From the moment a project is launched, the team at Ferguson & Shamamian work in close collaboration with the world s leading decorators, landscape designers, and artisans to create contemporary houses anchored in tradition and regional character. Distinguished by their dedication to craftsmanship and creativity, the firm s residences balance artistic integrity, historic precedent, and the latest innovations in design, but always with a sense of comfort and innate elegance that endures for generations. The captivating stories behind these singular homes are revealed through gorgeous photography and texts narrating the genesis and evolution of each property. Working closely with their clients and teams of exceptional designers and craftspeople, Ferguson & Shamamian created these distinctive, one-of-a-kind homes that embody the personalities of their owners yet are timeless in their design. An extensive section of drawings and plans enriches the narrative and offers a glimpse inside the firm s creative process.

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.

Laurent Lin, Alain Robbe and Rolf Seiler are the protagonists of the Geneva office founded in 1999. Since then, a dozen competition successes have resulted in several residential developments, a school building, an old people's home, commercial and administrative buildings, and individual homes. The designs are always pointedly critical and creative engagements with the building programme, the location and building regulations. Text in English and German.

Peter Baumberger and Karin Stegmeier are young architects who have produced high-quality Zurich housing in recent years. In addition to their highly refined residential architecture, they have designed inspired buildings such as the extension to the Dietlikon village school or the extension to the primary school centre in Laufen. Text in English and German.

From the Introduction: "In Tinos, dovecotes can be seen everywhere. The most beautiful can be found isolated in gardens, near a village or a little further away or near a spring that irrigates a garden. Others, in the middle of a field, amidst the fig and olive groves, are often associated with a wine-press or a threshing floor for wheat. [ . . .] Usually however, the dovecote is far from the village and almost always includes a room on the ground floor where the owner can store his tools and the harvest, and possibly spend the night. [. . .] the dovecotes of Tinos are undoubtedly the most beautiful and the most numerous in the Cyclades." n 1955, a young student of the Geneva School of Architecture, Manuel Baud-Bovy, visited Tinos (an island in the Greek Cyclades archipelago) for the first time, staying in a cottage on the sandy beach of Kiona. While exploring the island, Manuel came across some unusual buildings: dovecotes, scattered right across the island. Manuel Baud-Bovy, deeply impressed, decided to compile a systematic list of the dovecotes. He walked all over the island, sometimes sleeping in a village, sometimes under the stars or on a threshing floor, in a chapel, or even in an abandoned dovecote. He discovered about eight hundred of them, which he recorded in four large albums with detailed plans, theories and thoughts, which he submitted to the Geneva School of Architecture for his doctoral dissertation. After 60 and more years, a selection of this rare and valuable material becomes a book, enriched with introductory texts and many photographic documents that capture the dovecotes as they were preserved in 1955. English language edition

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.