This book is a concise and comprehensive guide to building defects and building inspection. Whether, as a practitioner you are employed in buying, selling, managing or maintaining houses or whether, or as a layperson, you are buying a property to invest or live in, this book will help you make sound decisions and avoid costly mistakes. Written by two highly experienced authors, House Inspector is a general and accessible book which describes how and why house construction has changed, identifies some of the more common defects, and provides a series of elemental check lists. Essential reading for trainees and general practice surveyors, maintenance inspectors, housing managers, estate agents, planners, and even private purchasers and investors. This book will improve your knowledge and understanding of potential problems and provide a simple framework for a competent building inspection.

This timely book seeks to dispel two widely held misconceptions: first, that architects are no longer central to the making of buildings and, second, that design is a linear process which begins with a fully formed architectural vision. Architect Farshid Moussavi argues that the temporality of architecture provides day-to-day practice with the potential to generate change. She proposes that we abandon determinism and embrace chance events and the subjective factors that influence practice in order to ground buildings in the micropolitics of everyday life. Using four buildings designed by FMA, Moussavi's London-based practice, Architecture & Micropolitics shows how the rhizomatic nature of their design process is combined with diligent research and an openness to elements of chance to fuel creativity and bend rules that would generate a merely functional building. A substantial essay by Farshid Moussavi and an afterword by the philosopher Jacques Ranciere are followed by detailed analyses of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Cleveland; Lot 19, the first new residential block to be built in the La Defense district of Paris in thirty years; the Folie Divine apartment building in Montpellier; and the Ismaili Center Houston, the first new building in the US which is dedicated to use by the Ismaili community. The book also features contributions by Inaki Abalos, Hans Ulrich Obrist, and Irenee Scalbert. Architecture & Micropolitics is recommended for any professional and academic library. It is a surprising book which will be of value to anyone who is interested in the relationship between architecture and society.

House and home are words routinely used to describe where and how one lives. This book challenges predominant definitions and argues that domesticity fundamentally satisfies the human need to create and inhabit a defined place in the world. Consequently, house and home have performed numerous cultural and ontological roles, and have been assiduously represented in scripture, literature, art, and philosophy. This book presents how the search for home in an unpredictable world led people to create myths about the origins of architecture, houses for their gods, and house tombs for eternal life. Turning to more recent topics, it discusses how writers often used simple huts as a means to address the essentials of existence; modernist architects envisioned the capacity of house and home to improve society; and the suburban house was positioned as a superior setting for culture and family. Throughout the book, house and home are critically examined to illustrate the perennial role and capacity of architecture to articulate the human condition, position it more meaningfully in the world, and assist in our collective homecoming.

House and home are words routinely used to describe where and how one lives. This book challenges predominant definitions and argues that domesticity fundamentally satisfies the human need to create and inhabit a defined place in the world. Consequently, house and home have performed numerous cultural and ontological roles, and have been assiduously represented in scripture, literature, art, and philosophy. This book presents how the search for home in an unpredictable world led people to create myths about the origins of architecture, houses for their gods, and house tombs for eternal life. Turning to more recent topics, it discusses how writers often used simple huts as a means to address the essentials of existence; modernist architects envisioned the capacity of house and home to improve society; and the suburban house was positioned as a superior setting for culture and family. Throughout the book, house and home are critically examined to illustrate the perennial role and capacity of architecture to articulate the human condition, position it more meaningfully in the world, and assist in our collective homecoming.

Written by experts, Sustainable Housing brings new perspectives on residential sustainability, using case studies of latest practice. This book is based upon the 'Housing and Sustainability' conference at the RIBA in 1998, which intended to guide action into the next century, setting down key principles, providing important new technical information and setting UK practices in a European context.

This previously unpublished work is essential reading for anyone who has followed Marco Frascari's scholarship and teachings over the last three decades. It also provides the perfect introduction for anyone new to his writings. As ever, Frascari does not offer prescriptive tools and frameworks to enact his theories of drawing and imagination; instead, he teaches how to build one's own through individual practice. An illuminating introduction places the text in a wider context, providing the reader with a fascinating and important context and understanding to this posthumous work. Frascari's sketchbooks are reproduced faithfully in full colour to provide the reader with a remarkable insight into the design process of this influential mind.

Though it lies just across the Mediterranean from Europe, barely a stone's throw from Spain's southernmost tip, Morocco couldn't possibly be farther away. With its mountainous and desert landscapes, labyrinthine souks, delectable cuisine, exquisite rugs and textiles, vibrant mosaics, fragrant odors, mesmerizing music, and welcoming people, Morocco is a most alluring and tantalizingly exotic destination. Digging a little deeper into the myth of Morocco, Barbara and Rene Stoeltie bring us this eclectic selection of homes to demonstrate all that is most wonderful about the Moroccan style: from tiled, turquoise swimming pools and lavish gardens to carved wooden furniture and jade-colored marble fountains. With more than 500 pages featuring stunning, inspiring photographs, flipping through these fairy tale-like visions of exotic havens (ideally while sipping a steaming cup of sweet, fragrant mint tea) will instantly whisk you away. About the series TASCHEN is 40! Since we started our work as cultural archaeologists in 1980, TASCHEN has become synonymous with accessible publishing, helping bookworms around the world curate their own library of art, anthropology, and aphrodisia at an unbeatable price. Today we celebrate 40 years of incredible books by staying true to our company credo. The 40 series presents new editions of some of the stars of our program-now more compact, friendly in price, and still realized with the same commitment to impeccable production.

As with the best-selling 'Architects Pocket Book' this title includes everyday information which the architect/designer normally has to find from a wide variety of sources and which is not always easily to hand. Focusing on kitchen design, this book is of use to the student as well as the experienced practitioner. It outlines all the information needed to design a workable kitchen, including ergonomics, services such as water and waste, appliances, and material choices for the floor, walls and ceiling. There is no similar compendium currently available.

Covering the full life span of the project, from siting issues through specific design features to maintenance of the property and equipment, this is a comprehensive guide to designing, planning and building a solar house. The author uses his experience of living in a solar house to inform the reader of the technology and practices needed for the design, operation and maintenance of the solar home. Each of the technologies of the house, such as space heating and cooling, domestic hot water and electric power technologies, are critiqued from the point of view of the owner/resident, with the author using his thirty years experience of living in a solar home. This provides home owners who are thinking of going solar with first hand evidence of best practice, and provides the architect and designer with the knowledge of how to best satisfy their clients needs.

Explore fifty-six innovative adaptations of old, abandoned structures into modern family homes, apartments, and condominiums. Includes more than 290 images and plans. The accompanying text describes how each historical, industrial, or agricultural structure was spared the wrecking ball, and transformed from derelict to dwelling by an innovative architect. Among the larger buildings rebuilt are churches, schools, factories, barns, a lighthouse, a giant gas tank, and even a missile silo. Smaller structures are not overlooked either, as a smoke house, garage, and a chicken coop are redesigned as cozy cottages and guest houses. The first half of this fascinating text tells the tale of structures redesigned for single family living while the second half describes larger structures retrofitted for multi-family living. The projects also range from commercial enterprises quickly completed to personal labors of love that have taken some twenty-five years of work.

Come and explore forty-eight original houses, recently produced by American and Canadian architects for their clients. Pour over the wide variety of innovative house designs represented in over 235 images and plans. While many of these homes are one-of-a-kind works of art, all of the houses presented were produced with an eye for economy. How each budget-minded architect kept the cost low, using a combination of economical construction techniques and clever technological innovations, is discussed and illustrated. Ranging from starter homes to retirement houses, from vacation retreats to townhouses, from large houses accommodating offices and studios to small residences designed for simple living, these original and economical designs represent a wide variety of architectural outlooks and styles sure to fire the imagination.

Reducing energy consumption and costs is an issue of ever-increasing importance, and European as well as international legislation aimed at reducing carbon emissions is tightening up minimum energy standards for new buildings and those being extended or renovated. Energy-saving measures in the home will, therefore, become ever more cost-effective throughout our lifetimes. Find a comprehensive outline of them here.

Through 12 case studies from Australia, Bangladesh, Haiti, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and the USA, this book focuses on the housing reconstruction process after an earthquake, tsunami, cyclone, flood or fire. Design of post-disaster housing is not simply replacing the destroyed house but, as these case studies highlight, a means to not only build a safer house but also a more resilient community; not to simply return to the same condition as before the disaster, but an opportunity for building back better. The book explores two main themes: Housing reconstruction is most successful when involving the users in the design and construction process Housing reconstruction is most effective when it is integrated with community infrastructure, services and the means to create real livelihoods. The case studies included in this book highlight work completed by different agencies and built environment professionals in diverse disaster-affected contexts. With a global acceleration of natural disasters, often linked to accelerating climate change, there is a critical demand for robust housing solutions for vulnerable communities. This book provides professionals, policy makers and community stakeholders working in the international development and disaster risk management sectors, with an evidence-based exploration of how to add real value through the design process in housing reconstruction. Herein then, the knowledge we need to build, an approach to improve our processes, a window to understanding the complex domain of post-disaster housing reconstruction.

This volume is the first text to focus specifically on the archaeology of domestic architecture. Covering major theoretical and methodological developments over recent decades in areas like social institutions, settlement types, gender, status, and power, this book addresses the developing understanding of where and how people in the past created and used domestic space. It will be a useful synthesis for scholars and an ideal text for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in archaeology and architecture. The book-covers the relationship of architectural decisions of ancient peoples with our understanding of social and cultural institutions;-includes cases from every continent and all time periods-- from the Paleolithic of Europe to present-day African villages;-is ideal for the growing number of courses on household archaeology, social archaeology, and historical and vernacular architecture.

Ideas, ideas, ideas... they filled the rooms highlighted in 1950s advertising by Armstrong, the leading maker of flooring and ceiling products. Here you will find over 350 photographs of room interiors that appeared in popular magazines from the '50s, inspiring the looks we now associate with that decade. Each one offers new decorating ideas that set the standard for the 1950s with furniture, floor coverings, accessories, and home improvements. Examples include a boys' bedroom that can reflect changing interests as the boys grow into their teens, a living room whose interior can be converted from summer to winter decor in just an hour, and a den with a "secret life" as a guest room. These were refreshingly new ideas in the 1950s and are still practical today. If you want a crash course in imaginative interior design of the 1950s, this is the book you must have.

Morocco is the antidote for anyone who has grown tired of minimalist design and beige interiors: saturated colors, intricate patterns, striking architecture. Like Doris Duke s tribute to Islamic art and design as embodied in Shangri La, Umberto Pasti s house and garden in Tangier is the perfect example of a well curated Moroccan escape full of museum quality pieces of furniture, luminous textiles, rare tiles and ceramics, and other objets d art worthy of a private gallery. Set in a lovely garden that is practically a botanic refuge, the house offers glimpses of the serene gardens and fountains through windows, archways and loggias, as well as Pasti s scholarly collection of tiles and rare textiles from Africa, the Middle East, and southern Europe. Also on display are highly crafted wooden objects that Pasti has rescued from obscurity and destruction. With evocative text and gorgeous specially commissioned photographs, this book offers a tour through one of the loveliest homes in Tangier complete with an eclectic and cosmopolitan mixture of objects and decor that bring to life the sophisticated fusion of Morocco s multicultural blend of cultures. Anyone interested in interior design and scholarly collecting will be inspired by the masterful photographs of this gracious home and its masterful collection.

With his geometric structures perched upon the hillsides, beaches, and deserts of California, John Lautner (1911-1994) was behind some of the most striking and innovative architectural designs in mid-20th-century America. This introductory book brings together the most important of Lautner's projects to explore his his ingenious use of modern building materials and his bold stylistic repertoire of sweeping rooflines, glass-paneled walls, and steel beams. From commercial buildings to such iconic homes as the Chemosphere, we look at Lautner's sensitivity to a building's surroundings and his unique capacity to integrate structures into the Californian landscape. With several of Lautner's houses now labeled Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments, we'll also consider the architect's cultural legacy, as much as his pioneering of a visual paradigm of 1950s optimism, economic growth, and space-age adventure. About the series Born back in 1985, the Basic Art Series has evolved into the best-selling art book collection ever published. Each book in TASCHEN's Basic Architecture series features: an introduction to the life and work of the architect the major works in chronological order information about the clients, architectural preconditions as well as construction problems and resolutions a list of all the selected works and a map indicating the locations of the best and most famous buildings approximately 120 illustrations (photographs, sketches, drafts, and plans)

Visit a dozen exciting homes where the owners have ignored standard building practices in favor of creative alternatives. These homes, found from Massachusetts to California, are expressive of individuality as well as artistry, and you'll be inspired to branch out and craft your own unique living space. Homes featured include Eliphante near Sedona, Arizona, a four-acre art installation complete with free-form rammed-earth buildings and handmade stained glass. You'll also tour the sculpted grounds and meditation huts of a recycling artist and guru, and the mystical home and gardens of Gnome Countryside, in southern Pennsylvania. See the latest take on the arts and crafts style in California, along with simplistic and beautiful straw bale homes in Virginia and Massachusetts. This book pays tribute to a long line of thrifty and artistically gifted homeowners who have created beauty from simple materials to live in homes that are art.

Innovation by Reduction How can architecture create a pleasant indoor climate using construction techniques and as little technology as possible? Researchers from four different departments at the Technical University of Munich joined forces with the engineering firm Transsolar Energietechnik to explore integral strategies for simple, energy-efficient construction. The architecture firm Florian Nagler Architekten implemented the plans developed by the TUM project for three prototype buildings made of solid wood, masonry and lightweight concrete in monolithic construction. Using these apartment buildings as examples, the guide vividly elucidates the six core principles of simple construction. Analysis of three exemplary apartment buildings Monolithic structures in wood, lightweight concrete, and brick The result of an interdisciplinary research project at the Technical University of Munich (TUM)

Sue Roaf is famed for her approach to design and her awareness of energy efficiency. Here she reveals the concepts, structures and techniques that lie behind the realization of her ideals. By using her own house as a case study, Roaf guides the reader through the ideas for energy-efficient design or 'eco-design'.

Now in its fourth edition, the bestselling Ecohouse continues to be both a technical guide and an inspiration for thousands of architects, designers and eco-builders all over the world.

Ecohouse provides design information about the latest low-impact materials and technologies, showcasing the newest and best green solutions. Revised and updated, this edition also includes new case studies inspiring readers with more real-life examples of how to make an ecohouse work.

Both professionals and students are increasingly committed to achieving high-performance metrics in the design, construction and operation of residential buildings. This book responds to this demand by offering a comprehensive guide which features:

• architectural innovations in building skin technologies which make lighter more transparent buildings high performing
• energy-free architectural design principles and advances in building-integrated photovoltaics
• essential engineering principles, controls and approaches to simulation for achieving net zero
• the advantages of integrated design in residential construction and the challenges and opportunities it engenders
• detailed case studies of innovative homes which have incorporated low-energy design solutions, new materials, alternative building assemblies, digital fabrication, integrated engineering systems and operational controls.

Divided into four parts, the book discusses the requisite AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) knowledge needed when building a high-performance home. It also communicates this information across four case studies, which provide the reader with a thorough overview of all aspects to be considered in the design and construction of sustainable homes. With contributions from experts in the field, the book provides a well-rounded and multi-faceted approach.

This book is essential reading for students and professionals in design, architecture, engineering (civil, mechanical and electrical), construction and energy management.