In architecture, nothing is ever truly new; everything has been tried before. And nowhere is this more evident than in the architecture of housing. Each proffered solution to a specific architectural problem is actually an amalgam of predecessors' ideas and new approaches, which itself contributes in turn to a great global 'pool' for succeeding concepts. For twenty years, this philosophy has driven the activities of Zurich-based cooperative Pool Architekten, with a special focus on the research and design of residential buildings. Poolology of Housing is an up-close look at the collective's body of work and a potential font of inspiration for others interested in letting this philosophy guide the creation of innovative architecture. At the core of the book are two hundred floor plans, designed by members of the collective and students during Pool Architects' tenure from 2013 to 2016 at Technische Universitat Berlin. Direct comparison of these floor plans demonstrates the incredible scope an architect has for residential buildings despite the many constraints imposed by external factors. Richly illustrated with both built and unrealised projects by Pool Architekten, as well as of model replicas of iconic historic interiors, Poolology of Housing reflects a novel social culture of housing design.

Since 1987, Eileen Joy Liebman and Fernando Villavecchia have produced a series of diverse projects from their studio in Barcelona, Spain, with an emphasis on residential architecture and the renovation of historic buildings in a range of rural and urban contexts. Over the years, they have gradually developed an oeuvre with a special "reserve" and with particular and measured attention to spatial expression. Projects include the careful restoration and adaptation of the 1958 Casa Coderch Mila in Cadaques (2017) and the Casa Sant Llorenc (2014) in the mountains of Lerida. Text in English and German.

During the 1920s, enterprising realtors, housing professionals, and builders developed the models that became the inspiration for the subdivision tract housing now commonplace in the U.S. Originally published in 2001. Suburban subdivisions of individual family homes are so familiar a part of the American landscape that it is hard to imagine a time when they were not common in the U. S. The shift to large-scale speculative subdivisions is usually attributed to the period after World War II. In Entrepreneurial Vernacular: Developers' Subdivisions in the 1920s, Carolyn S. Loeb shows that the precedents for this change in single-family home design were the result of concerted efforts by entrepreneurial realtors and other housing professionals during the 1920s. In her discussion of the historical and structural forces that propelled this change, Loeb focuses on three typical speculative subdivisions of the 1920s and on the realtors, architects, and building-craftsmen who designed and constructed them. These examples highlight the "shared set of planning and design concerns" that animated realtors (whom Loeb sees as having played the "key role" in this process) and the network of housing experts with whom they associated. Decentralized and loosely coordinated, this network promoted home ownership through flexible strategies of design, planning, financing, and construction which the author describes as a new and "entrepreneurial" vernacular.

Against a backdrop of international intrigue and intense spiritual warfare, architect Marga Jann takes us on a seat-gripping journey through a quartet of academic assignments -- with much more at stake than her professorial mission. Based at Cambridge, she unwittingly finds herself embroiled in a dangerous and diplomatically-sensitive battle between MI6/CIA operatives and Saudi Intelligence--a narrative she daringly recounts in this first part of a riveting trilogy. Most people are unaware of the interconnected real and spiritual wars around us and therefore lack the tools to attain true victory in seemingly random everyday battles. In this unusually constructed, engrossing semi-autobiographical novel, Jann highlights the power of prayer in exposing and conquering the workings of darkness while sharing important contemporary socio-cultural and geopolitical insights not typically revealed in mainstream media.