This issue of "DASH" examines the history and the future of the sustainable home, with particular attention to technical issues such as solar energy and ventilation and material-use concepts. Essays and planning documentation provide a critical analysis of the current state of affairs as well as an exploration of possibilities for the future.

Tropical Architecture, although now a highly contested and debated term, is the name given to European modern architecture that has been modified to suit the climatic and sometimes cultural context of hot countries. These hot countries were labelled `the tropics' and were often European colonies, or countries that had recently won their independence. Fry & Drew's book, written on the threshold of the end of the British Empire, was one of the first publications to offer practical advice to architects working in `the tropics', based on the empirical studies they conducted whilst based in British West Africa during the Second World War. The book with its numerous illustrations, plans and easy to follow explanations became a key manual for all architects working in hot climates, and in particular those tasked with designing dwellings and small town plans. Although the Royal Engineers and Schools of Tropical Medicine had long been designing and campaigning for better planning, improved sanitation and had for example developed methods of cross-ventilation, this book became an instant hit. `Tropical Architecture' suddenly bloomed into its own distinct canon, and by 1955 the Architectural Association had set up a course specialising in tropical architecture, led for a short time by Fry. Village Housing in the Tropics had a significant impact when it was written on a profession that had had little guidance on working in hot climates and on architecture students and universities who began to modify their courses to accommodate different conditions. Although from a post-colonial perspective many scholars now associate this architecture as being a continuation of the Imperial mission, this does not reduce the significance of the publication. Indeed, Tropical Architecture is regarded as being the forerunner to `green architecture', developing passive low energy buildings that are tailored to suit their climate and built with local materials.

- Uses a special icon in page margin to identify topics addressing needs of persons with disabilities.- IRCD includes all contents of Instructor's Resource Binder, plus G-W Test Creation Software, and Architecture student/instructor software.

This is the first book to attempt a comprehensice treatment of the wide variety of nomad tents still in use in the Middle East: it is both architectural and ethnographical. It draws primarily on the author's own extensive fieldwork sind 1967, providing largely first-hand information on a fascinating but badly-neglected area of architecture. He began the task of recording these traditions with a sense of urgency, as they seemed threatened with imminent extinction. The survey was therefore made in sufficient detail to allow the tents to be reconstructed. Changes over the last thirty years have in fact led to reductions in the number of nomads, severe weakening of their economy, the intrusion of new materials, and the adoption of mechanised ransport; some, but not all, of the types studied have indeed disappeared. Information on areas not visited by the author has been contributed by ethnologist colleagues, who share his admiration for a closeness of fit between the rigorous constraints of nomadic life and a response arrived at through more than a millenium of experience and craftmanship. Throughout, the work emphasises the ethnological context in which these dwellings are used. Each type is first located as exactly as possible, named, and given a short historical background; its general characteristics are summarised, and it is considered in relation to other, comparable types. Its structure and covering are then described in full detail, together with the processes of manufacture, maintenance, operation, transport, and the procedures followed for pitching and striking. Variations in the plan and internal arrangements are discussed in relation to ownership and residence, and the principal moments in the life cycle of the inhabitants, at marriage, the inauguration of the household, the birth of a son, and inheritance. Local terms are given for the parts and processes. Camping patterns, migrations and camp planning are explained, and details of the climate of the areas concerned. Each tent is represented in measured drawings or sketches with photographs. The classification in the book relates to the map of nomadic tent types already published by the author (TAVO A IX 5, Reichert 1990), grouping the tents according to structural type and ethnic group; 56 types are described, together with some related hut types. These two volumes, on tents with rigid, self-supporting frames, are the first part of the work. The second part, also in two volumes, and now being prepared, will deal with the black tension-tents. The author, a qualified architect, took his doctorate at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, in 1980. He has been working at the Institute for Ethnology, Cologne University, since 1981, and with the Central Asian Seminar, University of Bonn, since 1992. He held the Endowed Professorship for Islamic Art and Archaeology at the University of Bamberg in 1990-91.

For more than one hundred years, Country Life magazine has published a weekly article devoted to a country house. Superbly illustrated with specially commissioned photographs, they form an unrivalled archive for lovers of stone houses in England, America, and beyond. Drawing on this remarkable resource, Nicholas Mander has selected 200 photographs to illustrate his fascinating survey of the English stone houses through the ages. More than thirty houses, grouped by period and style, reveal the historical and architectural importance of the stone house. Divided into three sections, the book looks first at sublime castles, magnificent manor houses, as well as important Jacobean houses. Part two includes classical country houses and noblemen's palaces of the eighteenth century, and also surveys the twentieth century and beyond, documenting the work of leading practitioners of the Arts and Crafts movement. A final chapter covers some of the most recent houses and gardens.

Adams argues that the many significant changes seen in this period were due not to architects' efforts but to the work of feminists and health reformers. Contrary to the widely held belief that the home symbolized a refuge and safe haven to Victorians, Adams reveals that middle-class houses were actually considered poisonous and dangerous and explores the involvement of physicians in exposing "unhealthy" architecture and designing improved domestic environments. She examines the contradictory roles of middle-class women as both regulators of healthy houses and sources of disease and danger within their own homes, particularly during childbirth. Architecture in the Family Way sheds light on an ambiguous period in the histories of architecture, medicine, and women, revealing it to be a time of turmoil, not of progress and reform as is often assumed.

"Full-colour photographs of stunning homes with a description of the leading architectural styles found on the Island"
This book depicts the architectural styles of Prince Edward Island houses from 1759 to 1955. Drawn from styles in Britain and North America, Island architects developed their own unique variations -- in all, twenty-three styles are presented. With extensive colour photography, more than 90 homes are used to document the architectural styles dealt with by the authors.

With all of the attention Mies van der Rohe has received over the last few years, it's hard to believe that there could be a pair of "undiscovered" buildings begging for even the slightest consideration and receiving none. Such has been the fate, however, of Mies's Krefeld Villas, a pair of neighboring brick residences of typically restrained elegance built from 1927 to 1930. Their anonymity is, to some degree, Mies's own doing; in 1959, in his only public comment about the projects, he quipped that he would have preferred to use more glass, but the clients objected. "I had great trouble," he said.

As historians Kent Kleinman and Leslie van Duzer show in this carefully researched, eminently readable study, sometimes it's best not to take the architect at his word. Here they guide us through the two villas, which were converted into a joined museum of contemporary art after World War II. Each chapter begins with a study of an artist who has created a site-specific installation within the villas. By analyzing how Yves Klein, Sol LeWitt, Richard Serra, and Ernst Caramelle chose to engage Mies's architecture, they arrive at a truly original understanding of these two forgotten masterworks.

"Everyone, rich or poor, deserves a shelter for the soul." Samuel Mockbee

Based on this simple premise, in 1992 Samuel Mockbee launched the Rural Studio to create homes and community buildings for the poor while offering hands-on architecture training for coming generations. Choosing impoverished Hale County, Alabama, for his bold experiment, Mockbee and his Auburn University students peppered this left-behind corner of the rural South with striking buildings of exceptional design. Most use recycled and curious materials: hay bales, surplus tires, leftover carpet tiles, even discarded 1980 Chevy Caprice windshields. The publication of "Rural Studio" brought this innovative work to the public, and five printings later continues to affect the way people view architecture.

Since Mockbee's death in 2001, the Rural Studio has continued to thrive, a tribute to its founder's vision. In 2004, the American Institute of Architects posthumously awarded Mockbee its highest honor, the Gold Medal for Architecture. Under Mockbee's successor, Andrew Freear, the studio has seeded southwest Alabama with an additional seventeen architectural landmarks, and all are shown here. With thoughtful text from Andrea Oppenheimer Dean and stunning photographs by Timothy Hursley, this new book explains the changes the studio has undergone during the last four years and its continuing ability to "proceed and be bold," as Mockbee counseled.

" Winner of the best published book of the year award, presented by the Atlantic Publishers Marketing Assocation."
Nova Scotia has a rich heritage of houses dating from the 1700s. Here, the best examples of every important house style over the past 250 years are brought together in full colour. The authors have travelled to all parts of the province to select the finest examples of architectural heritage. Most of these buildings are accessible to the public and some have been carefully restored, allowing you to revisit the way people lived in Nova Scotia's past.
You'll read how each house style reached Nova Scotia and discover how to identify not only its characteristic features but variants unique to the province. The authors also explain how new technologies have affected architectural style, and how the most available building material -- wood -- was used for houses designed to be constructed of brick, stone and mortar.

"Reimagining Housing" explores the potentials of refurbishing existing buildings for better or entirely new purposes. It not only focuses on technical improvements such as better insulation, but also proposes new ideas for existing houses, including complete renovations.