The lack of available surface area, budget restraints or solely seasonal use are the main criteria for the construction of these small-scale dwellings. This book showcases the expertise of architects in tackling a project despite the determining factors that may limit them. Small urban homes, holiday chalets, studio apartments, lofts, duplexes, prefab houses and even tree houses illustrate the pages of this book

The worldwide use of building envelopes in steel and glass is one of the characteristic features of modern architecture. Many of these pre- and post-war buildings are now suffering severe defects in the building fabric, which necessitate measures to preserve the buildings. In this endeavor, aspects of architectural design, building physics, and the preservation of historic buildings play a key role. Using a selection of 20 iconic buildings in Europe and the USA, the book documents the current technological status of the three most common strategies used today: restoration, rehabilitation, and replacement. The buildings include Fallingwater House by Frank Lloyd Wright, Farnsworth House by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Fagus Factory and Bauhaus Building by Walter Gropius.

In countless neighborhoods across America, the streets are lined with houses representing
no established architectural style. Many of the 80 million homes in the United States
today have only loose-fitting, general names like ranch, duplex, bungalow, and flat.
Most, however, cannot even be identified by these common names, much less by an
architectural type such as Colonial, Italianate, or Queen Anne. The few regionally
recognized vernacular terms-- shotgun, Cape (Cod), three-decker, and the like--remain
exceptions rather than the rule. In this innovative, copiously illustrated guide, Thomas C.
Hubka considers why most ordinary, working-class houses lack an adequate identifying
nomenclature and proposes new ways to name and classify these anonymous structures,
shedding a fresh light on their role in the development of American domestic culture and
its housing landscape.
Popular, developer-built, tract, speculative, everyday--whatever they are called,
these common homes constitute the largest portion of American housing in all regions
and historic periods. Without classification, these dwellings tend to be left out of histories
of American building, neglected in preservation surveys and plans, and ignored when it
comes to considering their impact on American culture. Current methods of interpreting
common houses need not be replaced, Hubka shows, but only modified to include a
broader, more complete spectrum of common dwellings. As Hubka explains, by applying
an order of census and a floor-plan analysis, scholars can adequately characterize
the actual homes in which most Americans live, particularly in recent times after the
widespread growth of suburban homes.
Based on years of field observations, measured drawings, and surveys of regional
house types, this handbook provides a working vocabulary for the study and appreciation
of America¹s common houses and will prove useful to preservationists, academics, and
architects, as well as owners and residents of America¹s most ubiquitous residences.

After the discovery of oil, the Kuwaiti State estab lished a means of wealth distribution for its citizens through housing programs aimed at improving standards of living. It allocated residential neighbourhoods for Kuwaitis and non-Kuwaitis through the introduction of two main architectural typologies: the apartment and the villa. However, in response to certain economic, sociocultural, and regulatory constraints, an unplanned hybrid typology has recently emerged. The multiplex, specific to Kuwait and yet not officially recognized by the state, has become the informal expression of specific living needs that is now ubiquitous across Kuwait. Here, for the first time, the authors of The Multiplex Typology explore everyday life in these hybrid homes, arguing that the one-size-fits-all housing model of the past is both outdated and unsustainable. But this book is not merely a doc umentation of the current state of living in Kuwait, nor a straightforward analysis of Kuwaiti domestic architecture today. It is also an urgent and timely call for alternative approaches to housing that are sustainably driven, culturally rooted and responsive to future change.

Taking the Soviet Union Apart Room by Room investigates what happens to domestic spaces, architecture, and the lives of urbanites during a socioeconomic upheaval. Kateryna Malaia analyzes how Soviet and post-Soviet city dwellers, navigating a crisis of inadequate housing and extreme social disruption between the late 1980s and 2000s, transformed their dwellings as their countries transformed around them. Soviet infrastructure remained but, in their domestic spaces, urbanites transitioned to post-Soviet citizens. The two decades after the collapse of the USSR witnessed a major urban apartment remodeling boom. Malaia shows how, in the context of limited residential mobility, those remodeling and modifying their homes formed new lifestyles defined by increased spatial privacy. Remodeled interiors served as a material expression of a social identity above the poverty line, in place of the outdated Soviet signifiers of well-being. Connecting home improvement, self-reinvention, the end of state socialism, and the lived experience of change, Malaia puts together a comprehensive portrait of the era. Malaia shows both the stubborn continuities and the dramatic changes that accompanied the collapse of the USSR. Making the case for similarities throughout the former Soviet empire, this study is based on interviews and fieldwork done primarily in Kyiv and Lviv, Ukraine. Many of the buildings described are similar to those damaged or destroyed by Russian bombings or artillery fire following the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. A book about major historic events written through the lens of everyday life, Taking Soviet Union Apart is also about the meaning of home in a dramatically changing world.

The two Bern architects Bernhard Aebi and Pascal Vincent have designed an impressive portfolio of works since 1996, including renovations of historical buildings such as the Bundeshaus in Bern, but also many residential and administrative buildings, mostly following competition successes and always achieving great architectural qualities. Text in English and German.

Welcome to the hybrid home, in which the bathroom has become a temple of wellness, the living room an online couch, and the kitchen a lounge. Everything appears tidy and chic, perfect for social media. In the Instagram Age, even micro-apartments are mutating into semi-public places. The German journalist Oliver Herwig has been studying the transformation of living spaces and dream interiors for years. In this book, he portrays a society in the throes of digital transformation. The lines between work, leisure and rest have been blurred, as our homes become temporary, multipurpose work, fun and multimedia spaces; the office has invaded the home, and the world of smart shopping is always just a word away thanks to Alexa. Nothing quite fits anymore, yet everything must have its place. Welcome to the hybrid home. Easy reading about the difficult transitions in our living spaces Smart and analytical, the book reveals the hidden desires that shape how we live Designed and illustrated by Studio fur Gestaltung, Cologne Available in English and German

Das Berliner Zimmer ist seit jeher Zumutung und Angebot zugleich: dunkel, schwer zu beheizen, ohne klar definierte Funktion. Ein Raum, der zur kreativen Aneignung einladt, der geliebt und gehasst wird - aber bisher kaum erforscht wurde. Jan Herres leistet in diesem Buch Pionierarbeit. Er zeigt auf, wie das Berliner Zimmer ab dem 18. Jahrhundert entstand und warum es bis heute Eingang in den Berliner Wohnungsbau findet. Die architekturgeschichtliche Beschreibung wird durch Fallstudien und Bildstrecken zu heutigen Formen der Nutzung und Moeblierung erganzt. Durch die Erfassung von Grundrissen, Groessen und Wohnpraktiken liegt mit Das Berliner Zimmer. Geschichte, Typologie, Nutzungsaneignung die erste Anthologie des Berliner Zimmers vor, die zugleich ein Pladoyer dafur ist, Wohnarchitektur nutzungsoffen und wandelbar fur kunftige Anforderungen zu planen.

The overall aim of the first chapter is to improve the knowledge about the simulation of thermal indoor climate for buildings in different climate conditions and its application for computer-based simulations. The work is done in order to simplify the use of CFD as a powerful tool in order to model the temperature distribution within the building envelope in two real cases in Switzerland, and promote a comfortable indoor environment with a maximum reduction of energy consumption. High energy materials like cement, glass, brick and steel are typically used in building construction. However, it is possible to reduce the environmental impact of any structure through the use of alternative, low-energy materials such as Silica aerogels (aerogel-based plasters), Expanded Polystyrene (EPS), Polyurethane foams (PU), and Mineral wool (Stone or Glass). Increased interest has focused on the development of advanced sustainable construction materials (Nano thermal insulation materials, aerogels, etc.) with adequate mechanical properties and durability performance. The most convenient way to get the most out of their investment in a building is to use energy modeling software. The second chapter will be primarily concerned with the choice of materials, then the suitability of insulation exterior facades. Geothermal is the most energy efficient and environmentally friendly method of heating and cooling buildings. The design of borehole thermal energy, as a common type of geothermal energy, is presented in Chapter Three. The calculation is based on heat transfer principles, including a case study of a BHE for a one-story house with all the properties related to analyze the BHE, e.g., to calculate the changes in the temperature of the circulating fluid. Economic analysis of implementing renewable energy technologies in buildings is especially important for a transition away from the greenhouse emitting energies since a great majority of the current capital stock and infrastructure of today's economic systems are adjusted based on fossil-fuel energies. Chapter Four presents a diverse collection of examples with economic analysis of costs and paybacks covering warm vs cold, social complexes vs private houses, and new vs historical buildings. Solar energy has various uses besides more energy production and it can be incorporated in applications with cooling, heating and desalination processes. The main objectives of Chapter Five are to assess the degree of energy reduction using solar energy in buildings and to establish the requirements for energy-efficient design of buildings in cold/hot regions. Payback period analysis that evaluates the cost savings resulting from energy efficiency improvements is also addressed.

The Tiny House Movement: Challenging Consumer Culture features in-depth interviews with movement residents, builders, and advocates, as well as the author's insights from her fieldwork of living tiny. In it, we learn how the movement is challenging consumerism, overwork, and environmental destruction and facilitating a more meaningful understanding of home. This book highlights that the tiny house movement is more than a lifestyle choice and that the movement challenges the consumerist lifestyle. In Canada and the United States, we are taught that bigger is better and that constant growth in our personal wealth, accumulation, and in the economy is a sign of our success. We sacrifice well-being and life satisfaction because of our relationship with 'stuff.' This leads to personal debt and unsustainability in our relationships, communities, and the environment. This is the first book to examine the tiny house movement as a challenge to consumer culture by demonstrating its potential to offer individual, collective, and societal change.