Search results for ""Oro Editions""
Oro Editions Reimagining the Library of the Future: Public Buildings and Civic Space for Tomorrow’s Knowledge Society
The study Reimagining the Library of the Future investigates the various models of public buildings and civic space through the lens of the library. It takes a critical look at the history, present, and future transformation of this significant building typology that has recently emerged as a redefined community place, social condenser, and urban incubator for knowledge generation, storage, and sharing. In particular, the library has evolved as a vibrant and vital member of community development and as a basis for outreach efforts. This book presents 40 recent public and academic libraries from around the world, with over 200 images. As the survey of precedents shows, the historical cases have informed the design of the recent libraries and the continuous development of the building type over time. Well-designed libraries are now in abundance, and the wider view of this study includes médiathèque and learning centres. The selection of contemporary projects focuses on urban libraries in Europe (Germany, Italy, Austria, Netherlands), the US, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Japan, and China.
£19.76
Oro Editions Matter Aggregation: A Design Studio at UVA
Within the human-machine collaborations cultivated in the digital age, crafts and materials are playing an increasingly important role in forming various ways of matter aggregation for architecture. Based on the pedagogical exploration of the design studio—Matter Aggregation at UVA, the book seeks new values of wood craft for contemporary architectural design, by introducing digital design and robotic fabrication techniques into the design process for timber building. The book integrates explorations of traditional crafts with digital fabrication technique, establishing a digital crafting as a new field for contemporary practice. The book explores the computational mechanisms and diagrammatic grammar within these craft-based aggregation systems, paying close attention to geometrical configurations, material effects and fabrication details and take advantage of these qualities to produce a unique spatiality.
£17.95
Oro Editions Spirit of Luxury and Design: A Perspective from Contemporary Fashion and Jewelry
The vast medium of jewellery and fashion artefact design continues to be a central pillar of fashion luxury goods industries and artistic practice, but there is a lack of discussions on the researches, value and roles of it. Design is an expression of values and attitudes, and a tangible form of guiding the thoughts and desires of individuals and members of society. In the contemporary society, when science, technology and craftsmanship reach a stage, whether products and services become luxurious or not, its quality, uniqueness, artistry and rarity are all achieved through design. This book represents the articles from 20 outstanding design researchers from 11 countries, including many works from international designers, who are engaging with and pushing the boundaries of the medium. It contributes to these international debates on contemporary fashion and jewellery design while providing an accessible overview and a concise reference book.
£17.95
Oro Editions Shaped Places: Of Carroll County New Hampshire
Shaped Places of Carroll County New Hampshire expands upon an award-winning speculative urban design project by the architecture and design practice EXTENTS, led by McLain Clutter and Cyrus Peñarroyo. The project investigates the complex reciprocity between who we are and the shape of where we live; between identities and the built environments that support them. In doing so, Shaped Places creates a dialogue between seemingly disparate discourses spanning from critical geography, to formalist art criticism, to the urbanisation strategies of the early 20th century Russian avant garde. The role of the rural-urban divide in affirming the divided political landscape in the United States is a central theme in the work. The project culminates in the design of three linear cities in Carroll County, New Hampshire. In each speculative urban design proposal, rural and urban patterns of development and divergent lifestyles are combined in urban design proposals intended to produce a functional body politic from a sharply divided population.
£14.36
Oro Editions Behind the Camera: American Women Photographers Who Shaped How We See the World
Every day millions of people around the world use cell phones to document their daily lives. They photograph important moments and create visual reminders of holidays, trips, and visits, or record natural phenomena like rainbows, sunsets, eclipses, full moons, and autumn leaves. Then they post these photographs to social media outlets like Facebook, Snapchat, or Instagram. But what if (as was true a hundred years ago), in order to create a photograph, you needed 50-100 pounds of very expensive equipment, including a giant camera and metal or glass plates instead of film? What if you couldn’t send those plates out to a lab, but had to develop them yourself with special chemicals in a darkened room? What if the people whose pictures you wanted to capture had to sit for long stretches without moving? And what if travelling around to document historical events or important people was considered 'man’s work'? These were the conditions for making high-quality photographs from the time the camera was invented in 1839, well into the 20th century. Each of the women in this series stepped out of the bounds of physical and social expectations to pursue her personal vision through photography. Some were fortunate to have come from wealthy families who fostered their interests. Others had to make their way by supporting themselves, or they found encouragement from other, more established photographers. All were pioneers in extending the scope of making photographs, whether as an art form, a tool for recording, or as a commercial resource. Some were better known for portraiture; others for documenting poverty and hardship, the horrors of war, or the lives of marginal people. Various women found joy in photographing the buildings and bustle of city life, including that of recent immigrants while some explored the vast terrain and Native American culture of the American Southwest. Several dedicated their lives to the historic preservation of buildings and culture of the South. Some devoted themselves to nature through their own personal and spiritual connection with the landscape. Many chose to avoid or leave behind the comforts of married life at a time when marriage provided the primary source of financial security for a woman. All surmounted whatever challenges they encountered in order to pursue their dreams.
£17.95
Oro Editions Frank L. Wright and the Architects of Steinway Hall: A Study of Collaboration
"This book celebrates teamwork and collaboration over the individual, a refreshing take on a practice which is given to celebrating starchitects." —Peter H. Miller, Traditional Building In 1897, Frank Lloyd Wright, Robert Spencer, Dwight Perkins, and Myron Hunt, all young architects just starting out in practice, shared office space in Chicago. This book is both a history of that brief period and an attempt to assess the extent to which they collaborated on their architectural designs and on the creation of architectural theory which would impact a half century of architectural design. While there is little firsthand documentation of the time spent in their shared loft office in Steinway Hall, this study engages in a side by side comparison of projects they each designed while working there. Overlapping ideas, design similarities, and an analysis of their subsequent work, all suggest that these men formed a creative “collaborative circle” of friends, who jointly developed ideas later claimed as the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. This is a book about artistic collaboration at a time when discussions of art and architectural history are still largely dominated by the belief that significant works are created by the lone artistic genius. At the turn of the last century Spencer, Perkins, Hunt, and Wright were part of a community of architects who were all active members of the Chicago Architectural. Steinway Hall, an office building designed by Dwight Perkins, became a home to Chicago’s architectural community with as many as 50 different architects renting space in that building at the turn of the last century. Based on Real Estate Directories from 1897 through 1910 the book includes a listing of the architects that worked and interacted there. Also included are brief biographies of Spencer, Perkins, and Hunt. Excepting Hunt, none of these men have been the subject of individual publications. While Frank Lloyd Wright’s life and work have been extensively chronicled, this book reexamines the period between Wright’s arrival in Chicago in 1887 and his move into the loft office in Steinway Hall in 1897.
£24.26
Oro Editions Landscape Architecture Frontiers 044: Children and Urban Environments
Urban environments (including built, natural, and social environments) crucially impact children's physical and psychological health, particularly in cities. Now children's mentality and safety, and the freedom of travelling and playing have raised concerns in society. In this issue, trans-disciplinary discussions between scholars and practitioners in landscape architecture and environmental psychology, environmental behaviours, human engineering, public health, etc., as well as city managers, are encouraged to explore the ways to improve urban environments for children's outdoor activities. With such a multi-disciplinary coverage, this issue aims to update landscape architects' theoretical and methodological approaches to issues of children and urban environments, with a deeper understanding of their disciplinary competences, limitations, and challenges thus to find out their irreplaceable role in guaranteeing children's well-beings.
£29.25
Oro Editions 12 Projects in 120 Constraints: Plan:b Architects
In this book, we review a set of Plan:b projects in Colombia through the environmental, social, and voluntary constraints we faced, and the interim agreements we built around them. We carry out a reconstruction of the central facts behind these buildings through an “inverse” exercise — explaining each project based on contextual constraints and not on singular architectural ideas. We review the work of other authors and the way they understand limitations and difficulties that are part of their creative activity and attempt to generate a broad reflective base to approach our architectural projects and the predominant role that restrictions have played in them.
£17.95
Oro Editions Arches to Zigzags: An Architectural ABC
Arches to Zigzags introduces its audience (both young and old) to the world of architecture through the alphabet. It challenges young readers with new words and images, while adults will widen their own knowledge of architecture. Captivating images and clever wordplay entertain folks of all ages to explore the built environment. The book begins its journey through architecture with an Arch (for the letter A), then a Balcony, and next on to Column Capitals. Along the way, readers will learn about some less-familiar architectural examples (like Finial, for instance), Keystone, Obelisk, and Quoin. Each letter and its corresponding image are described with light verse, which asks the reader some quick questions about what they see. This colourful, lively, and entertaining book closes with some thoughts about what architecture is, why it's important, and where you'll find examples of architecture in the buildings you visit and use every day. There's also information on the location and history of each of the 26 beautiful images in the book, in case you want to check them out on your own. Created by an architect, writer, photographer, and librarian, Arches to Zigzags connects architecture with the letters of the alphabet, from A to Z.
£15.26
Oro Editions Pressing Matters 9
This year Pressing Matters 9 was completely rethought; the aim was to present an Open Source publication that shares the Department of Architecture’s concept of design research, an integral approach of critical thinking, rigorous research, and a deep understanding of the complex layers of architecture. Together with Jonathan Jackson of the renowned design Studio WSDIA in NYC, a more integral design was developed, allowing input from research [ARI labs], students, faculty and Penn’s special events. The content and layout focus on an indepth representation on how in recent years we have integrated expertise and content from our courses into our Design Studio’s. Pressing Matters is an annual design and research compilation from the Department of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design, showcasing student work, faculty research, and innovations in pedagogy. The Department launched the one year MSDRAS program this year, directed by Assistant Professor Robert Stuart Smith. The Master of Science in Design: Robotics and Autonomous Systems aims to critically develop novel approaches to the design, manufacturing, construction, use, and lifecycle of architecture through creative engagement with robotics, material systems, and design computation. Students will develop skills in advanced forms of robotic fabrication, simulation, and artificial intelligence, in order to develop methods for design that harness production or live adaptation as a creative opportunity. This is an excellent addition to the existing MSD programs: the MSDEBD directed by Professor Bill Braham and the MSDAAD directed by Professor Ali Rahim, all presented in Pressing Matters 9.
£27.00
Oro Editions Capture the Moment: An Architect's Guide to Travel Sketching
With sketches from around the world, this book takes you on a journey starting with the definition of sketching from observation and an introduction to right-brain drawing. You get a discussion of black and white and colour sketching with a focus on coloured pencil as an easy-to-use medium. Perspective drawing is demystified and you then take side trips to understand shade and shadow, reflections, landscapes, streetscapes, sky and skyline. This book presents the fundamentals of rapid coloured pencil sketching to 'capture the moment' for designers and for travellers who have always wanted to draw the notable places they visit.
£18.00
Oro Editions Dialectic VIII: Subverting - Unmaking Architecture
The VIII issue of Dialectic asks the reader to imagine possible ways to subvert architecture. Or to employ architecture as means of subversion. In this issue seven articles from international authors and two guiding editorials invite the reader to reflect upon the various ways of how architecture, normally conceived of as expression of power and elites, undermines and undoes exactly this taken-for-granted affirmatively. Divided in three sections the articles in the first part explore lessons from scholarship and design from the 'field school' in Milwaukee, from social housing in Brussels, and from informal open-air bazars in Ukraine. Section two critiques instrumentalised architectural knowledge, such as sustainability and the medium of drawing, particularly from an indigenous perspective. Finally, section three wrestles with fundamental concepts of the architectural discipline, with the male, normalised, de-sexualised body and architecture's relationship with the ground being two of the most fundamental ones.
£15.26
Oro Editions Body Mirror
This body of work is a contemplation of human beings' passage on earth and their intimate interrelation with the environment. This book attempts to bring humour to the things we are getting attached to. It points at the invisible within the visible, the immaterial within the material or the vertical nature of being (and its mirror-like quality) within our horizontal way of living (where our mind, time, and space condition our experiences). The naked body is seen as our primary indivisible unit of perception which is usually pushed and pulled by our thinking mind's desire to either get less or more. In other words, our lives are coloured by our minds and since body-mind is a single entity, most of the colours painted on the body are an allusion to the range of our changing desires from being invisible or transparent to wanting to be singular and the centre of attention. The book's Interviews (the interviewers are from Russia, Colombia, Korea, Germany, and the US) stanzas, and photographs are not seen as being subservient to one another but can be seen as an assemblage of three independent directions that may or may not intersect following each reader.
£35.96
Oro Editions Architecture Stuff, More Stuff
Architecture Stuff is about a way of looking at architecture. It examines 7 seminal projects and shows how they might have been conceived with or without the design architect's awareness. More a working method than a theory, the book deals with questions pertinent to designers as well as to critics of buildings. More Stuff then illustrates how the same sensibility and working method can be used in the design of buildings as a tool for creating architecture. The 7 buildings featured are chosen for their breadth of styles and approaches to architecture, demonstrating that this approach to architecture can be applied to any building. Presented in reverse chronological order, the first project, Grace Farms, is a building by SANAA. Noted for its meandering river form and minimalist detailing, it is seen to be - among other things - a juxtaposition of orthogonal and sinuous forms. The second project is Villa Dall Ava by Rem Koolhaas/OMA. Located in the suburbs, the house is a transition from city to country. The third project is the Neue Staatsgalerie by James Stirling. The analysis shows how the 'bad boy' of architecture subverts conventional architectural tropes. Robert Venturi's Mother's House is shown to be a compressed stately manor and an architect's conceit. The Kimbell Art Museum by Louis Kahn can be understood as simple repetitive forms with elaborated elements that organize a diverse collection of spaces. Pierre Chareau's Maison de Verre is much more than types of transparency and mechanisation. One of its major themes is the use of 'L' shaped spaces. Finally, St George's Bloomsbury by Nicholas Hawksmoor is a parish church swallowed by a classical temple. The critique exposes how the architect used that idea to juxtapose the clerical and the civic to develop all of the details in the building. These are not singular idea buildings and, as a way of seeing architecture, there are overlapping themes in this collection. The history of architecture of specific periods is a common theme, as is architecture's stasis with spaces expanding or contracting. A dry sense of humour is always appreciated. What separates these buildings from any other building is the density of ideas presented. More Stuff accounts for the same working methods as a way to make architecture. Here the author illustrates eleven projects across the span of his career. Though often done in collaboration with others, in all cases the author generated the design ideas. One of the key aspects of architecture stuff is that it is unpretentious and accessible and these projects are meant to illustrate that quality. Architecture can be serious and playful at the same time.
£26.96
Oro Editions Dalvey 7: Houses by 7 Singapore Architects
It is by no coincidence that another collaborative project is spear-headed by K2LD. Following the success of the Lien Villa Collective at Holland Park, Singapore in 2009, Ko Shiou Hee was asked to look at a similar concept for the Dalvey Estate property and to select and lead a group of architects in the making of a unique architecture expression and yet functional outcome, suitable for contemporary living and fit for rental. It was learning from Game Theory that Ko Shiou Hee succeeded in persuading his clients to adopt this sharing strategy both in the Lien Collective and the Dalvey 7 group. The selected architects must all adhere to the rules of the game and work on the same fees and briefs. All have to consider each other's placements and planning to maximise the benefit for all parties as a whole and eventually benefit the client. As architects, each firm, and their practicing architects, has been educated to work with social, economic, and environmental sensitivity. The world that architects operate in is driven by developers and stakeholders who maximise their gain through development strategies, but leave little chance to be true to the architectural profession. It is perhaps even more pressing for architects to address this issue of true collaborative spirit in this increasingly distortive egocentric world. Through this Dalvey 7 project, there is hope in the idea outlined in Game Theory to perpetuate and flourish in this profession to encourage sharing and collaboration. Perhaps more form of joint venture in various scales like big firm-small firm, local firm-foreign firm, developer-architect venture, design-built etc, will begin to surface.
£17.95
Oro Editions McIntyre House: UBC SALA: West Coast Modern House Series
The genesis, development and life-long occupation of the McIntyre house, built in 1972 as part of a multiple-dwelling subdivision, provides possible answers to some very pressing contemporary design questions. How might one live near the city and be respectful of nature? How might efficiently built dwellings also be spacious and dense site occupation still allow for privacy? This history is recounted through text augmented by photographs and site diagrams, house sections and plans. They reveal a modern architecture on the west coast that resulted from an interplay of both the physicality of the land and a culturally imbued landscape.
£17.95
Oro Editions Triangle Modern Architecture
The Triangle region of North Carolina is a little-known hotbed of outstanding modern architecture with roots that trace back to the Bauhaus and has helped to shape the history of modern American architecture. While the Triangle has seen a great increased interest in modern architecture, the understanding of this design and the reasons and history behind it, have not been shared in a clear and meaningful way. There is an information gap between what is appreciated by architects and by the general public.
£35.96
Oro Editions Ideal Landscapes and the Deep Meaning of Feng-Shui: Patterns of Biological and Cultural Genes
This is a book about ideal landscapes and Feng-Shui. Using evolutionary and anthropological approaches, Peking University professor Kongjian Yu - who holds a doctorate degree in Design from Harvard - explores the origin, structure, and meanings of Feng-Shui in juxtaposition to the ideal landscape models in Chinese culture. Using illustrative site observations and literature, Yu argues that Feng-Shui landscapes share similar structures with other Chinese ideal landscapes - the implications of which are deconstructed into terms of geography, anthropology, ecology, and philosophy. As a landscape architect and urbanist, Professor Yu respects the role of Feng-Shui in the making of places, yet still is in opposition to its superstitious nature. Well illustrated and poetically written, this book is a must-read for those who are interested in Feng-Shui, as well as those who care about their daily living environment - especially those who practice architecture, landscape architecture, and urbanism.
£17.95
Oro Editions LA+ Iconoclast
Issue 10 of LA+ Journal brings you the results of the LA+ Iconoclast open design ideas competition, in which we asked designers to reimagine New York's Central Park, fictionally devastated by eco-terrorists protesting the loss of the world's forests. See what designers did when faced with the opportunity to challenge this icon of landscape architecture. LA+ Iconoclast also features interviews with jurors Geoff Manaugh (BLDGBLOG), Jenny Osuldsen (Snohetta), Charles Waldheim (Harvard GSD), Beatrice Galilee (The Met), Lola Shepard (Lateral Office), and Richard Weller (PennDesign), as well as a critique of competition entries by Julia Czerniak.
£14.36
Oro Editions Every Last Jew: A Teenage Boy's Story of Survival
It's 1939 and Hitler just invaded Poland. Henry is 13 years old, and unbeknownst to him or his family, his life is about to change forever. Soon he is torn from his siblings and parents and finds himself packed into a covered truck with dozens of desperate strangers. He doesn't have any idea where he's going or when he'll be let out, if ever. Henry is now struggling for his life in one of the most diabolical and murderous events in human history - the Nazi plan to exterminate every last Jew in Europe. Travel with him to a munition's factory in his home town of Radom, where he is forced to labour 12 hours a day with barely enough rations to keep him alive. Discover how he manages to obtain extra food through ingenuity and a willingness to risk his life. Would we have the courage to do the same? Follow Henry to an airstrip in Unterriexingen where he is put to work in the freezing cold with barely any clothes and no shoes to protect him from the elements. Learn how, during an Allied air strike, he escapes to a nearby farmhouse where he pleads with the owner to take him in after he's caught eating with the swine. Feel what it's like to hold a Luger for the first time while Henry struggles with the idea of killing the Nazi officer who allows him to clean his pistol and shine his boots, when he is not forced to work building what would someday become his own prison. Would you pull the trigger? Walk with Henry on a 'death march' through the streets of Germany with no end in sight, having to endure the taunts of passersby who yell nasty epithets and throw stones at him while he reaches for a discarded apple core and is stabbed in the back by a Nazi soldier's bayonet. How many of us would have the strength to continue in such circumstances? This true-to-life story shines as a beacon of hope and perseverance and serves as a backdrop-narrative to remind us that racism and hate can lead to murderous behaviour and the rapid destruction of civil society. Every Last Jew is a beautifully written memoir by Henry's son Mark Koperweis that will take you on a journey that is up-close, personal, and in full living horror. When you emerge, you will never again see the world or your life in the same way. It will change you, as it did Henry, forever.
£8.95
Oro Editions Erdy McHenry Architecture
Rooted in the modernist tradition, Erdy McHenry Architecture brings uncommon rigour to their work. Recognised for their uniquely diverse portfolio of mixed-use, institutional, office, agricultural, and residential design, Erdy McHenry Architecture presents this monograph as a window into projects developed throughout the firm's twenty-year history. With an appreciation for place and creative constraints, Erdy McHenry Architecture considers each project challenge as an opportunity: how can architecture make great places? How can design elevate the human experience? How can a project team address the realities of construction without sacrificing programmatic intent? For each case study presented in this monograph, Erdy McHenry Architecture provides a brief narrative of the project's design intent and evolution. Whether it is a tower, a school, or an office headquarters, Erdy McHenry Architecture leverages the challenges and opportunities of site, scale, and social context to reveal solutions that enable design as an outcome more than an objective.
£29.25
Oro Editions An Enterprising Path to Barrio Chino: A Story of Barcelona
In 1925 a journalist on the Barcelona newspaper El Escandalo used the term Barrio Chino in a somewhat derogatory way to describe part of the older city. While the area in question represented a dystopian underbelly of the city, known for its impoverished living and working conditions together with its 'red-light' subcultures, it never existed as a 'Chinatown' in either a physical or social sense. However the name of this mythical community stuck from the 1920s onwards, appearing on maps and descriptions of the inner city but devoid of any hint of Chinese inhabitants or their culture. The book takes this as a starting point to chart the development of Barcelona over two hundred years using a series of 'diaries' and drawn images. These are set around four generations of a fictional Chinese dynasty and their imagined architectural participation in some of the major events in Barcelona's modern history. As residents of the Barrio from the mid-nineteenth century, they individually document diverse contributions to the city during periods of dynamic growth. This is set against a backdrop of cataclysmic political change and exemplary forms of urban regeneration which have provided Barcelona with its contemporary 'World City' status as it plans for the future.
£22.46
Oro Editions Nature Site Restraint: Thorbjörn Andersson Landscape Architect
This is a book about contemporary Swedish landscape architecture, reflected through the work of the country's leading landscape designer Thorbjorn Andersson. Three essays by international writers open the book, elaborating on the concepts of Nature, Site, and Restraint. The essays are followed by the project section, including photographs, drawings, and descriptions. The projects are in the public realm; mainly squares and parks in Sweden. Swedish landscape architecture stands firm in the world, directed towards social use and careful design. Sweden has developed a tradition built on human values, selective design, and an urge to work in a resourceful way. The book covers a selection of recent projects by Thorbjoern Andersson, who is one main interpreter of contemporary Swedish landscape design. Essays are by Annemarie Lund of Denmark, critic, editor and author, Marc Treib, professor emeritus of UC Berkeley and prolific author, and Udo Weilacher, chair of Landscape department at TU Munich and author.
£17.95
Oro Editions Pressing Matters 8
Pressing Matters is an exciting design and research compilation from PennDesign's Department of Architecture, featuring recent student work, news, important symposia and lectures. Society faces many challenges: global warming and environmental change, pollution and waste, transition to new energy and resource economies, the redistribution and reorganisation of political and economic power worldwide; globalisation of the construction and development industries, population growth, shrinkage and migration; urban intensification and attrition; privatisation of public sector activities; and the transformation of cultural identities and social institutions. We seek to bring the expansion of expertise and creativity in architecture to bear on these challenges with a goal to be at the forefront of advanced research and design by creating an advanced research institute that focuses on new design methodologies and future manufacturing through the interlinked intelligence of digital design, scripting and robotics. Printed on recycled paper with non-toxic inks, Pressing Matters focuses on social awareness and responsibility, and endeavours to be a think-tank for critical exchange and advanced debate within and across disciplinary boundaries. We are a connective device linking invited experts for ongoing lectures and publications to a growing international audience and an increasing network of experts. Approximately 310 graduate students, the Graduate Architecture Department is comprised of design studios, exhibition spaces, classrooms, and offices, a facility that includes state-of-the-art laboratories for computing and fabrication and two advanced research labs: the Digital Design Research Lab and the Building Simulation Group. PennDesign has also introduced 3-D printers in the newly renovated studio spaces and a brand new Robotic lab.
£27.90
Oro Editions Library as Stoa: Public Space and Academic Mission in Snohetta's Charles Library
Library as Stoa is a reflection on the building design and construction in essays and photographs of Snøhetta's Charles Library at Temple University. The library demonstrates the role of public space and innovation in architecture. By using an Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS) for the storage of Temple's entire collection which includes two million books on site, the Charles Library was designed to balance the amount of space for books vs. people, and significantly increase the social spaces to accommodate student and faculty research and collaboration. Using the models of library as studio and creative commons, it is a place for discovery, creation, preservation, and sharing of knowledge. The library includes university partners and important library functions in strategic locations for improved support services for the university community. University Special Collections, an important institutional asset for the university and the city of Philadelphia, is visible and accessible for visitors from the city community. Snøhetta's design approach took into account the diversity of the university community, the site conditions and the university's aspirations. The design process included collaboration with the campus community to fully understand the social aspects and future needs of the university. Sited in a prime location on the university's campus, the library is an inspirational destination for the campus and city communities and serves as a change agent, reflective of the future direction of the university.
£26.96
Oro Editions Linear Thought Condensation
Condensed thoughts transformed to matter with sequence of drawings. With exceptions of the author's other books, no similar published case studies exist. Uniquely relevant in both the education and practice architecture. This book aims to unify knowing and feeling with drawing. Since this process is influenced by the memory of our body, the outcome could be unpredictable, mysterious and timeless. If the drawn investigation questions the fundamentals of knowledge, existence and truth, then the resulting architecture might embody a new branch of philosophy. It will affect simultaneously our cerebral, tactile, and spatial perceptions and appear as a circumstantial singularity.
£17.95
Oro Editions LA+ Tyranny
From the first utopian impulse of Plato's Republic to today's global border controls and public space surveillance systems, there has always been a tyrannical aspect to the organisation of society and the regulation of its spaces. Tyranny takes many forms, from the rigid barriers of military zones to the subtle ways in which landscape is used to 'naturalise' power. What are these forms and how do they function at different scales, in different cultures, and at different times in history? How are designers and other disciplines complicit in the manifestation of these varying forms of tyranny and how have they been able to subvert such political and ideological structures?
£15.75
Oro Editions Timber in the City: Design and Construction in Mass Timber
As synthetic materials, mutant and hybrid concoctions attain prominence in our daily lives - in our handheld devices, cooking utensils, vehicles, even things as simple as our shopping bags - the design and construction industries have instead reembraced the familiar, the conventional - wood, which has regained prominence through innovations in engineering and construction methodologies. Technology is now commonly used and often (though not always) affordably used - to cut, perforate, assemble, erect, and even fabricate materials in a manner not previously possible. Wood is one such material, and Timber in the City documents both the imaginings of those in the nascence of their education and practice and the executed work of design professionals at the leading edge of architecture. These designers, regardless of the duration of their immersion in the field, have imaginatively rethought the means by which we build and the methods by which we define space merely through differing deployments of a familiar building material.
£20.66
Oro Editions Lunch 13:: Mischief
Lunch is an annual, student-edited design research journal at the University of Virginia School of Architecture that aims to facilitate conversations across disciplines and communities, publishing articles, research, interviews, and projects that critically engage with contemporary design topics. Schools of Architecture; Design Academic Community; Student-run Journals; Architecture and Design Journals; Students of Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Urban Design and Design-related fields; Design Research. Throughout history mischief-makers have plagued the over-powerful, puncturing the smug assumptions of Fat Cats, Big Cheeses, and High Muck-a-Mucks. From Coyote to Anansi to Shakespeare's fools, the trickster holds the trump card when the chips are down, the stakes are high, and the owner of the casino is the President of the United States. We posit the wicked pleasures of the trickster tale as an enticing alternative to dreary disaster-capitalist narratives, technocratic solutionism, and universalist fictions of Authority, Progress, Unity, and Truth. This issue of Lunch (13: Mischief) is a collection of articles, letters, manifestos, anti-manifestos, graphics, games and narratives that approach design more impishly than urgently, that uproot assumptions that solutions are the solution, that wiggle under the garden fence and leave the farmer with a fistful of fur - but no bunny.
£17.95
Oro Editions Places: Public Architecture
In its considered response to the globalisation of culture, HCMA has consistently achieved an architecture that is expressive of time and place, and uniquely interprets Canadian values of openness and inclusivity. The firm's concentration on civic buildings denotes a deeply-rooted concern for community, and recognition that in contemporary pluralistic society's schools, libraries and community centres are both symbolically and literally, the meeting places for all sectors of our communities regardless of demography, faith or ethnicity. What distinguishes HCMA's design approach is its conceptual shift from the traditional departure points of form or function, to a more organic and humanist approach by which inhabitation of the building and its surroundings mediate the interface between these two opposing forces. While function implies an empirical definition of purpose, and form a pre-occupation with sculptural abstraction, inhabitation connotes an understanding that buildings should embrace the richness and diversity with which our lives unfold. Places: Public Architecture explores a selection of key projects by HCMA which offer insight into the firm's specific approach to community building through public architecture. Featured projects many of which have been challenged by contemporary advancements in technology, include schools, libraries, fire halls, childcare centres, and more. Through the practice of architecture HCMA asks what is the future of the library, of education, and of public space in an increasingly online age? The book features critical text by accomplished writer Jim Taggart, professional photography, lucid architectural drawings, and details, as well as a look at the firm's design process of iterative modelling/diagramming and research on contemporary topics.
£22.50
Oro Editions Basically Modern: Los Angeles Houses
For this Los Angeles firm, modernism is not a matter of style or ideology, but rather a commonsense approach to contemporary living. Their goal is to create a composite portrait of each client and their own response to the site and the benign climate of southern California. A few materials, impeccably crafted, provide a serene backdrop for living and entertaining. Photographs, plans, and sketches illustrate ten exemplary houses in great detail, and the text illuminates the creative process and the ways in which it has enriched the lives of fortunate owners.
£22.50
Oro Editions Increments of Neighborhood: A Compendium of Built Types for Walkable and Vibrant Communities
ntended as a comprehensive resource, Increments of Neighborhood is a compendium of recent built work for urban neighbourhoods, encompassing the spectrum of building types financed/built by today's American real estate industry - from single family and townhouses, through 'missing middle' stacked housing, stick-built housing, large multi-family, and high-rise buildings. This publication is the only resource in the marketplace that tabulates market-rate products that fill America's cities, as well as being a comparative resource that shows how these types can be deployed in a way befitting smart-growth using sustainable principles. The only resource of its type, Increments of Neighborhood will demystify the understanding of costs and type, contribute to the public realm for the non-architectural professional, and provide a breadth and range of significant new information for experienced architects who typically specialise in a particular segment of building products such as hospitals or single-family houses, information with which they are frequently unacquainted.
£54.00
Oro Editions Yoga and the City
Yoga and the City photographically documents a variety of people who are committed to yoga philosophy and yoga lifestyles in big cities - people, who live in the middle of hustle and bustle, but manage to maintain their harmony and happiness. It doesn't matter what is surrounding them, what really matters is how they look at everything around them. Possibly, when people see this photography, they will decide to try yoga or meditation. Yoga and the City combines art, spirituality, and sport. It is a reflection of strength and power - strength to overcome adversities and to find balance while living in a fast paced environment. Yoga is a way to find alignment, to become closer to your spiritual core.
£14.50
Oro Editions Seeking Savannah
A disparate but exuberant group of scholars are brought together in Savannah by an eminent professor to explore and debate the history and characteristics of the city and its implications for a twenty-first century urbanism. This narrative represents a forceful and humorous interplay between formal discussion, informal interludes, irreverent comments, and less than academic relationships. Its serious purpose is to identify the urban challenges facing America in terms of containing and consolidating growth within livable communities. However like all such participatory events it is also an opportunity for informal personal agendas set against a backdrop of real life events. The text is interspersed with 90 drawings of Savannah, illustrating its unique and multilayered identity as a potential urban paradigm for the future.
£19.35
Oro Editions Ennead Architects 8: Profile Series
This is the eighth set in an ongoing series of books. Each of the titles tells the story of a single building. It is our hope that as these books accumulate alongside our body of work, they, in their aggregate, will form a profile of our design intentions.
£25.65
Oro Editions Houses for Aging Socially: Developing Third Place Ecologies
By 2030, 79 million baby boomers will have turned 65 at a rate of 10,000 per day. While more than 85 per cent will age in place, a tsunami of challenges and opportunities will compel this cohort to embrace more cooperative structures of living, given their explosive increase in single-person households. The nation's housing stock and neighbourhoods are not equipped to serve the common mobility, access, and social needs of seniors. Many who now age in place experience greater social isolation and loss of purpose than residents of nursing homes. What is the shape of housing that accommodates retirement lifestyles for the 85 per cent who do not live in the nation's top 50 urban cores, yet desire greater cooperative structures of living in low-density housing? This book reworks components of the familiar single-family home to promote new levels of connectivity in neighbourhoods once resistant to sharing. The traditional individual porch is rescaled to serve multiple units as a hyper-porch; garage galleries hybridize car parking to become mixed-use neighbourhood workspaces; and patio mats offer live-work venues within a compact footprint. All three strategies revitalise neighbourhoods through the return of informal economies and social networks.
£21.15
Oro Editions Joy Ride
Joy Ride is a simple book on the surface. A collection of renowned architect-come-artist David C. Martin's sketches, watercolours, photography, and observations, as recorded over an extensive cross-Mexico sojourn, it has all the aesthetic gaiety and light-heartedness of a typical travelogue. However, there is something deeper at work. Martin's multi-media evocation of Mexican scenery and buildings speaks to his extensive experience in art and architecture, and this book will be of mutual interest to students of both - as well as those who want to explore Mexico through the eyes of a truly unique traveller. Innovative, fresh, and evocative, this book will take you on the 'Joy Ride' that its title promises.
£20.66
Oro Editions Experiences of Art: Reflections on Masterpieces
Experiences of Art: Reflections on Masterpieces is a book that explores the history of art through the insights of students and critics. It engages with challenging, thought-provoking themes such as the origins of creativity in prehistoric art, the meaning and significance of the classical paradigm in art history since antiquity, the actual application of Renaissance art theory to an examination of famous masterpieces, and the tradition of individual subjectivity and expression in modern art reaching back to Van Gogh. In addition, one of its special features is an exploration of a new area of philosophical inquiry, which re-examines the 18th century as both a period of rationalism and anti-rationalism (rather than the "Age of Reason", as it is commonly referred to). With its focus on well-known and often-discussed masterpieces, this work is adept at including both the mandatory framework of current critical thought and introducing fresh ideas and perspectives.
£15.50
Oro Editions Urban Hallucinations
In Urban Hallucinations, architects Koning Eizenberg take on the idyll of local and neighbourhood through the design of recent projects in the Los Angeles region. They bring a fresh eye to placemaking and community building in an urban area that is ambivalent about development, yet conscious of regional issues - notably sustainability, affordability, and housing shortage. Believing opportunities hide in plain sight, the architects sift through the context of increasing regulation, differing opinions on responsible growth, and priorities for quality of life to extract their own unexpected and compelling approach to the architecture of the day to day.
£15.75
Oro Editions Chandigarh ReThink
Focus on the continuing work for the development of the Global South.
£22.49
Oro Editions Nirvana: The Spread of Buddhism Through Asia
"From crimson robes to golden temples: Stunning photos capture the colourful and spellbinding worship of Buddhism across Asia...Horner's breath-taking collection...captures aspects of each country on his exploration." MailOnline. From its origins at Bodh Gaya on the plains of northern India, we travel up into the Himalaya of Ladakh, where Buddhism thrived and split in the five different sects. Our journey takes us to Nepal, historically a receptive home for Buddhism, to Tibet in Exile in Dharamshala, and to Sikkim and Bhutan paying homage to the sacred sites of Mahayana Buddhism along the way. We venture along the silk route into the mountainous region of Xinjiang in China, and to the largest monastery in the Buddhist world at Labrang in Gansu Province, home to the Yellow Hat sect. We visit the Longman Caves and the legendary Shaolin Monastery, with its extraordinary Kung Fu monks, before eventually embarking for Korea and Japan to trace Tantric Buddhism. There we sample the tranquility of Zen temples and the fresh mountain and sea air of the most sacred pilgrim sites.We follow the story of how the once precarious belief emerged as Theravada Buddhism and found a haven in Sri Lanka before progressing eastwards to Burma, and on into southeast Asia, as far as central Java. We explore the exquisite temples of Luang Prabang in Laos, Angkor Wat in Cambodia and Sukhothai in Thailand where Buddhist art reached a certain zenith. This is journey of spiritual as well as visual enlightenment, as we meet Theravada Buddhist pilgrims along the way. Finally we traverse the Tibetan plateau to reach the fabled capital of Lhasa, with its spiritual centre of the Jokhang Temple and the iconic Potala Palace, the abandoned home of HH the Dalai Lama. Maps with reference to the photographs will guide you along the routes. The illuminating text by Denis Gray provides an authoritative perspective of Buddhism in 21st century Asia and assists in navigating the reader through the book's journey.
£31.50
Oro Editions Architecture as a Living Act: Leonardo Ricci
This book, the first monograph on Leonardo Ricci’s oeuvre, uses archive materials, some of which have never been published, to investigate the entire range of Ricci’s work, by examining some of his most interesting projects and putting them into the context of the current architectural panorama. His professional activity in the passionate climate of post-war reconstruction in Italy, his communitarian projects and experimental family residences, his book Anonymous (20th Century) in which he defined with an “existentialist” approach his theories of painting, architecture, and urban planning, his visionary projects for “Earth-City” macrostructures, his innovative approach to the spatial organisation of public institutions in his last projects, every step of Ricci’s work was always coherently connected to a basic aim: to translate into an architectural form the dynamism of phenomena and the incessant flow of life. The book investigates Leonardo Ricci’s practical and theoretical approach to architectural design, giving this exceptional figure the recognition he deserves within the panorama of Italian and international architecture following the Second World War.
£26.96
Oro Editions A Solution to Homelessness In Your Town: Valley View Senior Housing, Napa County, California
Close to one million people are unhoused in the United States today. Millions and millions are ill—housed - people living in shanties or leaky, mouldy trailers. And millions more are mis—housed - in houses that are abusive in their loneliness, forlorn and empty at so many levels. We can do something about it. Actually, it’s low hanging fruit, should we choose to do something; impossible, if we do not. And it’s essential, not only for the wellbeing of the individual, but also for the wellbeing of the State, and the society. Current studies are overwhelmingly show that it is more cost effective, in terms of tax dollars earmarked for city, county, state, and federal governments, to house people than it is to just leave them outside. About $20k to $40k cheaper for each person per year. In the case of the unhoused, it also taxes our psyches and our emotions to see our neighbours sleeping on the sidewalk. It is difficult, if not impossible, to explain to our children and grandchildren how we Americans leave people outside in the cold — mentally challenged or not. Then, there is the moral issue. If you are motivated to get a new homeless housing project moving in your town, this book is the best place to start.
£14.36
Oro Editions Architecture as Material Culture: The Work of Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp with Kenneth Frampton
Australian architecture practice Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp's work varies in scale, yet it's all unified by an intuitive sense of place and an elaboration of the tectonic. This book presents FJMT's work in detail and places it within the emerging culture of Australian architecture. It documents FJMT's contribution to the wider culture of place and of architecture. A place acquires meaning through human intervention and transformation. Raised to the level of architecture these transformations interpret and represent society's values and aspirations. FJMT has a reputation as an ideas-driven practice with an agenda for strong public engagement and resolution of tectonics. Architecture as Material Culture documents this ability to uncover the real and often contradictory issues and potentials of a project through a very careful analysis of purpose and place.
£27.00
Oro Editions Monsterpieces
This collection of kids' bestiaries is a critique of Monster Contemporary Architecture. It is a reinterpretation of contemporary iconic forms and the contemplation of the future states of these masterpieces, or more fittingly, Monsterpieces. Two Harvard architecture graduates challenge their to minds "un-learn" architecture history. They speculate on the future state of post-occupancy of contemporary architectural icons, creating a retrospective of future archeological studies. A response and critique of iconic perFORMance -- the current architectural trend in competing for attention -- this fiction tells the story of building forms that do follow function. In this book, each eccentric form finds its justification in a speculative function, with surreal and dystopian connotations. The Casa da Musica is now a swimming pool, and Selfridge Birmingham is a prison for TV addicts, nothing more, nothing less.
£11.95
Oro Editions Stephan Jaklitsch: Habits, Patterns & Algorithms
Habits, Patterns, Algorithms presents a diverse selection of projects by Stephan Jaklitsch, the New York-based architect behind all Marc Jacobs retail locations worldwide. Encompassing realized commissions as well as proposals, this volume presents a range of projects, from small-scale retail constructions to freestanding residential works that engage the surrounding landscape. Illustrated with 425 color images and 140 black-and-white images, this history of Jaklitsch's work covers every stage of his projects--from sketch to model to completed structure. It provides a glimpse into the rarely discussed intricacies of the design process, from land site and building code limitations to client-imposed conditions. Exceptional photography and text make this book a valuable resource for the architectural audience, as well as a visually stunning collectible work. AUTHOR: Stephan Jaklitsch received his BS in Architecture from the Georgia Institute of Technology and M-Arch from Princeton University. As Principal of Stephan Jaklitsch Architects since 1998, he has taken the firm from a small design studio focused on residential and commercial projects in New York City to a 12-member architectural firm with a diverse, international portfolio of work. Today, with several hundred completed projects around the world, his firm has received numerous awards, including two Merit Awards from the American Institute of Architects. Stephan Jaklitsch has seen his work exhibited in New York, Chicago, and London and featured in prominent publications throughout the world. Through his work, Jaklitsch seeks to explore the poetry of architecture using the manipulation of space and light to create rigorously detailed spaces that convey a sense of meaning and purpose to their respective contexts. ILLUSTRATIONS: 280 colour & 140 b/w photographs
£40.50
Oro Editions Speaking of Architecture: Interviews About What Comes Next, with Mark Foster Gage
What ideas are currently energising your architectural work and explorations? Why did these ideas become impactful while others did not? What role did mentors and peers play in the development of these ideas? What were your breakthrough insights or aha moments? What is next for you, and for the discipline and discourse of architecture? For this book, Mark Foster Gage has selected 11 of the most noteworthy and fascinating conversations from his year-long project of documenting the ideas of the next generation of designers who are revolutionising the nature of architectural practice and theory today. This remarkable collection of casual, informative, and personal interviews engages 15 architects as they reveal what made them who they are, what propels their architectural work forward, and what they anticipate comes next. A noted practitioner, tenured Yale professor, CNN design contributor, and respected insider of the international architectural scene, Mark Foster Gage has spent his professional life with many of the most important figures in architectural discourse and practice. With this book he focuses on an emerging generation of practitioners — approaching his subjects with a characteristic mix of insight, wit, and humour in a book that is consistently entertaining and informative as the architects open up in unexpected ways about their beliefs, work, lives and thoughts about where architecture, and they, are headed next.
£22.50
Oro Editions Designing-Women’s Lives: Transforming Place and Self
Designing Women’s Lives calls for a place-making revolution based on women’s culturally nurtured “feeling” sensibility. Women too often have had to repress that sensibility in order to become designers. Now, rather than struggle to fit-in, women can break new ground by using Design Psychology as the foundation for creating emotionally satisfying place. To encourage such a heart/mind shift, the author discusses how she took architecture Gold Medalist Denise Scott Brown and interior design legend Margo Grant Walsh through a series of Design Psychology exercises. The process revealed ways these renowned women unconsciously embedded their heroic struggles as minority females in their designs: Grant Walsh’s journey from her Chippewa childhood home with only one green couch to her plush NYC residence reflected her embrace of her Native American + designing-woman’s identity. Scott Brown grew up in a more privileged South African household, yet she translated the oppression she witnessed during Apartheid and the bias she experienced as a Jewish woman into the inclusive approach to architecture that made her famous. Interweaving such designing-women’s stories, feminist design thinking and her personal vignettes, the author inspires readers to “design from within” their personal psychology as a form of personal liberation. Project case studies further demonstrate how Design Psychology helped women create a nurturing - even transformative - home during life-passages such as partnering or grieving. Such case studies provide inspiring examples of how colour, shape, texture, space layout, and special objects can be catalysts for such personal evolution.
£22.50