A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

negotiating ungers: the aesthetics of sustainability Edited by Common Room and Cornelia Escher Common Books , 2019 Paperback | 4-3/4 x 6-1/2 inches | 224 pages | English | ISBN: 9780988290624 | $23.50 PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION : in 1980 oswald mathias ungers participated in a competition for solar housing. though ungers’ contribution received a special prize, his design never materialized and has since fallen into oblivion. designing solar housing meant ungers was faced with a new field. as an outsider to the contemporary debates on sustainability, he approached the assignment with a particular position: the energy efficiency of the houses should not depend on construction and building technology. instead, energy should be understood as a dimension of architecture itself, as an integral part of the design. in his design ungers searched for a new style, a set of simple architectural types which could adapt to seasonal change and help modify patterns of use. developed through resear...

Vacant Spaces NY Michael Meredith, Hilary Sample, MOS Actar Publishers , October 2021 Paperback | 6 x 9 inches | 608 pages | English | ISBN: 9781948765992 | $59.95 PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION : This project began by walking around our neighborhood noticing empty storefronts. Once we saw them, they were everywhere. They followed us, appearing quietly throughout New York City. Many with no signage, no “for rent,” no “coming soon.” Usually empty, sometimes dusty, sometimes with brown paper covering the glass. Now, vacancy has only increased. In the densest city in the United States. During a housing crisis. Throughout a pandemic. The quantity of vacant spaces is anyone’s best guess. It’s only partially documented. They hide in plain sight. Vacant Spaces NY is organized from large to small, general to specific. It begins by looking at vacancy within the United States and continues down to each Manhattan neighborhood, where we zoom into specific vacant spaces, where we have provided as c...

Interior Design since 1900, Fourth Edition by Anne Massey Thames & Hudson , April 2020 Paperback | 6 x 8-1/4 inches | 272 pages | 229 illustrations | English | ISBN: 9780500204603 | $24.95 ( Click here for publisher's description and author bio ) REFERRAL LINKS :       Making America Modern: Interior Design in the 1930s by Marilyn F. Friedman Bauer and Dean Publishers , May 2018 Hardcover | 8-1/2 x 10-1/2 inches | 240 pages | 205 illustrations | English | ISBN: 9780983863236 | $50.00 ( Click here for publisher's description and author bio ) REFERRAL LINKS :       REVIEW: Although Amazon's algorithmic categorizations are perplexing at times, and I'm guessing most people find books on Amazon via searches rather than browsing in categories, there is something telling when comparing the top books in the  "Architecture" category  to those in the  "Interior & Home Design" category : they are the same and, accordingly, they are al...

An Alphabet of Architectural Models Edited by Teresa Frankhänel, Olivia Horsfall Turner, Simona Valeriani, Matthew Wells Merrell , October 2021 Flexicover | 6-3/4 x 8-3/4 inches | 128 pages | 88 illustrations | English | ISBN: 9781858946979 | $37.95 PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION : For thousands of years, architects have used models to invent, experiment and communicate. A world in miniature, such models are even more varied in their purposes and materials than their full-scale counterparts. This elegant book explores the fascinating nature of the architectural model through 26 illustrated essays, one for each letter of the alphabet. Unbound by the practicalities of life-size construction, models allow architects the flexibility and freedom to think in three dimensions. Whether made for purely speculative exercises or to solve a specific problem, they are aids to the imagination. Equally, they can be used as detailed representations of particular places, either built or as yet unreal...