A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

Place-making at the Madeleine h2o architectes Building Books , December 2020 Paperback | 6-3/4 x 9-1/2 inches | 80 pages | 73 illustrations | French/English | ISBN: 9782956781561 | 19 € PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION : Place de la Madeleine conjures up images of delicious confectionery and other fine foodstuffs as well as illustrious funerals. With a tight budget and many constraints, h2o architectes have pulled off a major use revolution at the Madeleine by giving back 4,500 square metres to pedestrians—a huge gain of 40% that was achieved almost by stealth, no opportunity having been lost to claw back space from the automobile. What, therefore, in the context of that hyper-dense urbanity could be a finer gift to Parisians than the one thing they almost never encounter: flexible open space in its purest form? h2o architectes , founded by Charlotte Hubert, Jean-Jacques Hubert and Antoine Santiard, is a Paris-based firm working on projects of various types and scales, from housing to p...

Building with Limestone in Paris Edited by h2o architectes, with texts by Andrew Ayers, photographs by Julien Lanoo and Stéphane Chalmeau Building Books , May 2020 Paperback | 6-3/4 x 9-1/2 inches | 88 pages | 76 illustrations | French/English | ISBN: 978-2956781530 | 19€ PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION : This is the first book of a collection of monographic books on the projects of h2o architectes. It showcases the construction of a 32-home building in the 15th arrondissement in Paris that features 24 cm ashlar masonry facades. Requiring neither firing nor the addition of other products, stone material allows a 60% reduction in CO2 in comparison to concrete where the construction phase is concerned, and a 35% reduction over a period of 50 years. h2o architectes successfully demonstrate that load-bearing stone, a geo-sourced material, represents an economical alternative, equivalent to more common solutions, and has the advantage of offering buyers a higher-quality standard of finish. ...