Architecture, as a discipline and a profession, is facing several crises, which, as yet, it has by no means successfully overcome. The basic hypothesis of the Cosmowomen project is that fully incorporating women into the professional and academic field of architecture would generate new places for thought and attention on the part of professionals or consolidate and expand those that exist, while also intensifying the relationships between those ‘places of thought’, producing a kind of constellation. The exhibition incorporates the work of 65 women architects who have taken the master’s degree programme at the Bartlett School of Architecture in the past ten years, showing a total of 71 projects and including 283 images. The architects are of more than 20 different nationalities and have been tutored by 22 tutors, 50% of them women, who also come from a wide variety of backgrounds in cultural terms and professional experience. The exhibition catalogue includes texts by 20 women architects or professionals in related fields, all with outstanding academic records. Architects: Ana Alonso, Anna Andronova, Christia Angelidou, Felicity Barbur, Justine Bell, Paddi Alice Benson, Christine Bjerke, Romina Canna, Emma Louise Carter, Nicola Chan, Doville Ciapaite, Freya Cobbin, Charlotte Cole, Emma Colthurst, Malina Dabrowska, Naomi De Barr, Emily Doll, Sarah Earney, Sara Firth, Karen A. Frank, Maria Auxiliadora Galvez, Masha Gerzon, Naomi Gibson, Cristina Goberna Pesudo, Faye Greenwood, Lola Haines, Penelope Haralambidou, Bijou Harding, Alice Hardy, Janis Ho, Helena Howard, Sarah Izod, Niki-Marie Jansson, Johanna Just, Gintare Kapociute, Minghui Ke, Fanny Kostorou, Le (Lulu) Li, Ifigeneia Liangi, Ting Jui (Brook) Lin, Marjut Lisco, Shi Yin Ling, Emily Martin, Sara Martinez Zamora, Lauren McNicoll, Heba Mohsen, Alex Mok, Ness Lafoy, Hoy Lei (Kerri) Ngan, Charlotte Page, Jiao Peng, Barbara Penner, Sylwia Poltorak, Sophia Psarra, Katherine Ramchand, Ellie Sampson, Julia Schuetz, Katt Scoot, Maïté Seimetz, Tania Sengupta, Rose Shaw, Faustyna Smolilo, Elin Soderberg, Catrina Stewart, Paula Strunden, Yan Ting (Lorraine), Stefania Tsigkouni, Yinghao Wang, Angeline Wee, Izabela Wieckzorek, Kate Woodcock Fowles, Feng Yang, Siyuan (Amy) Yao, Venessa Yau, See (Phyllis) Yu, Mika Zacarias. Text in English and Italian.

Alvar Aalto remains Finland's greatest architect, retains his place among the Modern Masters of twentieth-century architecture and is now recognized internationally as one of the world's greatest architects of all time. For Finland, Aalto, through his architecture, furniture, glassware and sculpture, contributed perhaps more than any other Finn to the creation of the cultural identity of the new independent Finland and its promotion around the world. His Finnish Pavilions in Paris and New York from the Thirties placed Finland centre-stage, establishing its identity as a modern, innovative country and generated huge interest in this northern land of lakes and forests. He went on to work in 18 countries around the world, as well as designing many of Finland's most important buildings of the 50s, 60s and 70s. This new biography of Aalto is the first to comprehensively cover his life, from the backwoods of Ostrabothnia to international fame and all of his buildings, from the early alterations and extensions to shops and houses in Jyvaskyla to Finlandia Hall.It draws on Aalto's archive, recollections of former employees and contemporaneous publications to fully explore Alvar Aalto the architect, rather than simply Alvar Aalto's architecture. For the first time, his life is set in the context of the events that surrounded and shaped it - the Finnish Civil War, the Great Depression, The Winter and Continuation Wars, the post-war boom in education, Finland's industrialisation and eventually the social revolution of the 60s which led to his characterization as a member of a Finnish elite and temporary unpopularity. It covers his life from his childhood, growing up in regional Jyvaskyla and Alajarvi, his architectural studies in Helsinki, combat in the Civil War through to the founding of his first office, his early neo-classical work and his international breakthrough with the completion of Paimio Sanatorium and Viipuri Library. It deals with his personal life, his marriage to Aino, what working life in his first office was like, the architectural competitions, his key friendships and continuous financial difficulties.As his career progressed, it explores the patrons who were so important to him - the Gullichsens and the founding of Artek, his new American friends, professorship at MIT. After the war, the death of Aino, marriage to Elissa and the period of his greatest architectural achievements - Saynatsalo Town Hall, Otaniemi University and Imatra Church. It considers the organisation of his new office in Helsinki, his expanding team, fame and eventually vanity. The book seeks to understand what drove him, the combination of skills, talents and character traits, which led to his extraordinary global success. As you will be aware, there is no shortage of books on Alvar Aalto, or to be more precise, there is no shortage of books on Alvar Aalto's Architecture. (Only one previous biography exists, published first in 1984 and now out of print). This book is about an architect and his architecture, written by another architect, not an architectural historian. It is the first, frank and fully-comprehensive biography of Alvar Aalto.

Russel and Mary Wright: Dragon Rock at Manitoga, explores the home and woodland paths imagined by Russel and Mary Wright in Hudson Valley New York; a modernist haven that allows for ambiguity, and the natural world where the spirit could flourish. In the era of TV dinners and suburban conformity, Russel and Mary Wright were individualists. The Wrights rejected rigid modernism that did not allow for ambiguity, let alone the natural world. Here we find multiple binary factors: New York City and the sublime Hudson Valley landscape, commercial mass production and handmade nuance, Japanese aesthetics and American ideals, queer attraction, and family yearnings. Wright: Dragon Rock at Manitoga traces a journey, beyond an exploration of space, but a way of life, the story of the creation of a haven where the spirit could flourish. Our understanding of the Wrights's architectural, design, and environmental achievements, synthesizes four archives, including the estate of the Wright family, The Center for Photography at Woodstock, The Russel Wright Design Center at Manitoga, and the Russel Wright Papers at Syracuse University. With a clarion voice, we examine this partnership, revealing new understandings and cultural relevance.

The richly illustrated and accessible monograph on the Dutch designer and world-renowned architect - now in paperback Gerrit Rietveld's simple yet dynamic style greatly influenced international furniture design and contributed significantly to the history of architecture. Following Rietveld from his humble beginnings as a cabinetmaker to his final years as a world-renowned architect, this book presents both his lesser-known work and his most celebrated. It explores his significance in the wider context of avant-garde movements, and his influence within De Stijl and Functionalism. This highly detailed yet accessible monograph is designed by the acclaimed Dutch designer Wim Crouwel.

Mexican architect and painter Juan O'Gorman (1905-82) had a spectacular debut as an architect, designing his own house at the age of 24. On the strength of this building, Diego Rivera commissioned O'Gorman to design a pair of studio-houses for himself and Frida Kahlo on contiguous lots, connected by a bridge. But O'Gorman was somewhat forgotten in histories of modern architecture, until the restoration of Rivera's and Kahlo's house in the late 1990s led to a rediscovery of the architect's work and a reappraisal of his place in contemporary Mexican architecture. In 2013 O'Gorman's own first house, which he began designing in 1929 and completed in 1931, was restored. Uncompromisingly radical and rigorously functional, this design reveals O'Gorman as a Mexican pioneer of avant-garde architecture. Casa O'Gorman 1929 tells the story of this unique building and how it was salvaged through beautiful color photographs.

A major overview of Singapore's most exciting architecture practice, documenting the complete corpus of WOHA's pioneering sustainable and built work. WOHA is at the vanguard of urban and ecological revitalization in Singapore and a pioneer of Southeast Asia's green-building revolution. Founded by Wong Mun Summ and Richard Hassell in 1994, Singapore's most dynamic architecture studio is known for delivering innovative and sustainable design solutions to combat the challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, and urbanization. Even within Singapore's leading-edge architecture scene, WOHA have broken new ground, and they are continuing to do so in our rapidly expanding cities where far-sighted thinking is imperative to sustainable and sociable development. Its projects stretch from Singapore to Bangladesh, China and Australia, where the practice's ambitions are being realized in works like the self-sufficient Punggol Digital District in Singapore. This complete overview documents WOHA's pioneering sustainable and built work, with important ongoing projects followed by a listed chronology. It is a timely assessment of the practical realization of WOHA's theories and principles, and the environmental responsibilities now shouldered by architects and urban planners worldwide.

Herbert James Rowse (1887-1963) was an extraordinary architect who shaped the city of Liverpool with his array of exquisite buildings, plans, and infrastructure. Practicing in an eclectic manner that was influenced by American Beaux Arts and later using simpler geometries of monumental bare brick, his large body of work reveals a modernity that was concerned with luxurious materials, restrained but contemporary decoration and sculpture, and bold forms often with a sense of theatre and performance. His work has endured passing trends and fashions, retaining a seductive appeal and resonance with visitors and occupants alike, despite its often monumental massing and extraordinary scale. This book aims to discern not only the architectural merits and advances of his work, but also their wider significance. Through Rowse's work we gain a glimpse into some of the broader agendas of the time and place, not least through the corporate and banking commissions that accompanied the large docks and shipping firms in Liverpool, where Rowse produced some of his most distinctive work. In addition to these commercial ventures Rowse contributed to the post-war housing debates through his proposals that looked to rows of cottages set around village greens, rather than high-rise living. Published in association with The Twentieth Century Society.

Reflecting the historic first European seismic code, this professional book focuses on seismic design, assessment and retrofitting of concrete buildings, with thorough reference to, and application of, EN-Eurocode 8. Following the publication of EN-Eurocode 8 in 2004-05, 30 countries are now introducing this European standard for seismic design, for application in parallel with existing national standards (till March 2010) and exclusively after that. Eurocode 8 is also expected to influence standards in countries outside Europe, or at the least, to be applied there for important facilities. Owing to the increasing awareness of the threat posed by existing buildings substandard and deficient buildings and the lack of national or international standards for assessment and retrofitting, its impact in that field is expected to be major.

Written by the lead person in the development of the EN-Eurocode 8, the present handbook explains the principles and rationale of seismic design according to modern codes and provides thorough guidance for the conceptual seismic design of concrete buildings and their foundations. It examines the experimental behaviour of concrete members under cyclic loading and modelling for design and analysis purposes; it develops the essentials of linear or nonlinear seismic analysis for the purposes of design, assessment and retrofitting (especially using Eurocode 8); and gives detailed guidance for modelling concrete buildings at the member and at the system level. Moreover, readers gain access to overviews of provisions of Eurocode 8, plus an understanding for them on the basis of the simple models of the element behaviour presented in the book.

Also examined are the modern trends in performance- and displacement-based seismic assessment of existing buildings, comparing the relevant provisions of Eurocode 8 with those of new US prestandards, and details of the most common and popular seismic retrofitting techniques for concrete buildings and guidance for retrofitting strategies at the system level. Comprehensive walk-through examples of detailed design elucidate the application of Eurocode 8 to common situations in practical design. Examples and case studies of seismic assessment and retrofitting of a few real buildings are also presented.

From the reviews
"This is a massive book that has no equal in the published literature, as far as the reviewer knows. It is dense and comprehensive and leaves nothing to chance. It is certainly taxing on the reader and the potential user, but without it, use of Eurocode 8 will be that much more difficult. In short, this is a must-read book for researchers and practitioners in Europe, and of use to readers outside of Europe too. This book will remain an indispensable backup to Eurocode 8 and its existing Designers Guide to EN 1998-1 and EN 1998-5 (published in 2005), for many years to come. Congratulations to the author for a very well planned scope and contents, and for a flawless execution of the plan." AMR S. ELNASHAI

"The book is an impressive source of information to understand the response of reinforced concrete buildings under seismic loads with the ultimate goal of presenting and explaining the state of the art of seismic design. Underlying the contents of the book is the in-depth knowledge of the author in this field and in particular his extremely important contribution to the development of the European Design Standard EN 1998 - Eurocode 8: Design of structures for earthquake resistance. However, although Eurocode 8 is at the core of the book, many comparisons are made to other design practices, namely from the US and from Japan, thus enriching the contents and interest of the book." EDUARDO C. CARVALHO"

The name Lancelot 'Capability' Brown (1716-83) has become synonymous with the eighteenth-century English landscape garden. Ruthlessly efficient, he could stake out the 'capabilities' of a particular terrain within an hour on horseback. Rising to the position of Master Gardener to George III, his trademark features included bald lawns, clumped trees, lakes and enclosing belts of woodland on the estate's perimeter, setting a park formula that lasted well into the next century. Laura Mayer presents a concise and colourful introduction to Brown and other leading landscape gardeners of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, such as William Kent, Richard Payne Knight and Humphry Repton. She explores how competing ideas in garden design were shaped both by changes in prevailing fashion and by the innovations of particular designers, and why Brown's designs are currently considered to be the epitome of landscape gardening in this period.

Divided into three chapters, Houses in the City, Houses in the Country and Places People Go To, the book showcases some of MBA's most spectacular projects, showing site pictures before, during and after construction. Most architecture books gloss over the nightmare part of the build, but the authors are keen to explain exactly what to expect during the process. Scattered throughout the book are some of the inspirations for MBA's designs, things they like and items that inspire them. While much of their work is focused in Central London, MBA has undertaken commissions worldwide including France,Germany and Los Angeles. In particular, their work for the Soho House Group and their emphasis on recycling and the environment have been the hallmarks of their success. Whether their commissions are commercial, residential or charitable, country or town houses, hotels, restaurants or bars, MBA create spaces you really want to eat, live or stay in. A quirky sense of humour is always at play, infusing their work with an empathy and warmth that many architects in the same filed just miss. Theirs is a vibrant and very busy practice.

The third volume of the series 'The Architect's Studio' focuses on Tatiana Bilbao's exploration of the landscape: from the territory of Mexico over the urban to the interior landscape of the individual building, always taking social conditions into account. This is also demonstrated in Bilbao's various projects such as the architectural design of a pilgrimage route, a botanical garden in the Mexican main trading center Culiacan, and not least the Light of Line, which is intended to enable women in particular to move more safely in remote districts of the city. In constant collaboration with experts from various disciplines, Bilbao wants to create architecture that has a direct impact on its users. The publication also provides insights into the Mexican cultural, artistic, and building traditions that Bilbao incorporates into her projects. The volume addresses the question of the use of collages in architecture and embeds Bilbao's work in a contemporary as well as a historical context. TATIANA BILBAO, born in 1972, is a Mexican architect. She developed the architectural project along the Ruta del Peregrino and is a recipient of the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture by the LOCUS Foundation, Cite de l'Architecture in Paris, and the patronage of UNESCO.

Gordon Walker's (b. 1939) highly unusual design process has yielded an extensive architecture of extraordinary quality; he is a unique figure in the American architectural movement and in the history of the Pacific Northwest. This personal and professional biography contributes both to our understanding of the breadth of viable design processes and, in a broader sense, to regional and architectural history. Gordon Walker is a 1962 graduate of the University of Idaho. He was co-founder of Olson Walker Architects (now Olson Kundig), worked with NBBJ in Seattle and San Francisco, and practiced in his own name for twelve years before joining Mithun Architects as a consulting principal. His work embraces the American west coast from Davis, California, to the Canadian border. He has designed over thirty residences (and built several with his own hands); a host of buildings and plans for universities throughout the Northwest and California; three buildings for the Pacific Northwest Ballet; and myriad commercial buildings, remodels, restaurants, and parks. He has been an educator and mentor, teaching at the Universities of Idaho and Washington. In addressing all of its determinants simultaneously in plan, section, and elevation, Gordon Walker has, for half a century, created an architecture of exceptional merit.

Born Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, Le Corbusier (1887-1965) is widely acclaimed as the most influential architect of the 20th century. From private villas to mass social housing projects, his radical ideas, designs, and writings presented a whole-scale reinvention not only of individual structures, but of entire concepts of modern living. Le Corbusier's work made distinct developments over the years, from early vernacular houses in Switzerland through dazzling white, purist villas to dynamic syntheses of art and architecture such as the chapel at Ronchamp and the civic buildings in Chandigarh, India. A hallmark throughout was his ability to combine functionalist aspirations with a strong sense of expressionism, as well as a broader and empathetic understanding of urban planning. He was a founding member of the Congres international d'architecture moderne (CIAM), which championed "architecture as a social art." This book presents some of Le Corbusier's landmark projects to introduce an architect, thinker, and modern pioneer who, even in his unrealized projects, offered discussion and inspiration for generations to come. 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)

Internationally recognized for his ability to blend space and light with great contextual sensitivity, architect Steven Holl achieves his award-winning designs by beginning each commission with a small watercolor exploring light, color, and form. Paintings help Holl create a concept-driven design that showcases the unique qualities of each project. This collection of watercolors, which are works of art themselves, includes his most recent projects, from the JFK Center for the Performing Arts expansion and Hunters Point Public Library to University College Dublin.

Walter Gropius (1883-1969) set out to build for the future. As the founding director of the Bauhaus, the Berlin-born architect had an inestimable influence on our aesthetic environment, championing a bold new hybrid of light, geometry, and industrial design, as dazzling today as it was a century ago. In this essential architect introduction, we survey Gropius' evolution and influence with 20 of his most significant projects, from the Bauhaus Building in Dessau, Germany, to the Chicago Tribune Tower and Harvard University Graduate Center, completed after Gropius's exodus to the United States in 1937. We explore his role both as an architectural practitioner, and as a writer and educator, not only as a Bauhaus pioneer, but also, along with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, as a leading proponent of the International Style. Along the way, we see how many of Gropius's tenets remain benchmarks for architects, designers, and urbanists today. Whether in his emphasis on a functional beauty or his interest in housing and city planning, Gropius astounds in the agility of his thinking as much as in the luminous precision of his work. 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)

This book presents over 40 finished works by Chinese architects, produced between 2003 and 2008. A compelling selection representing a new generation of architects in a country whose building rhythm over the last decade has been unstoppable, as China's architects are making their mark within the backdrop of an avalanche of world class architecture stars. Featuring works by China Architecture Design & Research Group, Jiakun Architects, Atelier Deshaus, Mada s.p.a.m, MAD, TM Studio, Urbanus, Studio Pei-Zhu, Amateur Architecture Studio, Atelier Feichang Jianzhu, Atelier Z+, Standardarchitecture and Architectural Design & Research Institute Nanjing University.

The shopping mall is both the most visible and the most contentious symbol of American prosperity. Despite their convenience, malls are routinely criticized for representing much that is wrong in America--sprawl, conspicuous consumption, the loss of regional character, and the decline of Mom and Pop stores. So ubiquitous are malls that most people would be suprised to learn that they are the brainchild of a single person, architect Victor Gruen.An immigrant from Austria who fled the Nazis in 1938, Gruen based his idea for the mall on an idealized America: the dream of concentrated shops that would benefit the businessperson as well as the consumer and that would foster a sense of shared community. Modernist Philip Johnson applauded Gruen for creating a true civic art and architecture that enriched Americans' daily lives, and for decades he received praise from luminaries such as Lewis Mumford, Winthrop Rockefeller, and Lady Bird Johnson. Yet, in the end, Gruen returned to Europe, thoroughly disillusioned with his American dream.In "Mall Maker," the first biography of this visionary spirit, M. Jeffrey Hardwick relates Gruen's successes and failures--his work at the 1939 World's Fair, his makeover of New York's Fifth Avenue boutiques, his rejected plans for reworking entire communities, such as Fort Worth, Texas, and his crowning achievement, the enclosed shopping mall. Throughout Hardwick illuminates the dramatic shifts in American culture during the mid-twentieth century, notably the rise of suburbia and automobiles, the death of downtown, and the effect these changes had on American life. Gruen championed the redesign of suburbs and cities through giant shopping malls, earnestly believing that he was promoting an American ideal, the ability to build a community. Yet, as malls began covering the landscape and downtowns became more depressed, Gruen became painfully aware that his dream of overcoming social problems through architecture and commerce was slipping away. By the tumultuous year of 1968, it had disappeared.Victor Gruen made America depend upon its shopping malls. While they did not provide an invigorated sense of community as he had hoped, they are enduring monuments to the lure of consumer culture.

The pioneering British modernist architect Richard Seifert was one of the most successful and influential architects of his generation. During the 1960s and '70s he changed the face and fabric of London with a powerful series of highly visible and uncompromising brutalist buildings, including - most famously - Centre Point, the Nat West Tower and King's Reach Tower. Seifert is often described as a modernist version of Christopher Wren in terms of his impact upon the capital, building hundreds of towers, office buildings and hotels in London but also working in other parts of the UK and internationally. An enigmatic and determined figure, Seifert achieved much in his lifetime yet has remained a controversial and divisive figure due to his unwavering commitment to modernism. Both Seifert and his buildings have been attacked, with his work described as 'notorious' for its brutalist aesthetic and an arguable lack of contextuality. Yet in recent years there has been a noticeable upsurge of interest in brutalist architecture in general along with the beginnings of a re-evaluation of Seifert's extraordinary contribution to mid-century architecture and design: a number of buildings by Seifert and his associates have been listed in recognition of their architectural importance. Beautifully illustrated, this book records, analyses and celebrates a considered selection of Seifert's buildings, including Centre Point, the Nat West and King's Reach Towers, Space House, the Euston Station Buildings, the Park Lane Tower Hotel, Drapers Gardens, the International Press Centre, all in London, Wembley Conference Centre and Sussex Heights in Brighton, within the most extensive survey of his work to date.

The most incisive texts on Rem Koolhaas / OMA The activities of Rem Koolhaas and his staff were widely discussed even before the foundation of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture in 1975. Today, many contributions on the work of OMA can be found in the international architectural press, including Koolhaas' own writings. The book contains about 150 selected texts-interviews, feature articles, essays, lead articles, reviews, letters, introductions, appraisals, and competition reports that have been compiled for the first time. This compilation not only provides a fresh and critical view of the oeuvre of one the most important contemporary architects, but also represents an account of the debate on architectural and urban design in recent decades. The most incisive texts on the work of OMA/Rem Koolhaas, with many articles that have never before been translated into English An overview of notions, ideas, and debates in architectural discourse, theory, and criticism, from the 1970s until 2000, that remain relevant today Illustrated with more than 100 cover shoots

Leonardo da Vinci's scientific explorations were virtually unknown during his lifetime, despite their extraordinarily wide range. He studied the flight patterns of birds to create some of the first human flying machines; designed military weapons and defenses; studied optics, hydraulics, and the workings of the human circulatory system; and created designs for rebuilding Milan, employing principles still used by city planners today. Perhaps most importantly, Leonardo pioneered an empirical, systematic approach to the observation of nature-what is known today as the scientific method.
Drawing on over 6,000 pages of Leonardo's surviving notebooks, acclaimed scientist and bestselling author Fritjof Capra reveals Leonardo's artistic approach to scientific knowledge and his organic and ecological worldview. In this fascinating portrait of a thinker centuries ahead of his time, Leonardo singularly emerges as the unacknowledged "father of modern science."

Inspiring panoramas of sustainable urban development projects around the world In Work in Progress, Spanish photographer Jose Manuel Ballester (born 1960) captures urban design and building projects by the Spanish transport company Ferrovial, including highways, airports and sustainable urban development projects all over the globe.