The architectural structuring principle of the cellular compartment floor plan is as simple as it is economical, yet it allows for spatial and combinatorial freedom that can be interpreted in ever-new, ever-different ways. The resulting self-contained units or spatial sequences are suited for residential purposes as much as for office buildings, museums or schools, with the floor plans providing highly dynamic and surprising traffic patterns and views. The cellular compartment floor plan is the generating principle in many buildings, projects, and competition entries by Basel-based office Luca Selva Architects, who have been continually developing this typology in their many years of practice, modifying it and adapting it for new applications in different projects. It is therefore at the centre of this new book on the work of the prolific office. The numerous plans and photographs are supplemented by a theoretical essay by Christoph Wieser and a conversation between Luca Selva and Patrick Gmur. The book for the first time sheds light on this surprisingly sparsely researched topic, and thus its wider significance for the discourse reaches beyond the exemplary designs by Luca Selva Architects. Text in English and German.

2009 marks the centennial of the influential Plan of Chicago. Designed by Daniel H. Burnham, coauthored by Edward Bennett and produced in collaboration with the Commercial Club of Chicago, the forward-thinking plan proposed many of the city's most distinctive features, including its lakefront parks and roadways, the Magnificent Mile, and Navy Pier. As a result, by the time he died in 1912, Burnham was one of the most famous architects in America as well as an internationally renowned city planner. Thomas S. Hines's book is at once both a biography of Burnham and a vivid portrait of the birth and growth of an American city. In commemoration of the historic anniversary of Burnham's Plan, this edition of "Burnham of Chicago" includes a new introduction by American history scholar, Neil Harris.
"Indeed, the book as a whole is a model of the balanced portrait, sure of Burnham's importance but always conscious of his failings."--Paul Goldberger, "New York"" Times Book Review"""
"In every sense this is the definitive biography."--Harry Weese, "Chicago"" Tribune""" "Professor Hines has written what may prove to be an epoch-making book in the study of American civilization."--Reyner Banham, "Times Literary Supplement"

In 1956, TIME magazine called him one of the defining "form-givers of the 20th century." Today, Marcel Breuer (1902-1981) remains a locus classicus of modernism for architects and designers alike. As a Bauhaus pioneer, even his earliest work was marked by a material restraint; the balance of texture, color, and shape; and a symbiosis of local and global, big and small, rough and smooth. In this essential introductory monograph, we survey Breuer's complete career through some of his most influential projects and ideas, from his landmark tubular furniture to the MoMA Research House to his innovation of "binuclear" housing, splitting living and sleeping areas into separate wings. Along the way, we follow Hungarian-born Breuer's journey to international acclaim, with featured projects from Germany, France, England, Switzerland, and across the United States contributing to his global status as a modernist maestro. 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 catalogue celebrates the recently installed collection of twentieth-century sculpture donated to the J. Paul Getty Trust by the Fran and Ray Stark Trust in 2005. The book takes the reader on a visual tour of the J. Paul Getty Museum's new sculpture gardens and installations, which features twenty-eight works by artists such as Alexander Calder, Alberto Giacometti, Ferdinand Leger, Roy Lichtenstein, Rene Magritte, Aristide Maillol, Joan Miro, Henry Moore, and Isamu Noguchi. The book offers essays on the curatorial decisions involved in establishing harmonious groupings; a history of European and American sculpture within built outdoor environments and gardens; and catalogue entries that discuss individual pieces within their broader art-historical contexts.

This comprehensive biography traces the life and works of Robert Maillart, one of the most important engineers and designers of the twentieth century. His career developed around a central issue of modern technological society: the debate between two antithetical views of engineering opposing applied science, which relied on general mathematical theories for understanding structures against design, which Maillart championed. Maillart considered structures not merely works of utility but also as works of art. As utilitarian objects, he created a series of innovations of lasting significance. Aesthetically, Maillart shaped his three innovations in concrete to create surprising and often stunning new forms. Providing an analysis of these innovations, this biography also connects Maillart's aesthetic ideas with the private and professional context in which he worked.

This is a scholarly examination of the theoretical work of one of the most important architects of early modern Europe. Trained as a scientist, Wren applied the seventeenth-century scientific methods to his study of ancient, medieval, Renaissance and contemporary architecture. From his study of ancient buildings, he posited a new version of the origins and development of the Classical style, thereby becoming one of the first to challenge theoretical principles of architecture that had been upheld since the Renaissance. Rejecting the idea of beauty as absolute and innate, Wren formulated an empirical definition, based on visual perception and custom. His acceptance of the relativity of beauty also led him to recognize the Gothic style, then disparaged by himself and his contemporaries throughout Europe, as a legitimate one that evolved within particular cultural circumstances. This edition of Wren's writings includes accurate, annotated transcriptions of the texts.

One of the last works from Luigi Moretti tells us many things about his final approach to one of the most actual themes studied by the architects of the XXI century: the landscape. Here Moretti succeeded to have a fusion between "subject" and "object" designing a building whose aim is to disappear, to become landscape itself. No surprise until we see that our architect work crosses many different historical periods keeping quite unchanged his method: from the fascism to the Seventies Moretti was coherent. From the Classical monumentalism of the fascist period to the baroque approach of the Fifties his work has always moved to the direction of perception of space more than mere formalism. The Guendalina Salimei's book reveals, for the first time, how one of the main instruments for the project is the "section". Taking the Michelangelo's lesson, all the masses float above, leaving the ground express as a free form of art.

Nomos is an association of architects based in Geneva, Lisbon and Madrid. They collaborate on projects of all scales, from furniture to master plans, with a special focus on the cultural context and the environment. Primarily using drawing to shape their ideas, they explore new ways of creating community through buildings that seek to transform constraints into opportunities. They approach each project with enthusiasm, care and curiosity, always striving for sustainable beauty. Text in English and German.

Spaces of Serenity showcases the small structures from Jeffery S. Poss, built for contemplation, meditation, and peace. These buildings are exquisite examples of architecture that promotes harmony between the occupant and the outside environment.

From the award-winning author of Wrestling with Moses comes a fascinating, accessible biography of the most important architect of the twentieth century. Modern Man is a riveting biography of Le Corbusier-a man who invented new ways of building and thinking. Modern Man is a penetrating psychological portrait of a true genius and constant self-inventor, as well as a sweeping tale filled with exotic locales, sex and celebrity (he was a lover of Josephine Baker), and high-stakes projects. In Flint's telling, Corbusier isn't just the grandfather of modern architecture but a man who sought to remake the world according to his vision, dispelling the Victorian style and replacing it with something never seen before. His legacy remains controversial today, as the world grapples with how to house its skyrocketing urban population and the cult of the "starchitect" continues to grow. Modern Man is for readers fascinated by the complex personal lives and outsized visions of both groundbreaking artists and dazzling, charismatic innovators like Steve Jobs.

The ideas of architects are usually conveyed by their buildings. Vladimir Belogolovsky takes a different approach in his new work. The New York based author gives a detailed picture of contemporary architects - through words. The publication consisting of almost 600 pages presents interviews with 30 architects, which Belogolovsky conducted in the framework of his long-term, international activities as a curator and author. The names of the interviewees read like a "Who-is-Who" of modern architecture.The fame surrounding these avant-garde masters has eclipsed merely professional circles and reached the conscience of the wide general public. Their iconic work has attracted so much attention over the last years in the mass media that it is often referred to as Starchitecture. Interviews with: David Adjaye, Will Alsop, Alejandro Aravena, Shigeru Ban, Elizabeth Diller, Winka Dubbeldam, Peter Eisenman, Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid, Steven Holl, Bjarke Ingels, Kengo Kuma, Daniel Libeskind, Jurgen Hermann Mayer, Giancarlo Mazzanti, Richard Meier, Paulo Mendes da Rocha, Glenn Murcutt, Gregg Pasquarelli, Joshua Prince-Ramus, Wolf Prix, Kevin Roche, Robert Stern, Sergei Tchoban and Sergey Kuznetsov, Bernard Tschumi, Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, Rafael Vinoly, Alexandro Zaera-Polo.

Sigfried Giedion's small but vocal manifesto Befreites Wohnen (1929) is an early manifestation of modernist housing ideology and as such is key to the broader understanding of the ambitions of the International Congresses of Modern Architecture (CIAM) and the debate on the industrialization of construction processes and its impact on public housing at the beginning of the twentieth century. An important step in Giedion's rise as one of the foremost propagators of modern architecture, this manifesto is based on the argumentative power of visual comparisons, and is the only book the art historian both authored and designed. Along a facsimile edition in German, Giedion's Befreites Wohnen is presented here for the first time in English translation (by Reto Geiser and Rachel Julia Engler). It is completed with annotations and a scholarly essay that anchors the work in the context of its time and suggests the book's relevance for contemporary architectural discourse.

This beautifully produced book celebrates the work of Robert Adam, the great eighteenth-century architect who influenced generations by stamping his distinctive neoclassical aesthetic vision on the English country house interior. Lavish new photography provides a deeply visual exploration of Adam s most important surviving country houses, to which the author and photographer gained unparalleled access. Included are magnificent country houses such as Syon House and Harewood House styled and inspired by the ideal of the neoclassical as well as Adam s castle-style Mellerstain and town houses such as Home House all captured in splendid detail. Original Adam design drawings, from Sir John Soane s Museum, illustrate the boldness of planning, color, and creative interpretation of Adam s domestic interiors. A biographical and contextual account of Adam s life and work describes his unique design process, his patrons, and the legacy of his design achievement. This richly illustrated volume will appeal to designers and homeowners as well as traditional architecture enthusiasts, promising to become an important addition to any architecture and interior design library.

After beginning his career as an architect in London, Calvert Vaux (1824-1895) came to the Hudson River valley in 1850 at the invitation of Andrew Jackson Downing, the reform-minded writer on houses and gardens. As Downing's partner, and after Downing's death in 1852, Vaux designed country and suburban dwellings that were remarkable for their well-conceived plans and their sensitive rapport with nature. By 1857, the year he published his book Villas and Cottages, Vaux had moved to New York City. There he asked Frederick Law Olmsted to join him in preparing a design for Central Park. He spent the next 38 years defending and refining their vision of Central Park as a work of art. After the Civil War, he and Olmsted led the nascent American park movement with their designs for parks and parkways in Brooklyn, Buffalo, and many other American cities. Apart from undertakings with Olmsted, Vaux cultivated a distinguished architectural practice. Among his clients were the artist Frederic Church, whose dream house, Olana, he helped create; and the reform politician Samuel Tilden, whose residence on New York's Gramercy Park remains one of the country's outstanding Victorian buildings. A pioneering advocate for apartment houses in American cities, Vaux designed buildings that mirrored the advance of urbanization in America, including early model housing for the poor. He planned the original portions of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Museum of Natural History and conceived a stunning proposal for a vast iron and glass building to house the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. Especially notable are the many bridges and other charming structures that he designed for Central Park. Vaux considered the Park's Terrace, decorated by J. W. Mould, as his greatest achievement. An active participant in the cultural and intellectual life of New York, Vaux was an idealist who regarded himself as an artist and a professional. And while much has been written on Olmsted, comparatively little has been published about Vaux. The first in-depth account of Vaux's career, Country, Park, and City should be of great interest to historians of art, architecture, and urbanism, as well as preservationists and other readers interested in New York City's past and America's first parks.

The name of Robert Adam is today equated, as it was by his contemporaries, with taste, style and elegance. Since his death, the term 'Adamesque' has been used to describe not only ceilings, doorways and fireplaces but objects as various as the City Hall in Charleston and a chamber-pot. A university drop-out, Adam still made his own scholarly contribution to the understanding of classical architecture and was a talented painter as well. As visionary in the decoration of interiors as he was ingenious in the design of exteriors, Adam was more often responsible for the renovation, alteration or completion of existing buildings than for the creation of entirely new ones. Best known perhaps for his work on great private palaces such as Syon and Kenwood, Osterley and Kedleston, Saltram and Culzean, Adam was also responsible for churches and tombs, monuments and market-halls and for such public commissions as the Admiralty Screen in Whitehall and Britain's first purpose-built public archive, The Register House in Edinburgh.

Though lacking any formal education in architecture, Jean Prouve (1901-1984) became one of the most influential architects of the twentieth century, boldly experimenting with new building designs, materials and methods. Prouve was raised in an environment of artistic, socially motivated innovation: his father belonged to "l'Ecole de Nancy," a collective that sought to unite art, industry and social awareness. He continued this practice throughout his adulthood, opening the Ateliers Jean Prouve to manufacture standardized, economical goods on a mass scale--which, during World War II, included creating portable and demountable barracks. After the war, the French government commissioned Prouve to design inexpensive, effective housing for the newly homeless, prompting him to perfect his patented axial portal frame to build easily constructed demountable houses. Despite their advantages, though, few of these architectural triumphs were built, and even fewer survive. In order to preserve Prouve's architectural and engineering legacy, the Galerie Patrick Seguin has worked tirelessly to promote Prouve's "constructional philosophy," exhibiting his designs and showcasing his ecologically responsible methodologies. "Jean Prouve Maison Demontable 6x6 Demountable House," the first of nine monographs published by the Galerie Patrick Seguin on Prouve's housing modules, highlights the simplest of these modules. Introduced by Catherine Coley, renowned art and architectural historian, it contains Prouve's sketches, black-and-white photographs of the designer at work and detailed examples of the building process.

In a world that fetishises aesthetic frivolity and iconographic bombast at the expense of substance and nuance, the critically acclaimed work of Johnsen Schmaling Architects stands out for its conceptual rigor, profound simplicity, and quiet repose. Formally restrained and informed by innovative tectonic and material experimentations, Johnsen Schmaling's precisely crafted architecture creates poetic atmospheres of enduring clarity. Johnsen Schmaling: On Rigor is the firm's first monograph and provides an in-depth look at thirteen seminal residential and commercial projects. The book reveals how the architects' unique reading of context and cultural memory translates into an abstract palette of architectural operations that guide the entire design process, from initial concepts to intricate, meticulously detailed material assemblies.The crisply designed book features beautiful photography and delightful graphics that Illustrate how the projects came to life.

50 years Learning from Las Vegas From the bustle of Johannesburg to the neon of Las Vegas, Denise Scott Brown's advocacy for "messy vitality" has transformed the way we look at the urban landscape. Unconventional, eloquent, and with a profound sociopolitical message, Scott Brown is one of our era's most influential thinkers on architecture and urbanism. The anthology Denise Scott Brown. In Other Eyes - marking the 50th anniversary of the seminal treatise Learning from Las Vegas - paints a portrait of Scott Brown as seen through the eyes of leading architectural historians and practitioners. It features new scholarship on her education on three continents, her multidisciplinary teaching, and her use of urban patterns and forces as tools for architectural design - a practice documented in a new comment by Scott Brown, noting that sometimes "1+1>2." With contributions by Mary McLeod, Joan Ockman, Sylvia Lavin, Stanislaus von Moos, Jacques Herzog, Robin Middleton, and Denise Scott Brown, among others A comprehensive portrait of one of contemporary architecture's most significant personalities

The work of Kohn Pedersen Fox is international in scope, collaborative in design, and a product of individual voices focused on a single objective - making an architecture, of our time, which creates strong bonds with the the specific place it occupies. While William Pedersen founded the firm, with partners Gene Kohn and Shelley Fox, he never aspired to be a 'director of design.' They had the components with Gene's entrepreneurial drive, Shelley's management and Bill's design leadership - to be a large firm. 'Directing' the work of a large firm was not Bill's desire, instead he wanted to focus on a body of work which he could call his own. The example that work set would inspire others, and it did. Now there are several voices leading their design - all of them rose to their position within the office. The purpose of this book is to define the work of one of the voices - Bill Pedersen's. Pedersen has worked with many different designers, in close collaboration, throughout his career, though his work speaks with a singular voice. Here it is represented chronologically and concludes with the latest phase - furniture. Working from the largest scale to the smallest has always been a preoccupation of those who lead design in KPF. Many of Pedersen's architectural heroes designed chairs, and he strives to follow in their footsteps.

Jean-Michel Wilmotte and his collaborators are leading more than 100 projects in 27 different countries, from the biggest to the smallest, from the most spectacular to the most ordinary, with the same fervour from the initial sketch to completion. This practice has recently completed the Russian Orthodox Spiritual and Cultural Center in Paris (France), the headquarters of L'Oreal Group in Clichy (France), the headquarters of Unilever group in Rueil-Malmaison (France), the Center for Arts of the International School of Geneva (Switzerland), the Allees Richaud & Allees Foch high-end residential buildings in Versailles (France), the Cultural Center of Daejeon (South Korea), the 36,200-seat Allianz Riviera Stadium in Nice (France), the London headquarters of Google and JCDecaux (United Kingdom), the Ferrari Sporting Management Center (Formula 1) in Maranello (Italy), a Convention and Exhibition Center in Sao Paulo (Brazil), and an ecological park in Baku (Azerbaijan) for the 2015 European Games. In these projects, which are both innovative and sustainable, the design always takes into account landscaping, lighting, materials, and finishes, while being respectful of the local and historic context of the site. This new title, as part of IMAGES' renowned Leading Architects series, delves into the extraordinary work of this firm and the process of its innovative and creative team. Showcasing projects throughout the book with rich, full-colour images, detailed plans, and informative texts, this monograph is a must-have for any professional design collection.

The Elusive Modernist revisits the history of the Modern movement through the legacy of one of its protagonists, Gabriel Guevrekian (c. 1900-1970). Born in Istanbul, Guevrekian grew up in Tehran and then moved to Vienna to study architecture at the Kunstgewerbeschule; he later worked with Oskar Strnad, Josef Hoffmann, Adolf Loos, Henri Sauvage, and Robert Mallet-Stevens and among his famous designs are the Cubist garden for Villa Noailles in France and two houses for the Vienna Werkbund exhibition. Not yet 30, Guevrekian was recognized as one of the protagonists of the European Avant-garde in Paris. During the 1930s, he spent a few years in Iran to design public buildings and later, after the Second World War, he took teaching responsibilities in Europe and America. All his various pursuits, and the homes and nationalities he held in Asia, Europe and then America, led to a serial adoption of personae. He made every discipline meaningful, every city central, every period epochal simply by his own very tangible engagement with it.

For their tenth anniversary, the design studio Roman and Williams Buildings and Interiors presents projects that blend the spirit of our collective history with a modernist edge. Roman and Williams’s style honors craftsmanship, the use of natural materials, and the overlooked in unexpected ways. Their understated, glamorous sensibility is imparted in Manhattan’s Ace Hotel interiors and restaurant The Breslin, The Standard Hotel, with its iconic Boom Boom Room, and the Royalton lobby. For such popular restaurants as The Dutch, the duo created environments with textured backdrops that reference a rich past with a contemporary sensibility. Their innovative work has captured the attention of firms such as Facebook—they recently completed its campus food hall—and their residences for celebrities such as Ben Stiller and Gwyneth Paltrow are equally imaginative. This book surveys the firm’s prestige projects, presented with Alesch’s architectural hand drawings and sketches and detailed views. Also included is their loft and Montauk home, which serve as design laboratories, and a collection of furnishings and fixtures.