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Architecture & urbanism
 

The Architecture of Happiness

by Alain de Botton

The Architecture of Happiness is a dazzling and generously illustrated journey through the philosophy and psychology of architecture and the indelible connection between our identities and our locations.One of the great but often unmentioned causes of both happiness and misery is the quality of our environment: the kinds of walls, chairs, buildings, and streets that surround us. And yet a concern for architecture is too often described as frivolous, even self-indulgent. Alain de Botton starts from the idea that where we are heavily influences who we can be, and argues that it is architecture's task to stand as an eloquent reminder of our full potential.
 

Big Little House: Small Houses Designed by Architects

by Donna Kacmar

 What are the challenges architects face when designing dwelling spaces of a limited size? And what can these projects tell us about architecture – and architectural principles — in general? In BIG little house, award-winning architect Donna Kacmar introduces twenty real-life examples of small houses. Each project is under 1,000 square feet in size and, brought together, the designs reveal an attitude towards materiality, light, enclosure and accommodation which is unique to minimal dwellings. While part of a trend to address growing concerns about minimizing consumption and lack of affordable housing, the book demonstrates that small dwellings are not always simply the result of budget constraints but constitute a deliberate design strategy in their own right.
 

The Death and Life of Great American Cities

by Jane Jacobs

A direct and fundamentally optimistic indictment of the short-sightedness and intellectual arrogance that has characterized much of urban planning in the 20th century, The Death and Life of Great American Cities has, since its first publication in 1961, become the standard against which all endeavors in that field are measured. In prose of outstanding immediacy, Jane Jacobs writes about what makes streets safe or unsafe; about what constitutes a neighborhood, and what function it serves within the larger organism of the city; about why some neighborhoods remain impoverished while others regenerate themselves. She writes about the salutary role of funeral parlors and tenement windows, the dangers of too much development money and too little diversity. Compassionate, bracingly indignant, and always keenly detailed, Jacobs's monumental work provides an essential framework for assessing the vitality of all cities.
 

The Elements of Style: An Encyclopedia of Domestic Architectural Detail

by Stephen Calloway, Alan Powers and Elizabeth Cromley

The Elements of Style is the most comprehensive visual survey, period by period, feature by feature, of the key styles in American and British domestic architecture from the Tudor period to present day. A valuable reference guide, the book is designed for owners of period houses, restorers, architects, interior designers and all those interested in our architectural heritage. This revised edition includes a fully updated chapter covering the Contemporary era (1975-present) and a new list of suppliers and resources as well as biographies of key architects and a detailed glossary.
 

Fallen Glory: The Lives and Deaths of History's Greatest Buildings

by James Crawford

In Fallen Glory, James Crawford uncovers the biographies of some of the world’s most fascinating lost and ruined buildings, from the dawn of civilization to the cyber era. The lives of these iconic structures are packed with drama and intrigue. Soap operas on the grandest scale, they feature war and religion, politics and art, love and betrayal, catastrophe and hope. Frequently their afterlives have been no less dramatic ― their memories used and abused down the millennia for purposes both sacred and profane. The twenty-one structures Crawford focuses on include The Tower of Babel, The Temple of Jerusalem, The Library of Alexandria, The Bastille, Kowloon Walled City, the Berlin Wall and the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Ranging from the deserts of Iraq, the banks of the Nile and the cloud forests of Peru, to the great cities of Jerusalem, Istanbul, Paris, Rome, London and New York, Fallen Glory is a unique guide to a world of vanished architecture. And, by picking through the fragments of our past, it asks what history’s scattered ruins can tell us about our own future.

FANTASTIC CITIES

by Steve McDonald

This unique adult coloring book features immersive aerial views of real cities from around the world alongside gorgeously illustrated, Inception-like architectural mandalas. Artist Steve McDonald's beautifully rendered and detailed line work offers bird's-eye perspectives of visually arresting global locales from New York, London, and Paris to Istanbul, Tokyo, and Guadalajara, Rio, Amsterdam, and many more. The book's distinctive large square format offers absorbingly complex vistas to color — nearly 60 — including a selection of mind-bending labyrinthine architectural illustrations for still deeper meditative coloring adventures and imaginative flights of fancy.
 

A Field Guide to American Houses

by Virginia Savage McAlester

Focusing on dwellings in urban and suburban neighborhoods and rural locations all across the continental United States — houses built over the past three hundred years reflecting every social and economic background — this guide provides in-depth information on the essentials of domestic architecture with facts and frames of reference that will enable you to look in a fresh way at the houses around you. With more than 1,600 detailed photographs and line illustrations, and a lucid, vastly informative text, it will teach you not only to recognize distinct architectural styles but also to understand their historical significance.
 

The Future of Architecture Since 1889

by Jean-Louis Cohen

Truly far-ranging — both conceptually and geographically — The Future of Architecture Since 1889 is a rich, compelling history that will shape future thinking out this period for years to come. Jean-Louis Cohen, one of today's most distinguished architectural historians and critics, gives an authoritative and compelling account of the twentieth century, tracing an arc from industrialization through computerization, and linking architecture to developments in art, technology, urbanism and critical theory. Encompassing both well-known masters and previously neglected but significant architects, this book also reflects Cohen's deep knowledge of architecture across the globe, and in places such Eastern Europe and colonial Africa and South America that have rarely been included in histories of this period. It is richly illustrated not only with buildings, projects and plans, but also with publications, portraits, paintings, diagrams, film stills, and exhibitions, showing the immense diversity of architectural thought and production throughout the twentieth century.
 

How Architecture Works: A Humanist's Toolkit

by Witold Rybczynski

In How Architecture Works, critic Witold Rybczynski answers our most fundamental questions about how good — and not so good — buildings are designed and constructed. Introducing the reader to the rich and varied world of modern architecture, he reveals how architects as diverse as Frank Gehry, Renzo Piano, and Robert A.M. Stern envision and create their designs. He teaches us how to “read” plans, how buildings respond to their settings, and how the smallest detail — of a stair balustrade, for instance — can convey an architect’s vision. “Architecture, if it is any good, speaks to all of us,” Rybczynski writes. This revelatory book is his grand tour of architecture today.
 

How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They're Built

by Stewart Brand

Buildings have often been studied whole in space, but never before have they been studied whole in time. How Buildings Learn is a masterful synthesis that proposes that buildings adapt best when constantly refined and reshaped by their occupants, and that architects can mature from being artists of space to becoming artists of time. From the connected farmhouses of New England to I.M. Pei's Media Lab, from "satisficing" to "form follows funding," from the evolution of bungalows to the invention of Santa Fe Style, from Low Road military surplus buildings to a High Road English classic like Chatsworth, this is a far-ranging survey of unexplored essential territory.
 

How to Read Buildings: A Crash Course in Architectural Styles

by Carol Davidson Cragoe

This practical primer is a handbook for decoding a building’s style, history, and evolution. Every building contains clues embedded in its design that identify not only its architectural style but also the story of who designed it, who it was built for, and why. Organized by architectural element (roofs, doors, windows, columns, domes, towers, arches, etc.), the book is roughly chronological within each section, examining the elements across history, through different architectural styles, and by geographical distribution. Additional chapters offer overviews of how architecture has been affected by geography, history, and religion, along with an illustrated timeline of architectural elements. Also included is a chapter on applied ornament and a handy introduction to naming each part of a building. All entries are accompanied by examples in the forms of period engravings, line drawings, and pictures. The extended captions make the book invaluable for anyone who has ever pondered the meaning or importance of a hipped roof, rounded doorway, or classical pediment.
 

Introduction to Architecture

by Francis D.K. Ching and James F. Eckler

With his typical highly graphic approach, this is the first introductory text from Francis D.K. Ching that surveys the design of spaces, buildings, and cities. In an easy to understand format, readers will explore the histories and theories of architecture, design elements and process, and the technical aspects of the contemporary profession of architecture. Introduction to Architecture explains the experience and practice of architecture and allied disciplines for future professionals, while those who love the beauty of architecture drawing will delight in the gorgeous illustrations included.
 

Nearby History: Exploring the Past Around You

by David E. Kyvig and Myron A. Marty

Acclaimed for nearly thirty years as the most comprehensive introduction to research in North American family and community history, and now thoroughly updated, this book is essential for aspiring and practicing public and local historians. "Kyvig and Marty have updated their classic work to embrace new technologies and perspectives, while still staying faithful to the principles of historical inquiry and analysis that have made it invaluable for anyone interested in exploring the past of the world nearby. After nearly thirty years, Nearby History still does what it has always done best—open up the exploration of history to all." (James B. Gardner, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution)
 

Stories in Stone: A Field Guide to Cemetery Symbolism and Iconography

by Douglas Keister

Cemeteries are virtual encyclopedias of symbolism. Engravings on tombstones, mausoleums and memorials tell us just about everything there is to know about a person: date of birth and death as well as religion, ethnicity, occupation, community interests, and much more. Stories in Stone: The Complete Guide to Cemetery Symbolism reveals the secrets of cemetery symbolism. It is a practical field guide that is compact and portable, perfect for those interested in family histories and genealogical research, and is the only book of its kind that unlocks the language of symbols in a comprehensive and easy-to-understand manner.
 

Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time

by Jeff Speck

Jeff Speck has dedicated his career to determining what makes cities thrive. And he has boiled it down to one key factor: walkability. Making downtown into a walkable, viable community is the essential fix for the typical American city; it is eminently achievable and its benefits are manifold. Walkable City — bursting with sharp observations and key insights into how urban change happens — lays out a practical, necessary, and inspiring vision for how to make American cities great again.
 

What Style Is It?: A Guide to American Architecture

by John C. Poppeliers and S. Allen Chambers

Architectural style is defined as a definite type of architecture, distinguished by special characteristics of structure and ornament. What Style Is It? provides examples of how pure styles vary by geographic region across the U.S. and includes sections on 25 of the most significant American architectural styles, including Early Colonial, Federal and Second Empire. The book also includes a glossary of architectural terms and a guide to using the Historical American Buildings Society online catalog of more than 30,000 historic structures, giving access to more than 51,000 measured drawings, 156,000 photographs and more than 30,000 original historical reports.
 

Why Architecture Matters

by Paul Goldberger

Why Architecture Matters is not a work of architectural history or a guide to the styles or an architectural dictionary, though it contains elements of all three. The purpose of Why Architecture Matters is to "come to grips with how things feel to us when we stand before them, with how architecture affects us emotionally as well as intellectually" — with its impact on our lives. "Architecture begins to matter," writes Paul Goldberger, "when it brings delight and sadness and perplexity and awe along with a roof over our heads." He shows us how that works in examples ranging from a small Cape Cod cottage to the “vast, flowing” Prairie houses of Frank Lloyd Wright, from the Lincoln Memorial to the highly sculptural Guggenheim Bilbao and the Church of Sant'Ivo in Rome, where "simple geometries ... create a work of architecture that embraces the deepest complexities of human imagination."
 

The Works: Anatomy of a City

by Kate Ascher

Have you ever wondered how the water in your faucet gets there? Where your garbage goes? What the pipes under city streets do? How bananas from Ecuador get to your local market? Why radiators in apartment buildings clang? Using New York City as its point of reference, The Works takes readers down manholes and behind the scenes to explain exactly how an urban infrastructure operates. Deftly weaving text and graphics, author Kate Ascher explores the systems that manage water, traffic, sewage and garbage, subways, electricity, mail, and much more. Full of fascinating facts and anecdotes, The Works gives readers a unique glimpse at what lies behind and beneath urban life in the twenty-first century.