This groundbreaking edition of AD brings together a range of global expertise on social value, exploring its potential for demonstrating the positive impact of both architecture and architects on homes and communities in terms of social justice, sustainability and wellbeing. There has been a recent groundswell of interest in the mapping and measuring of social value caused by developments in legislation and planning, as well as a revival of interest in the ethical dimensions of architectural practice. Not only do architects promote wellbeing through the development of carefully conceived and appropriate designs, they can also add social value through the processes of consultation, visioning, briefing, co-design, co-creation, user manuals, soft landings (helping people to make the most of their buildings in use) and post-occupancy evaluation. These are, however, poorly recognised aspects of an architect's role. We live in an audit culture where organisational performance is measured against predetermined targets. Unfortunately, the focus of architectural practice is generally on the financial cost of what it does in the short term rather than its long-term social value, arguably its market niche. This AD posits that the mapping and measuring of social value provides a real opportunity for the architectural profession to make its key contribution heard. Contributors: Nabeela Ahmed and Ayona Datta, Nicola Bacon and Paul Goodship, Irena Bauman, Cristina Garduno Freeman, Mat Hinds, Anthony Hoete, Karen Kubey, Mhairi McVicar, Aoibheann Ni Mhearain and Tara Kennedy, Jenni Montgomery, Edward Ng and Li Wan, Doina Petrescu, and Peter Andreas Sattrup Featured architects: Atelier d'Architecture Autogeree (AAA), Barton Willmore, Bauman Lyons Architects, Jateen Ladd, John McLaughlin Architects, and Taylor and Hinds Architects

SS United States was the flagship of the United States Lines and was representative of the apex of steam-engineering technology. Designed by William Francis Gibbs, the ship was designed to be both fast and safe, due to the use of new materials with an emphasis on being fireproof. This book chronicles the design, construction, and operation of the liner. Using many materials taken from the ship itself, the authors detail the intricate interplay of safely operating a 990-foot-long vessel, providing the finest cuisine, entertainment, and personal services as well as running an oceangoing hotel. The book is richly illustrated with many previously unpublished photographs. In addition, included are personnel lists, performance and engineering data, transcripts of ship's logs, and other documents that illustrate the massive undertaking and attention to detail that made this "America's Flagship".

The Sumerians tell a story of human DNA being altered by extra-terresterials in order to bring us from a primal state to the modern human we know of today. This book is based on that assumption. This book calls into question every aspect of life. I give you a story that takes your imagination on a journey that should cause you to question everything you have ever been told. I hope you enjoy the story.

Take a journey through the mind with "Digital Dreams". View nightmarish images, as well images of the bizarre. Explore the impossible and relax in the unlikely. "Digital Dreams" takes you to a personal place, a corner in your mind, and through a door you probably shouldn't open.

Responding to our modern disillusionment with any claims to absolute truth regarding morality or reality, this book offers a conceptual approach for discussing absolutes without denying either the relevance of divergent religious and philosophical teachings or the evidence supporting postmodern and poststructuralist critiques. Case studies of mysticism within Advaita-Vedānta Hinduism, Mādhyamika Buddhism, and Nicene Christianity demonstrate the value of this approach and offer many fresh insights into the metaphysical presuppositions of these religions as well as into the nature and value of mystical experience. Like Douglas Hofstadter's Gōdel, Escher, Bach, this book finds ultimate reality to be rationally graspable only as an eternal fugue of pattern and paradox. Yet it does not so much counter other philosophical views as provide a conceptual tool for understanding and classifying incommensurable views.

By 1529, the year of publication of Luther's Large Catechism, parishioners took the Gospel for granted. Many had forgotten at what great peril the freedom of their faith had been won. In the large Catechism Luther set out to inculcate the centrality of the gospel that was largely neglected and whose freedom was frequently abused.