Urban Design Reader

Drawing together the very best of classic and contemporary writings, this informative book illuminates the theory and practice of urban design. Forty-one generous selections include contributions from Le Corbusier and Jacobs through to Hayden and Gillham.
This book provides an essential resource for students and practitioners of urban design, drawing together important but widely dispersed writings. Section and selection introductions are provided to assist students in understanding where readings come from and how they fit into the larger picture of the field of urban design.

The Handbook of Sustainable Refurbishment - Non-Domestic Buildings

The refurbishment of existing buildings is a crucial yet often neglected subject within sustainable architecture; attention is usually focused on new buildings. Many old buildings waste large amounts of energy and provide poor internal conditions for occupants through poor lighting, poor ventilation, solar penetration and glare, and poor control of heating and cooling. Demolition is an option but the refurbishment alternative is increasingly seen as more sustainable in terms of architectural value, materials use, neighbourhood disruption and waste disposal.

The Green House - New Directions in Sustainable Buildings

From the arid deserts of Tucson, Arizona to the icy forests of Poori, Finland to the tropical beaches of New South Wales, Australia to the urban jungle of downtown Manhattan, critics Alanna Stang and Christopher Hawthorne have traveled to the farthest reaches of the globe to find all that is new in the design of sustainable, or "green," homes. The result: more than thirty-five residences in fifteen countries -- and nearly every conceivable natural environment -- designed by a combination of star architects and heretofore unknown practitioners.

The Dynamics of Delight - Architecture and Aesthetics

This book rounds off decades of exploration into the various ways that buildings and urban sequences make an impact on the mind. The emphasis is on the qualitative aspects of form and space and provides designers with an analytical framework in which to evaluate projects especially on the aesthetic level. In laying the foundations for an appreciation of the aesthetic component in architecture the book considers the psychological mechanisms, which are involved in the aesthetic response. It goes on to consider how human perception may be influenced by natural phenomena and draws on chaos theory and biomathematics to illustrate the argument.

The City Rehearsed - Object, Architecture and Print

The City Rehearsed offers a new perspective on printed architecture in early modern Europe through the lens of Hans Vredeman de Vries. It focuses on the active role his prints played in the life of urban readers outside of a narrowly-defined "Flemish" architectural history. This is a study with clear interest for historians of art and the built environment.