Great buildings are those that ignite the imagination and elevate us beyond reality, and - by those standards - Coromandel House in South Africa is truly a masterpiece. This unique farmhouse, which sits in a spectacular valley in Lydenburg, 275kms north-east of Pretoria, was built in 1975 and has since developed a cult following for its unusual aesthetic - part building, part ruin, part wilderness - inspiring anyone with an interest in building within a natural context. It is something explored by Creating Coromandel: Marco Zanuso in South Africa. Coromandel House was designed by the Milanese architect Marco Zanuso (1916-2001), who was commissioned by the South African fashion retailer Sydney Arnold Press (1919-97) and Press's wife Victoria de Luria Press (1927-2015). They met in 1969, and their shared design passions sparked a decade-long partnership that yielded not only Coromandel House, a structure on the Press family's vast farm, but also Edgardale (1978), their business headquarters. Creating Coromandel explores the association between the clients, the architect and prominent personalities, including photographers David Goldblatt (1930-2018) and Margaret Courtney-Clarke (born 1949), German-born architect Steffen Ahrends (1907-1992), Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx (1909-1994) and Italian landscape architect Pietro Porcinai (1910-1986). Through impressive photos, sketches and testimonials, this monograph narrates and records an unknown period in Zanuso's portfolio. He designed small-scale products (in the field of industrial design) as well as large-scale architecture (warehousing for IBM and Olivetti) but, with Coromandel House, Zanuso competently mediated both scales. Creating Coromandel documents Zanuso's extraordinary responses to landscape and his sensational interiors, but also offers a glimpse into the design process and amount of collaboration it involves. For fans of Coromandel it provides a single reference source; for architects, designers, historians, photographers and anyone interested in design and architecture it provides an inspirational story behind the process of building a legacy.

How to Read Houses is an insider's guide to recognising and appreciating the diversity of domestic architecture that reflects the location, the fashion, and the technological savoir-faire of the age - from Tudor timber-frames to the truly unconventional. Compact enough to travel with you yet comprehensive enough to provide real answers, with real examples, this handy reference guide: - Provides an understanding of the architectural vocabulary along with the visual clues that identify any house style and its historical context. - Enhances the appreciation of visits to landmark houses and lays the foundations for an architectural exploration of your own home or area. - Explores the main architectural styles, as well as the materials and components of a house, through beautifully rendered illustrations, photographs of classic examples and the words of a friendly expert.

What value do we place on our cultural heritage, and to what extent should we preserve historic and culturally important sites and artefacts from the ravages of weather, pollution, development and use by the general public? This innovative book attempts to answer these important questions by exploring how non-market valuation techniques - used extensively in environmental economics - can be applied to cultural heritage.The book includes twelve comprehensive case studies that estimate public values for a diverse set of cultural goods, including English cathedrals, Bulgarian monasteries, rock paintings in Canada, statues in the US, and a medieval city in Africa. The authors demonstrate the potential utility of these techniques, and highlight the important social values that cultural heritage can generate. Given limited resources, such studies can help set priorities and aid the decision making process in terms of their preservation, restoration and use. The authors conclude by reviewing the majority of cultural valuation studies done to date, and draw some general conclusions about the results achieved and the potential benefits, as well as the limitations, of valuing these types of goods. This highly original book will be of great use and interest to academics in the fields of environmental, resource, and cultural economics, as well as NGOs and policymakers involved in cultural heritage at the national, international and global level.

How to Read Buildings is a practical introduction to looking at and appreciating architecture. It is a guide to reading the historical and architectural clues that are embedded in every building. Small enough to carry in your pocket and serious enough to provide real answers, this comprehensive guide: - Explores key characteristics of structures dating from every period from the ancient Greeks to the present day. - Gives expert advice on how to identify any building and put it in historical context. - Provides an accessible visual guide, using detailed engravings and text, to architectural styles and structural elements.

This early work on Italian Villas and their Gardens is a beautifully illustrated look at the subject. Chapters include; Florentine Villas, Sienese Villas, Roman Villas, Villas near Rome, Genoese Villas, Lombard Villas and Villas of Venetia. This fascinating work is thoroughly recommended for inclusion on the bookshelf of all historians Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900's and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Building Community is an in-depth, wide-ranging survey of contemporary apartment buildings, not as raw canvases for interior decoration but as a building type of growing significance. An introduction presents the history of multiple-occupancy housing through its most innovative 20th-century exemplars, from the urbane blocks of Auguste Perret and Henri Sauvage in Paris, to the landscaped housing estates of Weimar Germany and the visionary schemes of Le Corbusier. The heart of the book features 39 recent or ongoing projects, designed by leading international studios and rising talents. Buildings range from social housing and micro apartments to urban villages, megastructures and innovative high-rises. Each project is considered for the way in which it enriches the lives of residents and the city, and is shown through drawings and photographs, taken from the street and within. The book also includes interviews with such contemporary masters of apartment design as Michael Maltzan, Lorcan O'Herlihy, Edouard Francois and Bjarke Ingels. As our cities grow more crowded, it is critical that we produce creative buildings that enhance the lives of their inhabitants, their surroundings and the urban environment as a whole. Building Community offers dozens of proven successes to designers and apartment-dwellers. With 348 illustrations in colour

Despite a prolonged slump in the housing market, the demand for residential green building remains strong. More than ever, professionals need reliable information about how to construct or retrofit livable, sustainable, and economical homes. With "Fundamentals of Sustainable Dwellings," Avi Friedman provides that resource. While other books on residential green building are often either superficial or overly technical, Friedman gets it just right, delivering an illustrated, accessible guide for architects, developers, home builders, codes officials, and students of architecture and green design.
Friedman charts a new course for residential building--one in which social, cultural, economic, and environmental values are part of every design decision. The book begins with a concise overview of green building principles, covering topics such as sustainable resources and common certification methods. Each following chapter examines a critical aspect of green home construction, from siting to waste management options. Friedman provides basics about energy-efficient windows and heating and cooling systems. And he offers innovative solutions like edible landscaping and green roofs.
Friedman knows that in green building, ideas are only as good as their execution. So in each chapter valuable data is assembled and a contemporary project in which designers strove to achieve sustainability while adhering to real-world constraints is featured. The result is a practical guide for every professional in the burgeoning field of residential green building.

Mountains, oceans, cliffs, rivers -- don't many of us want to live above the treetops? Aside from soaring views and dramatic vistas, these hillside homes designs offer practical and attractive solutions to the increasing demand for and scarcity of level land. Here are over 50 stunning hillside homes located across the United States, from Alaska to Cape Cod. Over 450 color photographs highlight unique design details of homes built on the edges of cliffs and peering through treetops. This insider's tour of cliffhanger living derives from 30 notable architects and designers who describe their work, its challenges, and rewards. The foreword, by Joseph Henry Wythe, describes his belief in the principles of organic architecture and architect Kathy Shaffer gives us her viewpoint on building a hillside house. You may find your dream house here or the inspiration to build a dream of your own.