diversity. In 49 chapters, each focusing on one country, detailed texts and illuminating photos document the wealth of architecture south of the Sahara. Featuring 850 selected buildings and over 200 articles, the extensive publication not only showcases but also contextualises the continent’s building culture. This set of books paints a multifaceted picture of sub-Saharan Africa’s architecture across time, revealing how contemporary architecture has been shaped by its traditional and colonial roots as well as globalisation and urbanisation. The diverse contributions by almost 350 African and international authors come together to produce a superlative work giving the region the attention it so rightfully deserves.

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Book SynopsisOriginally part of a set, now sold separately, Volume 5 of Sub-Saharan Africa Architectural Guide is dedicated to Eastern Africa, from the Great Lakes to the Indian Ocean and includes Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Comoros, Seychelles, Mauritius, and Madagascar. Africa is considered the continent of the future. Nowhere else is urbanisation taking place more quickly and the population growing more rapidly. But are enough of us familiar with the architectural aspects of this change? The seven volumes of Architectural Guide Sub-Saharan Africa present the first comprehensive overview that shows the region’s architecture in all its vast diversity. In 49 chapters, each focusing on one country, detailed texts and illuminating photos document the wealth of architecture south of the Sahara. Featuring 850 selected buildings and over 200 articles, the extensive publication not only showcases but also contextualises the continent’s building culture. This set of books paints a multifaceted picture of sub-Saharan Africa’s architecture across time, revealing how contemporary architecture has been shaped by its traditional and colonial roots as well as globalisation and urbanisation. The diverse contributions by almost 350 African and international authors come together to produce a superlative work giving the region the attention it so rightfully deserves.

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Book SynopsisThe title Eastern Block Stories features a dozen of articles and over 60 unique hand-picked images about mass housing estates in former communist states. This book aims to address the blind spots to take a closer look at the major challenges for post-socialist housing estates today and imagine what could be their future. Besides stories from Georgia, Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Poland and Germany unique photographic material which covers cases from more than ten countries is included. The major take of this book is to unveil the diversity of the Eastern blocks alive and the richness of their urban context besides a stigmatizing and alienating gaze. With contributions by Carola S. Neugebauer, Romea Muryń, Kuba Snopek, Dimitrij Zadorin, Lubov Davidkina, Nataliia Mysak, Gigi Shukakidze, Paulina Paga, Maria Melnikova, Aleksandra Katasonova, llyas Kulbarisov, David Sichinava and, Alexander Novikov.

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Book SynopsisThe prolific architectural legacy of Delhi is remarkable not only for its antiquity but also its diversity. While the period of antiquity encompass various types of Hindu, Islamic and Colonial architecture, it is modern architecture that laid the foundation of post-independent development of the city. Today, the city has been engulfed by an explosion of the built environment. One has to search for the forgotten or obscure jewels of architecture. Architectural Guide Delhi introduces over 200 of these known or obscure examples of Delhi's architecture particularly those built after india's independence in 1947. All projects presented with over 450 photographs, texts and drawings have been contributed by various architectural practitioners in Delhi. Information about each entry is enhanced by geo-data in the form of QR codes.

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Book SynopsisContemporary Architecture Made in Germany: From the first sketch to turnkey solutions. The success of a building project depends on many factors that vary from good design to efficiently organised construction phases. Anyone employing a German architecture practice can be assured that responsibility for the complex tasks and processes remains in one pair of hands only: that of the architect’s. This publication showcases more than 120 buildings, designed by German architects in over 30 countries worldwide. The 476 pages also work as an investors’ guarantee to good architecture. This volume, Contemporary Architecture Made in Germany, accompanies the eponymous exhibition – promoted by the German Federal Chamber of Architects (NAX) – that has already shown in hotspots such as Paris and Beijing. NAX was established in 2002, as an active ambassador for the German building culture; to connect international clients with German architecture firms.

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Book Synopsis"Ambitiously designed community buildings, faceless mass housing developments, and a monumental emptiness are the defining features of Pyongyang - a city of three million inhabitants rising from rubble after the Korean War of the 1950s. This guide offers unprecedented insights into the capital of what is probably the most isolated country in the world, ruled in the third generation by a 'first family' stubbornly upholding its own brand of stone-age communism."

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Book SynopsisThis guide is a celebration of the works of professional architects in three South African metropolitan centres, namely Cape Town, Durban and the Johannesburg/Pretoria Axis. The content ranges from the early years of European settlement, where architects were trained by the military schools of engineering, through the period of apprenticeship either to a recognised practicing architect or in public works, to the twentieth century and beyond, where architects were regulated as professionals by legislation, as was their education. The projects selected are all secular, being either in the public domain or eye, and therefore readily accessible. This guide is structured along main themes, each historically located. Each episode or project type featured is highlighted by a representative from each metropolitan centre, each being discussed in broader detail alongside similar contemporaneous local examples. In total the guide features over a hundred-and-fifty projects with all salient information as to their dates of construction, designers and locality (by way of QR codes).

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Book SynopsisThis publication accompanies an exhibition on Georgian architecture at the Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) in Frankfurt am Main, which is the first of its kind in Germany. The catalogue examines the multi-layered processes of social and urban transformation, and the resulting architecture, which traces the country’s various different political periods, yet also forms part of an international context. The focus is on the new and old metropolis of the Caucasus: Tbilisi. The phenomenon of this capital city, with its history, heterogenous cultures, social stratifications, and architecture, is constantly being redesigned and restaged by different protagonists. A site for the demolition of the Old, a factory of the New, and an emerging, chaotic, confusing, and fascinating place in search of itself within its traditions, bonds, and hopes – Tbilisi is a hybrid city.

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Book SynopsisDessau may be a mere speck on the map, but to this day the city of Bauhaus still occupies the most important place in the development of the New Building – otherwise known as the Neues Bauen – movement. Alongside the Modernist architecture, there is another World Cultural Heritage site which draws in visitors from all over the world to the region, namely the Garden Kingdom of Dessau Wörlitz (Gartenreich Dessau-Wörlitz). In the shape of the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation (Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau) and the Dessau-Wörlitz Cultural Foundation (Kulturstiftung Dessau Wörlitz), two institutions have come together to publish the first comprehensive architectural guide on Dessau-Roßlau and Wörlitz, areas most closely linked to the UNESCO World Heritage sites domiciled there. The eighteenth-century Garden Kingdom of Dessau Wörlitz and the twentieth-century Bauhaus School of Design (Bauhaus Hochschule für Gestaltung) have not only bequeathed the city and its surrounds inestimable architectural urban and rural properties and spaces, but also an associated intellectual heritage which has made a lasting impact on the world and, last but not least, accounts for the attraction the area holds for tourists. These and other notable historic and contemporary buildings alike are presented in this architectural guide which also raises issues about the nuanced handling of this architectural and cultural legacy and of future planning.

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Book SynopsisGathering a large group of academics, re-searchers, artists, architects, and urban planners, the publication Shrinking Cities in Romania is a pioneering initiative to raise awareness of an acute and pervasive yet too little discussed matter: the socio-cultural, physical, economic, and demo-graphic decline of Romanian cities, as a widespread phenomenon. Following the exhibition that took place at the National Museum of Contemporary Art (MNAC) in 2016, the book illustrates the various fac-ets of the urban transformation that is taking place in many Romanian cities, thus linking the case to the global context of this urban phenomenon. The research re-ceived the AD Astra prize in 2014 as well as the Architecture Annual prize for Visions and Research in 2017.

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Book SynopsisTierra del Fuego, Patagonia, Atacama Desert and the Pacific Coast: even today the apperception of Chile remains remote and indistinct. There is no doubt that its geographical location - confined between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes mountain range - has had a role to play in the relative nescience, although it was the former political situation that led to the country's isolation for almost twenty years. In fact, it is only in these last fifteen years that Chilean architecture has appeared on the international stage, mostly owing to Mathias Klotz, Alejandro Aravena, Smiljan Radic and Pezo von Ellrichsausen , amongst others. Chile can take pride in having built some genuine Modern masterpieces whilst having preserved a close relationship with its culture. During the twentieth century Europe provided Chile with sources of inspiration. Le Corbusier had a great influence on Chilean architects despite never having visited the country; his followers, such as Emilio Duhart, Roberto Davila and the BVCH office, realised buildings which are today internalised deep in the Chilean psyche. The Bauhaus movement served as another influence for architects such as Sergio Larrain. Overall, this book aims to be a practicalreference source of the best architectural works of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries in Chile.

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Book SynopsisAmid the endless plains of Kazakhstan, an extraordinary architectural experiment has arisen: Astana. Formerly an outpost of the Tsarist Empire in the barren steppe, the location had developed into a typical Soviet provincial town. However, both internationally renowned and local architects are now designing spectacular and unique buildings in this dynamic city. Furthermore, Astana will host the Expo 2017 which will take place only twenty years after the city was built in the steppe alongside the old centre. The Astana Architectural Guide documents eighty diverse buildings and projects in the Kazakh metropolis, which was masterplanned by Kisho Kurokawa, and examines the contradictory nature at play within oriental traditions, western models and Soviet influences. Therefore, this publication represents a critical analysis of architecture and capital city planning in the centre of Eurasia.

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Book SynopsisAlexey Shchusev (1873–1949) was one of the most celebrated architects of the Soviet Union, famous for Lenin’s Mausoleum in Moscow. Not only a gifted designer of many prominent buildings, his career was quite unique and closely intertwined with the turbulent course of Russian and Soviet history. He was one of the very few architects who managed to rise to the top of the architectural hierarchy under the tsars and then to repeat this success under Soviet rule. Already before the Revolution of 1917, Shchusev was an acclaimed Revivalist architect, wellknown for his church designs and Moscow’s Kazan Station. In the 1920s, he became a renowned Constructivist. Following the official renunciation of Avant-Garde architecture ordered by Stalin, Shchusev swiftly became an advocate of Socialist Classicism, designing many projects in the dictator’s favoured Empire Style in order to satisfy the Stalinist state’s needs for monumental representation. Combining a scholarly study of Shchusev’s career with stunning photographs this book traces the development of this artistically and politically gifted architect through the architectural and historical changes in the first half of the twentieth century.

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Book SynopsisThe ancient city of Asmara is the capital of Eritrea and its largest settlement. Its beautiful architecture was rediscovered by outsiders in the early 1990s. In this book, the authors offer an original analysis of the colonial city, providing a history not only of the physical and visible urban reality, but also of a second, invisible city as it exists in the imagination. The colonial city becomes a fantastical set of cities where each one reflects the others as if in a kaleidoscope. This ambitious book breaks new ground, and moves us a little further along in the attempt to read Asmara into contemporary theory. This book brings together scholars from a multiplicity of disciplines who have shown the ways in which colonial and postcolonial criticism has served as a platform for new, diversified readings of Asmara, which compile cultural and social history, critical and political theory, anthropological fieldwork, visual culture studies, literary and cinematic analysis, gender studies, diaspora and urban studies. The book examines the current realities of Asmara in order to address the continuing effects of the legacy of colonialism upon the city dwellers.

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Book SynopsisThe then private residences showcased in this monograph have been designed in by Garegin Yeghoyan (Professor of the International Academy of Architecture) and are testimony to the International Style set within the context of ancient Armenian architecture. These buildings can be seen as analogous to islands of contemporary architecture amidst an ocean of bland structure. They may be viewed against a backdrop of the natural environment and the ‘structured chaos’ of the vernacular fabric. Garegin Yeghoyan thus draws on the long tradition of Armenian architecture, which bears the hallmark of the simplicity and homogeneity offered by the rock-type known as tuff, with all its nuances of colour. This surface of natural stone constituting the ultimate Armenian building material offers an antithesis to modernist forms in concrete and metal and thus embodies the unique feature of this architecture.

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Book SynopsisPost-Civil War Spain used the countryside as locus and symbol for the reconstruction and modernisation of the state. The Modern Village in Franco’s Spain studies the reconstruction of the towns devastated between 1936 and 1939. It analyses the ideological, political, and urbanistic principles of Franco’s hydro-social programme of modernisation of the countryside through the creation of man-made landscapes (Kulturlandschaften) of dams, irrigation canals, electric power plants, and new settlements – a genuine experiment in water urbanism. The consequent strategy of interior colonisation entailed the construction of 300 new villages or pueblos, each designed as a ‘rural utopia’ centred on a plaza mayor, which embodied, between tradition and modernity, the political ideal of civil life under the national-catholic regime. In the 1950s – 1960s, a new generation of architects, including José Luis Fernández del Amo, Alejandro de la Sota, and Antonio Fernández Alba, reimagined the pueblos as platforms of urban and architectonic experimentation in their search for an abstracted rural vernacular and an organic urban form merging with the landscape.

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Book SynopsisMass housing in Germany, Russia, and Ukraine represents an enormous volume of housing today and therefore a huge resource for the future development of cities. But transformation of these districts is needed due to the functional, societal, and technical problems and challenges they face. How can sustainable, socially compatible, ecological responsible, and economically efficient development be achieved? The book summarises the results of a three-year research project. Based on the selected case studies, it points out the qualities and values as well as the problems and potentials involved in spatially transforming prefabricated housing estates from the 1960s and 1970s. The specific features and characteristics of the socialist city are evaluated with respect to their potentials and difficulties, and with regard to the requirements placed on future district planning and development. Hence this book contributes to the on-going discussion and serves as a valuable basis for developing planning strategies.

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Book SynopsisThe Architectural Guide Australia presents over 200 projects in the vast island continent that is home to natural wonders, coastal settlements, and tropical climates up north. Each chapter, dedicated to one of the nation’s eight state capitals, presents buildings that represent the major moments in the country’s architectural history, from its colonial origins to the contemporary era. The book includes a short introduction to Australia’s most influential architects as well as essays by Harry Seidler, John Gollings, and David Bridgman. Seidler’s essay argues for the incorporation of sunlight and shadow, phenomena so distinctly characteristic of the country’s climate, into architectural design both from an aesthetic and practical standpoint. Gollings offers a historical sweep of Australian architecture before identifying the three major architectural strands of contemporary Australia. Bridgman explores the challenges of designing in the hot-humid tropics in particular, outlining the climatic considerations that must be accounted for when building in those regions. Each chapter also includes an interview with a prominent architectural practice active in the respective city. The architects offer their views on the characteristics of Australian architecture and comment on their own practice within this context. With its comprehensive map, aerial photographs, and array of images, this book is the ideal companion for those exploring Australia.

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Book SynopsisThe Akademie der Künste (Academy of Arts) in Berlin has carried out its task of promoting the arts in Germany since the year it was founded in 1696. From the outset, master builders have been eligible to become members. The architect Hans Scharoun laid the groundwork for establishing the architectural archive. As the first post-war president of the academy in West Berlin, he was eager to document twentieth-century architecture in the Archive. Besides the story lying behind the assembly of a collection, this publication presents all seventy-one archives and eighty collections, including short biographies of the originators and the nature and scope of inventories. The Preußische Akademie (Prussian Academy) is represented among other things by drawings by Friedrich Gilly from the end of the eighteenth century. Expressionist designs by Bruno Taut, Alfons Anker, Paul Goesch and Adolf Behne in particular are to be found in rich abundance. In common with the archives of Richard Ermisch, Paul Baumgarten and Thilo Schoder, these offer a chronicle of the 1920s. One focus of the collection is devoted to the archives of Second World War émigré architects, among them Adolf Rading, Gabriel Epstein, Julius Posenerand Konrad Wachsmann. The post-war period and the booming 1960s are represented by the archives of Hermann Henselmann, Walter Rossow, Bernhard Hermkes, Werner Hebebrand, Werner Düttmann and Heinz Graffunder. Archives and collections which can be traced back beyond the turn of the twenty-first century emerged from Jörg Schlaich, Kurt Ackermann, Szyszkowitz + Kowalski and Valentien + Valentien. On offer for the first time is an overview in print form of these archives acquired by the Academy up to the present day – archives of architects, engineers, landscape architects and architectural photographers and critics alike. This publication presents an excerpt from around half a million documents.

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Book SynopsisAarhus, Denmark’s second largest town will be the European Capital of Culture in 2017 for a good reason: for decades “the world’s smallest big city” has hosted one of the largest cultural events in Scandinavia, the festival week at the end of each summer. Aarhus attracts a growing population with its combination of urbanity, proximity to nature and educational institutions, which are amongst the country’s fi nest, including an architectural school that has produced many of the talents nowadays, promoting Danish architecture worldwide. 6 essays on the city’s history and development 120 contemporary buildings and architectural highlights, starting from the early twentieth century Major projects in the planning Grouping by location, including maps

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Book SynopsisIran has one of the oldest town cultures in the world. It goes back more than 4,000 years. Between the Islamic conquest in the seventh century and the westernisation in the second half of the nineteenth century, the cities and towns in today’s Islamic Republic of Iran underwent repeated changes. The Persian building culture influenced architects and artists as far as Central Asia in the north and India in the east. Unlike any other oriental country, Iran shows a unique urban and architectonic development whose defining characteristics merged with other cultures over the course of time, representing an important contribution to world architecture. In his Iran Architectural Guide, the author and architect Thomas Meyer-Wieser embarks on a journey into history, showcasing nearly 300 buildings and projects in Tehran, Isfahan, and Shiraz. His focus is on the identity of the Iranian- Islamic architecture, which has held its own since the rise of the Safavids in 1501.

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Book SynopsisThis title illustrates the complexity of a South American city founded in 1567 which forges a coherent identity with El Ávila and the coastline, where different scales, geographies, architectural styles and natural and urban landscapes converge. This guide outlines the city’s history with reference to its most striking architecture dating from approximately 1600 up to the present day. Architecture and urban spaces found in ten zones throughout Caracas are delineated, as well as conceptions held by urban planning experts regarding future initiatives that could transform and enhance the city.

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Book SynopsisThis collector’s album presents Moscow’s architectural icons. With photographic precision, Denis Esakov captures the fifth façade of the largest European metropolis: roofs, domes, and cube-like buildings stacked on top of each other. By gazing through the drone’s eye, the artist fosters a novel visual aesthetic that opens up new vistas, even for Moscow connoisseurs.

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Book SynopsisThe German Architecture Annual, published by the Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) in Frankfurt am Main, has been documenting the architectural events taking place in Germany for almost 40 years. This year’s annual presents a number of interviews with distinguished authors who discuss 22 buildings in Germany shortlisted by a jury for the DAM Preis for Architecture in Germany 2018. In order to make this selection, curators of the museum as well as prominent architects and architecture critics visited around 100 buildings that were nominated for this year’s award. The 2018 edition of the annual presents the shortlisted works in greater detail in addition to giving special recognition to the winner of the DAM Preis. The Elbphilharmonie, being an exceptional project, was not eligible for the award but receives a special mention. A separate chapter is dedicated to buildings designed by German architects abroad, two of which are presented in this issue. The book also features two essays. One explores the model used in Hamburg for allocating land, designed to support joint building ventures. The other explores the current boom in architecture for theatre and music venues.

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Book SynopsisRome has had an enormous influence on European art and art history for over 2,000 years. Indeed, the city was the birthplace of the foundations of western architecture. This architectural guide en-courages visitors to go beyond the most frequently visited historical landmarks to explore the hidden architectural pearls of Rome. The focus is on unusual – yet less-known – buildings that were built from the second half of the 20th century onwards. From cultural and educational institutes, sport facilities, and residen-tial buildings to sacred and mixed-use buildings through to transport infra-structure: this book presents 140 pro-jects that cover a wide range of architec-tural styles and typologies.

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Book SynopsisTunisia has a long and rich history, which is evident in its architecture, arts, and culture. This is particularly visible in the capital Tunis. From the vestiges of antiquity to contemporary architecture, the city offers an impressive collection of quarters and buildings from different periods and of various architectural styles and typologies. This comprehensive guide gathers together projects that illustrate the country’s multi-layered past and fascinating diversity. It features and four main chapters with well-defined tours through the city, 400 illustrations, and an informative reading list.

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Book SynopsisBuilders have never been so prolific as they are today. And never have there been so many technical and design-related options available to architects. Yet contemporary architecture often creates a sense of unease. In their book, Sergei Tchoban and Wladimir Sedow show how the balance between prominent buildings and the buildings around them in the background has been lost in the modern era. Every building strives to assert itself over others – to drown out its peers. At the same time, contemporary architects are capable of developing “a sense of harmony full of contrasts”. They have a wealth of options at their disposal to this end. After prowling through 2,500 years of architectural history, the authors arrive at what makes modern buildings so particular. They show what contemporary architects must consider in order to create buildings with a satisfactory, harmonious appearance in a new way. “Sergei Tchoban and Wladimir Sedow do not write about beauty in this essay – certainly not in the sense of defining the term or putting forth a conceptual history. Rather, they write about the relationship between prominent buildings and the nameless buildings around them – the buildings in the background. Or to put it another way, they write about the relationship between architectural monuments and ordinary buildings.” (from the preface by Bernhard Schulz)

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Book SynopsisAfter its golden age in the last decades of the 20th century, diagramming is still an experimental practice today, but it focuses on the synthesis of complexity and on new disciplinary territories on the edge between humanities, art, architecture, urban planning and landscape. This manual presents experimental diagrams through sensing, analysing and transforming space. The contributions critically delineate diagrammatic behaviours in architectural history, present the design practices of offices such as AZPML and MVRDV, take the medium to its extreme consequences, and outline future trajectories.

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Book SynopsisThe orthodox concept of the Modern, as it was passed down from the 1920s to the post-war era, has been in a state of crisis for quite some time. This is particularly visible in the fields of urban planning, architecture, and design. Theorists and practitioners have either fiercely defended it as a crowning historical achievement to be upheld and further cultivated, or dismissively rejected it as a short-lived and outdated episode that needs to be replaced with something different and new. Architectural theorist and practitioner Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani suggests a third option: that we reformulate our understanding of the Modern, continuing to pursue its original social and humanist ambitions while radically re-examining its ideological, political, social, technical, functional, economic, ecological, and aesthetic assumptions. Our world, which continues to be shaken by dreadful wars, is also being sapped and polluted by our thoughtlessness and our greed. The capitalist compulsion to turn everything into a commodity has led to needless production and consumption, and we are both victims and accomplices of this predicament. The consumerist frenzy has brought completely new forms of exploitation and exacerbated the unjust inequalities between different parts of our world. Starting from these premises, the author puts forward a new design approach that strives for – and is defined by – durability. This is an approach that rejects the frivolous waste of resources and superficial prolif­eration of images that have become commonplace today. It offers an alternative to the contemporary fixation on spectacles, both hollow and dangerous, and instead calls for measured restraint and substantial simplicity.

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Book SynopsisThe fourth, expanded edition of this successful title presents over 50 contemporary treehouses and various conceptions designed by architect Andreas Wenning. The spectrum ranges from private refuges to adventure spaces in nature and treehouse hotels. This volume is completed by substantial essays on questions relating to statics and construction.

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Book SynopsisOver 3,000 churches were built in Poland between 1945 and 1989, despite the socialist state’s hostility towards religion. We call this Day-VII Architecture. Built by parishioners from scavenged or pinched materials, the churches were at once an expression of faith and a form of anti-government protest. Their fantastic designs broke with the state’s rigid urbanism. Neither legal nor prohibited, the construction of churches during this period engaged the most talented architects and craftspeople, who in turn enabled parish communities to build their own houses of worship. These community projects eventually became crucial sites for the democratization of Poland. Unearthing the history of these churches through photography and interviews with their designers, this publication sheds new light on the architectural dimension of Poland’s trans­formation from state socialism to capitalism.

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