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Material Identities

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 28 May 2009 01:55:00 +0000

Joanna Sofaer
Wiley-Blackwell | 1405132345 | 2007 | PDF | 184 pages | 2 Mb

DESCRIPTION

Material Identities examines the way that individuals use material objects as tools for projecting aspects of their identities.

Considers the way identity is fashioned, launched, used, and admired in the material world.
Contributors intervene from the disciplines of art history, anthropology, design and material culture.
Considers contrasting media - painting, print, sculpture, dress, coinage, architecture, furniture, luxury items, and interior design.
Explores the complexity of identity through the intersection notions of gender, ethnicity, age, sexuality, and class.
Reaffirms the central role of public identities and their impact on social life.

About the Author

Joanna Sofaer is a Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Southampton. She is the author of The Body as Material Culture: A Theoretical Osteoarchaeology (2006), editor of Children and Material Culture (2000) and co-editor, with Dana Arnold, of Biographies and Space (2007).

From the Back Cover

Material Identities examines the way that individuals use material objects as tools for conveying certain aspects of their personalities to others. Exploring the complexity of identity through the intersecting notions of gender, ethnicity, age, sexuality, and class, this book looks at the deliberate expression and manipulation of identity through the use of material goods, and how individuals single out aspects of themselves in order to project or conceal particular characteristics.

Engaging with objects from the past and present, high and low culture, and from around the globe, this volume explores the range of contrasting media from painting and print to clothing and furniture, and takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of material culture’s expression, and identity’s careful orchestration. Contributors include experts from various fields including architectural theory and museum studies.

LIST OF CONTENT

PART I: PROJECTING IDENTITIES.

1. Mai/Omai in London and the South Pacific: Perfomativity, Cultural Entanglement, and Indigenous Appropriation (Jocelyn Hackforth-Jones).

2. Projecting Identities in the Greek Symposion (Robin Osborne).

PART II: MATERIAL AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATIONS.

3. Bernini Struts (Michael Cole).

4. Architectural Style and Identity in Egypt (Doris Behrens-Abouseif).

5. Identifying the Body: Representing Self. Art, Ornamentation and the Body In Later Prehistoric Europe (Fay Stevens).

PART III: POLITICS AND IDENTITY.

6. Aristocratic Identity: Regency Furniture and the Egyptian Revival Style (Abigail Harrison-Moore).

7. Architecture, Power, and Politics: The Forum-Basilica in Roman Britain (Louise Revell).

EDITORIAL REVIEW

2G 28 Aires Mateus (2G International Architecture Review)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 15 May 2009 14:14:00 +0000

J.B. Rodeia, A.C. Baeza
Gustavo Gili | 1136-9647 | 2003 | PDF | 144 pages | 29 Mb

DESCRIPTION

The architects Francisco and Manuel Aires Mateus occupy an important and well-deserved place on the current Portuguese architecture scene. The sheer quantity of their public and private commissions, the competitions won over the last few years, the countless prizes received and the publicizing of their buildings at the international level are all signs of the recognition of their work.

This issue of 2G is the first monograph on the work of these Lisbon brothers and opens with a text by the critic João Belo Rodeia, a commentary by Alberto Campo Baeza on the house in Alenquer and an "informal conversation" with their teacher Gonçalo Byrne and Valentino Capelo de Sousa. Among the buildings presented one might single out the magnificent students' residence on the Coimbra University campus, the Universidade Nova de Lisboa rector's office or their splendid experiments in single-family housing, plus the rehabilitation of a ruined house in Alenquer, the Alvalade patio-house, the weekend house on the coast at Alentejo or the conversion of a former wine warehouse into housing in Brejos de Azeitão, all of these in Portugal.

LIST OF CONTENT

João Belo Rodeia
On Traveling a Distance

Student Residence on Campus II of the Universidade de Coimbra
Universidade Nova de Lisboa Rector's Office
Almedina Bookshop I, Lisbon
Almedina Bookshop III, Porto

Alberto Campo Baeza
A Handful of Air

House in Alenquer
House in Alvalade
House on the Alentejo coast
House in Brejos de Azeitão, Setúbal
House in the Serra de Mira d’Aire, Porto de Mós
House in Sesimbra
House in the Arrábida Natural Park, Setúbal
House in Alcácer do Sal
The Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra
Sines Cultural Center
The Lisbon Museum of Architecture
The Faro de Santa Marta Museum, Cascais
The Grand Egyptian Museum, Cairo
Park Hyatt Hotel, Dublin

Biography

nexus
An Informal Conversation Francisco and Manuel Aires Mateus, Gonçalo Byrne and Valentino Capelo de Sousa

EDITORIAL REVIEW

A Handful of Air
by Alberto Campo Baeza (excerpt)

"To make a house, you take a handful of air and you hold it in with some walls." It might seem that the Aires Mateus brothers have fulf-illed the words of this Nazarite proverb to the letter, since this, holding the air in with some walls, is what they've done in this very lovely house, erected outside of time and inside the space of beauty.

A sublimated ruin. Empty boxes
In their brief statement the architects claim they've merely shored up and repaired the ancient walls of the old house. I think they've done much more: they've sublimated them. At the start the self-contained twin box was a silent ruin. And they've made it speak. They've granted it significance by manipulating, opening and closing it, and unifying it with a radiant white color. And they've put in a deck-like wood-en floor, so that the individual elements acquire greater presence. And lastly it's been filled with light. So the whole thing has a certain metaphysical air that brings some of Giorgio de Chirico's pictures to mind. With tremendous force.
When a ruin has walls with a materiality so capable of trapping air and light, when in it gravity still constructs the space, the architect-ure openly exhibits itself to us, divested of everything, in its more radical form. The pure nakedness of the structure is wont to have the forceful intensity of the most essential architecture. The walls of many Roman ruins that move us work this way. The empty boxes of this house work this way, too.

The framed sky. The house of water
Maybe the most notable quality of these spaces is their verticality, which has been accentuated as the main attribute of the two boxes, boxes that once supported one or more stories and are now free all the way up. The unwonted proportion, never considered by the primitive builder of those walls, produces a certain fascination. The tall box of the swimming pool, like a jewel case of the water contained therein, produces, be it due to its reflection in the water or because of its transparency, an effect of utmost verticality.
Today proportion is still, and always will be, an effective tool in architecture. Even though someone might think that in the fleeting earthquake by which those that claim to go by the name of avant-garde architectures are shaken up, this attribute, proportion, may seem to have disappeared. A proportion that is the mastery of scale.
I would like to observe here how the empty box of the swimming pool seems higher than the other one, where the disproportion of the interstitial spaces might make you think that there was more vertical-ity in them. On the contrary, seated within the box of water our gaze is drawn upwards towards the framed sky, bringing the Pantheon in Rome to mind. Framing the air of the heavens.

The still camera
If we analyze the house-cum-container of functions accommodated in the second box, we are obliged to recognize that it's like a perfect watch mechanism, so well does it work. But if we analyze the precision with which each element focuses the landscape through the twin filters of window and recess, the simile of the still camera would be more apposite. And if we were to say that the box of water looks at the sky, this box of the house looks at the ground.
The functions are impeccably resolved. Below, the public space—living, cooking, eating—with a vision of the landscape more focused than framed. Above, maximum privacy in the small-sized bedrooms, each with a different view. Like a still camera.

And the light
In the end this whole house is no more than a very brilliant exercise in light. The white light jagged in the cast shadow dances on the surface of the hollowed-out water and is something to behold. The solid light shifts during the day against a background of reflected light that fills these sublime boxes and produces effects of the greatest beauty.

2G 20 Portuguese Architecture (2G International Architecture Review)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:24:00 +0000

2G Editors
Gustavo Gili | 1136-9647 | 2003 | PDF | 144 pages | 120 Mb

Part 1

Part 2

DESCRIPTION

Portuguese architecture, and its place on the international scene, has been receiving a lot of attention in the specialised press for some time now. The work of such great Portuguese architects as Fernando Távora, Álvaro Siza and Gonçalo Byrne has formed generations of internationally known figures, figures like Eduardo Souto de Moura, Adalberto Dias, Carrilho de Graça and Álvaro Rocha.

The aim of this issue of 2G is to present the architectures of a generation of architects whose work opens up new perspectives on Portuguese architecture, despite the latter being usually submitted to the scrutiny of the masters. Young architects who would form a more or less homogeneous "third generation", one caught between its ongoing marginality in geographical terms and an attentiveness to what is happening on the international scene.

LIST OF CONTENT

Introduction
Ground line: Presenting a new generation of Portuguese architects. João Belo Rodeia
Notes on Some Portuguese Architects. Daniel de Castro Lopes

Works and Projects
Aires Mateus e associados
House in Alenquer.
Library, Audìtorium and Art Center, Sines.
Atelier Búgio
The Quinta da Casa Branca Inn, Madeira.
Pedro Falcão de Campos
House for Dr. Saravia Lima, Alcácer do Sal.
José Fernando Gonçalves
Interventíons on the Parish Church, Oliveira do Douro.
Cristina Guedes, Francisco Vieira de Campos
Faculty of Fine Arts block, Porto.
Inês Lobo, Pedro Domingos
Chancellery and Residence of the Portuguese Embassy in Berlin.
João Mendes Ribeiro
Tea House, Montemor-o-Velho.
Four stage designs.
Pedro Mendes
Renovation of an "Island", Porto.
António Portugal, Manuel Maria Reis
School of Advanced Technology and Management of Portoalegre Polytechnic Institute.
Paulo Providência
S. Nicolau baths and wash-houses, Porto.
Tomé Ribeiro Pavilion, Maia.
Serôdio & Associados
House for Manuel Dias, Paredes.
Two apartment blocks, Foz do Douro.
Vilela & Gordon
Residence for the Portuguese Embassy in Brasilia.

Biographies

Nexus
The legacy of the "verdant 1950's". Permanence and Change in Portuguese Architecture from the Postwar Period to the Revolution.
Ana Tostões

EDITORIAL REVIEW

Notes on Some Portuguese Architects
Daniel de Castro Lopes

1.The current image of Portuguese architecture is a complex one; ideas that were once widely accepted have to be nuanced in order to conform to changes in the country.
Portugal's peripheral, artisanal and anachronous condition is becoming less evident, given that the economic boom of the last few years has privileged a not always well assimilated, accelerated modernisation of its territorial and economic structure. The imbalances existing in Portuguese society have been accentuated because of the passive adoption by part of the rising middle-class of foreign models, to the detriment of its own heritage and cultural references.

Designing architecture in Portugal is no longer an heroic creative profession -a situation created by Decree 73/73, which does away with the exclusivity of architects in the practice of architecture, reducing their field of action in practical terms to the mere authorial work for a cultured client-, but instead becomes an anonymous activity with a number of stipulated legal and technical responsibilities.
Portuguese architecture, centred on authors like Alvaro Siza, Fernando Tavora and Eduardo Souto Moura, and on their disciples, collaborators, masters or heirs, becomes increasingly rich and more complex when, in ten years, the number of qualified architects triples, dramatically enlarging the fields of actuation, sensibility and creative possibility.

The teaching of architecture, formerly restricted to a pedagogical model whose main axes were method and the master-disciple relationship, is broken up in twenty schools with a total of 9,000 students, all of which leads to the disintegration of teaching models and obliges the relationships in teaching to become more bureaucratic.
Under these new circumstances, the growing recognition of architecture is noteworthy, a recognition born of the media presence of its authors or the capitalisation of its economic-symbolic surplus value.

The large number of public competitions and the institutional support given to professional qualification as an aspect of quality, together with the increase in private commissions, are the most important consequences of this new situation.

2. Recent architectural output, both projectural and theoretical, conforms to this state of affairs. Young architects stand out for the clarity of their schemes and the coherence of their individual poetics. Most of them began their professional activity in the 1990s, and they largely constitute the changeover of generations within Portuguese architecture.

Yet they cannot be defined as a generation as such, since the coincidences between them are greater than the common choices, and consensus more important than personal bias. They form a network of active professionals (when not being activists, since they participate in different fields: teaching, publishing, specialised encounters, etc.) who share certain objectives, which does not prevent their trajectories from being extremely varied. Perhaps their most important "generational" characteristic is their respect for individual intellectual autonomy, along with open and disinterested collaboration, and the apparent absence of a group commitment begins and ends with society, since they reclaim a certain social and environmental activism for the practice of the project.

The standardised tastes that make up the cultural space in which architecture develops, the latter being understood as the most practical of the arts, is reflected in the set of images -which seem to constitute a new, purely mediatised, international style- that all use with greater or lesser purity, adapting these to new contexts.

3. Portuguese architecture has been generically defined by its tectonic quality (a mastery of materials and control of detail), by its composition (abstract, clear and precise), and by its topological skilfulness (the location as matrix). By focusing analysis on these categories, certain aspects can be discerned which, without forming a rigid norm, define the main axes of their thinking.

One thing they share is the realism of their schemes. A resistant praxis that mistrusts images and is based on the analysis of reality generates a semantic economy that focuses on the very construction of architecture. Without spurning plasticity, they set out -by means of an exacting compositional labour, sparing in effects and materials- to appeal to the senses and to emotion, although from the ground of reason. A refined materiality, born of craftsmanship and the relative scarcity of materials (industrialised ones, at least), has been updated with the generalisation of technologically more developed constructional solutions. Added to which, the use of materials or the control of details has undergone a certain revision: critical schemes are proposed without falling into constructional anecdote or the functional objet trouvé.

The dignifying of prefabricated materials or industrial constructional solutions through the careful handling of details and an optimisation of resources emerges in the buildings of Cristina Guedes and Francisco Vieira de Campos, given that due to the ephemeral nature of their programs they opt for an investigation of quality in terms of means that might, at first glance, seem limited.

An identical sort of research is evident in the work of Paulo Providência, who reformulates banal programs with extreme elegance and spatial richness, utilising materials in an unexpected way, decontextualizing these and hence ennobling the program or material employed.

The purifying of detail by reducing the use of materials and redefining these in relation to the overall spatial scheme can be seen in the buildings of José Fernando Gonçalves, where materials take on more abstract meanings due to their being used with enormous restraint.

The architectural composition based on spatial investigation or semantic expressivity has seemingly involuted, given that after the "semantic nightmare" of the 1980s buildings have been reduced to regular volumes, or their aggregations, in which geometrical clarity and the elemental nature of the mass takes precedence. This visual reduction to the essential displaces the object of projectural thinking towards the meanings of the physical components of the work of architecture.

The norm -or a structuring conception of the order- is taken on board as a creative point of departure, as a substitute for visual invention, in the projects of João Pedro Serôdio and Isabel Furtado, in their integral abstract models derived from mathematical rules which structure the design from its implantation to its details.

The limits of the semantic elements of architectonic language is investigated in the recent projects of Manuel and Francisco Aires Mateus, who reflect on the dualities of wall/recess and mass/surface, concatenating complex spatial structures in simple volumes devoid of ornament or constructional showiness, proposing re-readings of the uses and the essence of space.

Aesthetics are addressed from the premise of constructional authenticity, thus avoiding the theatrical expedient, in the projects of Nuno Brandão Costa, who utilises the codes and logic of building systems as his main compositional tools.

An attentive reading of the external factors of the architectural project -location, program, construction, client, specification- has encouraged works of tremendous skill in their response to their surroundings. In an imploded territory submitted to tensions that occasionally admit of no solution, the defining of an autonomous territory is sought by means of bold abstract strategies.

The optimisation of the potentiality of both program and surroundings in the work of the Búgio Studio generates an order that structures and informs the project by maximising the external indices, suggestions and strictures.

The typological forcefulness of the construction of place in the buildings of Inés Lobo and Pedro Domingos, who seek to stabilise the surroundings by using their more expressive features to the full, in a Palladian conception of the architectonic opus, offers an architecture which avoids immediacy and leads to an active reading of its content.

Radicalness is displaced from praxis to the work: convictions and discourses are constructed and the profound meaning is gradually reclaimed of architecture as the setting and matrix of people's lives.

-Daniel de Castro Lopes

2G 5 Eduardo Souto de Moura (2G International Architecture Review)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 15 May 2009 12:37:00 +0000

X. Guell
Gustavo Gili | 1136-9647 | 1998 | PDF | 144 pages | 60 Mb

DESCRIPTION

Eduardo Souto de Moura (b. Oporto, 1952) is one of the greatest architects on the contemporary Portuguese scene. A key figure among recent generations of architects in his country, it is he who has assumed the mantle the two great maestros of modern Portuguese architecture: Fernando Tavora and Alvaro Siza.

In 1990 Editorial Gustavo Gili published the first monograph devoted to his work, and the growing interest expressed by the international critical community since then has motivated us to publish this second monographic issue, which complements the first by focussing on the recent, extensive output of the architect.

This is a body of work which, without abandoning the standards set by his earlier buildings, attains a delicate maturity. His use of materials and the straightforward and antirhetorical constructional elementality of his latest works sets him apart from the particular stylistic and regional continuity of current Portuguese architecture, bringing him closer to certain positions shared by other European architects, in a critical vision of the limits of what seemed to be understood as a region.

With abundant graphic and photographic documentation, this issue presents 14 works and projects on Portuguese territory, from one-family houses in Tavira and Moledo, various art galleries, to works of wider scope like his remodelling of the Alfandega building in Lisbon and that of the Monastery of Santa Maria do Bouro, near Braga.

The issue includes critical essays by Jacques Lucan and Eduard Bru.
The "Nexus" section, includes material by the architect himself, the text "Time" and an interview with Xavier Guell.

LIST OF CONTENT

Introductions
The transmutation of matter. Jacques Lucan
Eduardo Souto de Moura in three times. Eduard Bru

Works & projects
House in Tavira
Conversion of the Alfándega building into the National Transport Museum
House in Moledo
Conversion of Santa Maria do Bouro Monastery
Residential block
Market in Braga
Porto Metro
Courtyard houses
Burgo project
House in Serra da Arrábida
Art Galleries

Biography

Nexus
Interview with Eduardo Souto de Moura. Xavier Güell
Time. Eduardo Souto de Moura

EDITORIAL REVIEW

2G 4 Arne Jacobsen (2G International Architecture Review)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 15 May 2009 09:31:00 +0000

Gili Editors
Gustavo Gili | 1136 9647 | 1997 | PDF | 144 pages | 60 Mb

DESCRIPTION

Arne Jacobsen (1902-1971), better known for his prominent career as a designer of furniture and objects than as an architect, is the ultimate proponent of the modern movement in Denmark. Though he was a master of using traditional materials and textures within a modern vernacular, Jacobsen was also interested in industrial buildings and new technologies.

His public buildings followed the same criteria of simplicity, order, utility and harmony as all his other projects.
However, in his public architecture, Jacobsen also added the discipline inherent in standardisation and use of industrial components.

Rustica 30 x 23 cm 144 pp pages illustrated in colour
text: english/español
Quarterly ISSN: 1136 9647

LIST OF CONTENT

Introduction Arne Jacobsen 1902-1971.
Lisbet Balslev Jorgensen Works and projects Stelling Huis,
Copenhague Aarhus City Hall Sollerod City Hall Munkegards School,
Gentofte Offices for Jespersen & Son,
Copenhagen Rodovre City Hall SAS Building/Royal Hotel,
Copenhagen St. Catherine`s & Merton College,
Oxford National Bank,
Copenhagen Hew Offices,
Hamburg Christianeum Gymnasium,
Hamburg Kuwait Central Bank Danish Embassy,
London Biography Nexus On form and design at the present time.
Arne Jacobsen Speech at the opening of the Arne Jacobsen exhibition in Aarhus.
Knud Aerbo

EDITORIAL REVIEW

100 Top Houses From Down Under

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 15 May 2009 08:12:00 +0000

R. Beaver
Images Publishing Dist A/C | 1864701412 | 2006 | PDF | 352 pages | 43 Mb

DESCRIPTION

In this superb publication, IMAGES has collected 100 projects from the best architects and interior designers in Australia and New Zealand. Including beach bachs, city apartments, country retreats, suburban homes with a twist, holiday shacks, and much more, this book is guaranteed to delight even the most jaded architectural palate. 'Down Under' architecture is indeed unique, whether due to the astonishing ocean, mountain or landscape views, the clever use of indigenous or local materials, or inventive responses to challenges of climate and site. It is always evolving, and increasingly the worthy recipient of close international scrutiny.

Presented with gorgeous colour photos and plans, as well as contact details for all the architects and designers represented, 100 Top Houses from Down Under is a fabulous resource book for would-be renovators and dreamers alike.

LIST OF CONTENT

As one example, the Seresin House, by Pete Bossley Architects, encompasses a house, guest house, shed, and boatshed in Waterfall Bay, part of the Marlborough Sounds, at the northern end of the South Island of New Zealand. The site for the house is adjacent to a jetty, tucked onto a narrow sliver of land between the sea and the rising hills behind.

It was important that existing trees be maintained, which meant that that lower levels had to be cut into the bank to reduce the impact of the overall form. Arrival to the site is normally by sea to the jetty, so the double-height glazed stair space reflects the axis of the arrival sequence, while the entry path zigzags off the axis and then returns.

The house has two elements: a two-story main wing with guest bedrooms below and living rooms above, and an upper-level main bedroom which is linked by a cranked and rising glazed bridge, under which the landscape falls towards the sea. This bedroom reaches out over the bank into the tall beech trees, supported by a collection of leaning posts suggesting an instability and sense of movement appropriate to the owner's lifestyle.

A concrete fireplace is expressed on the outside of the otherwise wood box to further suggest the sense of imbalance. To create a sense of comfort and avoid a brittle "newness," wide floorboards, which will quickly age, were combined with a variety of plywood linings, demolition hardwood beams and columns, and timber joinery.

The house is beautifully "inhabited" by a collection of fine, well worn, mainly mid-20th-century furniture and light fittings. A variety of window proportions and positions ensures an interesting range of connections to the sea immediately below, and to the middle distance views across the bay.

East Melbourne Residence

This three-level town house in East Melbourne, Australia, was built in the early 1990s as urban infill but suffered from poor design and substandard finishes. The building was divided into small rooms and lacked daylight in the ground-floor living areas. There was also a serious problem with heat gain from the east and west elevations during the summer. Access to the rear garden was via a single door at the end of a light well.

On the positive side, the property boasted a good-sized rear garden and a double garage off a rear right-of-way. The renovation objective for Inarc Architects was to provide unimpeded views into the rear courtyard garden from the living areas. They relocated the kitchen to the front of the house and moved the laundry to the basement.

The courtyard garden has become an extension of the living space with a large sliding glass panel connecting the interior with the redesigned exterior. The clean, open plan of the ground floor was achieved by supporting the southeast corner of the first and second stories with a series of transfer beams.

The first-story floor of the original light well was removed to create the three-level skylit atrium. The installation of motorized external aluminum louvers has substantially cut down the heat load on the east and west elevations. All the existing wood-framed windows were replaced with aluminum-framed, double-glazed units. This promotes heat retention in winter and also significantly reduces the ambient traffic noise.

On the ground floor, a polished bluestone floor acts as a heat sink in the winter when exposed to the morning sun and also acts as a unifying element over the three changes of level from the front entry door to the rear sitting area.

Milsons Point Apartment

The client's charge to architects Stanic Harding Pty. Ltd. was to transform a poorly planned apartment in a former multistory office building in Milsons Point. The existing condition denied the occupants connections to views and light by stacking bedrooms along most of the perimeter. The kitchen was also effectively disconnected from the dining area and the narrow living space by being tucked into the rear of the apartment.

The architects' response was to strip the apartment back to its bare shell, allowing major replanning to encompass the new requirements of a considered entry sequence, connection to sky, light and view, and the separation of public and private spaces.

One of the three bedrooms was relocated into the back of the apartment, allowing the two remaining bedrooms to be increased in size with better connections to light and view. The public spaces then increased in size along the perimeter window. The third bedroom became a guest/study space raised above the main floor level.

The kitchen/dining space was brought into the main living/entry zone. The main wall was clad in full-height mirror panels that at once doubled the perception of available space and reflected the harbor view into the body of the apartment. A chocolate wood floor now defines the main spaces, and very plush shag-pile carpet is in the lounge and bedroom spaces.

Joinery played an important role in this transformation. The main kitchen joinery is a rectangular pod that divides the kitchen and study/guest room. It houses the main kitchen bench and associated storage on one side, general storage at each end, and the study on the other side. A dark wood veneer wall unit forms the edge of the living space and presents as a series of solid engaged columns that house audiovisual and entertainment equipment. A sliding screen forms part of the unit's composition and, when closed, hides the plasma screen.

Lilyfield House

A house for two architects — designed by Peter Tonkin and Ellen Woolley with Tonkin Zulaikha Greer — for a small and difficult site became a laboratory for experiment and investigation.

The site, in Sydney's inner west, is of strong character. The western part, falling more than 20 feet (6 meters) across the frontage, contains major natural rock outcrops and floating boulders and adjoins a reserve of eucalypts, both significant remnants of the indigenous landscape. The eastern part of the site is at street level, and its surrounds are more aggressive and urban. To the east are good views of Sydney and the harbor.

The accommodation is simple: three bedrooms upstairs, on the main level a library and a big room containing living, kitchen, and dining that open onto a terrace, and at street level, a workroom, laundry, and garage. The big room focuses in three directions: east to the city skyline and the terrace, west to the theatrical central "fire" — the kitchen with its white altar for cooking — and north to a secluded grotto hollowed out of the boulders, a tiny back yard.

The house's southern circulation zone, in concrete and brick, buffers a busy road and washes the house with daylight. A "carpet" of wood: bridge, stairs, balcony, and furniture, extends through this zone, bridging between its massive walls. The northern light of the clerestory floods this long, tall slot. The street wall is a plane cut away for openings, its exterior in two shades of black.

The central wall plays off solid against void. Thick, sculpted piers bear three stories of uniting concrete beams. The piers hold carefully crafted tight niches as well as storage, wood cabinets, and services. Inside the simple northern box that houses the living spaces, rooms are calmly proportioned rectangles, maximum accommodation in a tight area, in contrast to the vertical drama of the circulation buffer.

In all these houses, the shared characteristics and themes might group them into a loosely defined "Down Under aesthetic," but each house stands alone as testament to the skills of an individual architect or design team.

EDITORIAL REVIEW

Contemporary residences by Australian and New Zealand architects share several common themes, most notably a sense of environmental stewardship and a desire to blend with the surrounding landscape, whether it's a historic urban street or a protected coastline. These architects favor indoor/outdoor rooms and often zone houses into pavilions. "Green" features abound, including natural ventilation, use of natural materials, photovoltaic panels, and rainwater collection systems. And often, the location itself is spectacular and framed in views from the interior. — Editor

Japan Style: Architecture Interiors Design

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 14 May 2009 22:17:00 +0000

G. Mehta, K. Tada
Tuttle Publishing| 0804835926 | 2005 | PDF | 224 pages | 36 Mb

DESCRIPTION

Enter the world of the stylish Japanese house, where every object in sight is a work of art. Japan Style introduces 20 special residences. With more than 200 color photographs, this book showcases the stunning beauty of old homes, and reveals how they are cared for by their owners.
Traditional Japanese homes, with superbly crafted fine wood, great workmanship and seasonal interior arrangements, have an aesthetic of infinite simplicity. Unlike Japanese inns and historical buildings, the houses featured in this book are private property and are not open to public viewing. Japan Style offers a rare glimpse into the intimate world of the everyday Japanese and fascinating insight into the traditional architecture of Japan.

About the Author

Kimie Tada graduated from Rikkyo University (Tokyo) with a degree in English Literature. She was editor-in-chief of Confort, a Japanese interior design magazine, and now runs an editorial company she established in 2000.

Noboru Murata regularly travels the country on commission for Japanese Elle Deco and other leading lifestyle magazines. His recent publications include The Japanese House.

LIST OF CONTENT

EDITORIAL REVIEW

Inside MNM: Minimalist Interiors

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 14 May 2009 21:55:00 +0000

J. Nasple, K. Asakura
Collins Design | 006053611X | 2004 | PDF | 176 pages | 4 Mb

DESCRIPTION

Minimalism continues to be among the most popular themes in interior design. Inside MNM: Minimalist Interiors explains minimalist concepts and concentrates on private interiors. This guide includes dozens of sophisticated photographs and introductions to each chapter written by leaders of this extraordinary, contemporary design movement. All the examples featured in the book have one thing in common: they feature the essential, but use the minimal.

LIST OF CONTENT

Sakurajousui K House
Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects - Tokyo, Japan

Yutenji T. House
Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects - Tokyo, Japan

Wall-less House
Takaharu and Yui Tezuka Architects + Masahiro Ikeda - Tokyo, Japan

La,alira
miligram studio / Tomoyuki Utsumi - Tokyo, Japan

House in Senzoku
miligram studio / Tomoyuki Utsumi - Tokyo, Japan

Schar-Valkanover House
Blum & Grossenbacher - Grossdietwill, Switzerland

Ai Wei Wei's House
Ai Wei Wei - Beijing, China

Casa A-M
Elena Mateu Pomar - Barcelona, Spain

Alexander Residence
EOA / Elmslie Osler Architect - New York, USA

Dirty House
David Adjaye - Adjaye/Associates - London, UK

Picture Window House
Shigeru Ban Architects - Tokyo, Japan

Gillett Window Residence
EOA / Elmslie Osler Architect - New York, USA

Subaek-dang
Seung, H-Sang / IROJE Architects & planners - Seoul, South Kore

Two Houses in San Diego
Sebastian Mariscal / MS-31 inc. - San Diego, California, USA

The Share House
Kanika R'kul / Leigh & Orange (Thailand) Ltd. - Bangkok, Thailand

Casa Sala
Tonet Sunyer - Barcelona, Spain

Ryan Apartment
PTW Architects - Sydney, Australia

Stein-Fleischmann House
Jacques Moussafir / Moussafir Architect Associates - Paris, France

House in Madrid
J. Torres Verez / a cero estudio de arquitectura y urbanismo, s.1. - Madrid, Spain

Loft A
Carlo Donati - Milan, Italy

House in Fukuya
Waro Kishi + K. Associates - Kyoto, Japan

EDITORIAL REVIEW

Encyclopedia of 20th-Century Architecture

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 14 May 2009 21:48:00 +0000

R. Stephen Sennott
Routledge | 1579584330 | 2004 | PDF | 479 pages | 9 Mb

DESCRIPTION

Exploring architecture from all regions of the world, this three-volume set chronicles and analyzes the twentieth century's vast architectural achievements, both within and well beyond the parameters of Modernism. With extensive coverage of architecture's multifaceted production from 1900 to 2000, the Encyclopedia of 20th-Century Architecture provides readers with a singular resource on materials, theory, design, and practice during this fascinating century of innovation.

An international collection of 300 writers—including architectural and urban historians, preservationists, architects, engineers, critics, and scholars—presents a comprehensive and critical assessment of buildings, architects, cities, technologies, planning, and numerous related topics. Over 700 cross-referenced critical essays range in length from 1,000 to 6,000 words and include bibliographies to facilitate further study. The entries are brought vividly to life by over 500 black-and-white illustrations, as well as 24 pages of color images, including architectural drawings, plans, and contemporary and historic photographs.

Unlike existing reference works on the subject, which are limited to biographical or regional coverage, the Encyclopedia analyzes the complexities of rapidly changing global conditions, helping users understand the dispersal of architectural types, movements, styles, and building practices across geographic and cultural boundaries. Readers will learn not only about noted architects, prominent firms, and influential buildings, but also about architecture's role—physical, social, artistic, and political—in the development of cities, countries, and regions worldwide.

Designed for the general reader as well as scholars and experts, the Encyclopedia of 20th-Century Architecture offers far-reaching coverage and provides a complete one-stop reference resource on architecture throughout the world over the past hundred years.

Analyzes the century's remarkable development and dissemination of architectural styles around the globe

More than 700 contributed, cross-referenced entries with lists of additional readings

Composed by an international team of 300 writers including architects, historians, preservationists, critics, and scholars

Over 500 black-and white illustrations

24 pages of color images

Thorough, analytical index

R. Stephen Sennott is Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs and Adjunct Associate Professor in the College of Architecture at Illinois Institute of Technology where he teaches graduate courses in architectural history. Research and publications focus on 20th-century architecture and planning for the automobile, Chicago architecture, American architects, and historic preservation of 20th-century architecture. He taught courses in American Studies, Communications, and the History of Art and Architecture at Lake Forest College prior to joining the College of Architecture faculty at IIT in 2001.

His publications include "Forever Inadequate to the Rising Stream: Dream Cities, Automobiles, and Urban Street Mobility in Central Chicago," in Zukowsky, John, ed., Chicago Architecture and Design, 1923-1993: Reconfiguration of an American Metropolis (1993); "Hyde Park and South Shore," in Sinkevitch, Alice, ed., AIA Guide to Chicago (1993; second edition, 2004); and "Chicago Architects and the Automobile, 1906-26: Adaptations in Horizontal and Vertical Space," in Jan Jennings, ed., Roadside America: The Automobile in Design and Culture (1990). He has contributed entries to the Dictionary of American History (2003) and the American National Biography (1999).

LIST OF CONTENT

Advisory Board Members ii
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction x
Entry List xvi
Thematic List of Entries xliv
Entries A–F 1

EDITORIAL REVIEW

Defective Construction Work

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 14 May 2009 21:21:00 +0000

K. Barrett
Wiley | 063205929X | 2008 | PDF | 224 pages | 2 Mb

DESCRIPTION

Defective construction work, whether the result of inadequate design, faulty workmanship or poor materials – or some combination of these failings – is a frequent cause of legal disputes. Someone is usually to blame, either the builder or one or more of the professional consultants, or even the entire project team. It is important therefore that the project team should possess a good working knowledge of their responsibilities and liabilities.

Written by a solicitor with over twenty years of experience of building disputes, this book examines the responsibilities and liabilities of the project team when defects occur. It sets out the background role of the common law and statute and includes detailed discussion of important case law affecting the construction process from inception through to completion, together with a consideration of the impact of letters of intent, ‘no contract’ situations, and specific provisions of model conditions of contract.

LIST OF CONTENT

1 Definition and categorization.
1.1 Definition of “defect”.
1.2 Qualitative defects.
1.3 Patent/latent defects.
1.4 Reasonable examination.
1.5 Importance of distinction between patent/latent defects.
1.6 The purchaser and the project team.

2 Common law, statutory and contractual rights.
2.1 Common law.
2.2 Statute.
2.3 Contractual rights.

3 Contracts – an overview.
3.1 Function.
3.2 The basics.
3.2.1 Simple contracts.
3.2.2 Deeds.
3.2.3 Distinction between simple contracts and deeds.
3.3 Express terms.
3.4 Implied terms.
3.4.1 Common law terms.
3.4.2 Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982.
3.4.3 Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996.
3.5 Exclusion of Implied Terms.
3.6 Exclusion clauses.
3.7 Risk allocation.
3.8 Model conditions.

4 No Contact/Restitution.
4.1 Restitution.
4.2 Restitution and defects.
4.2.1 The standard of work.
4.2.2 The ‘usual standards’.
4.2.3 Fitness for purpose.
4.2.4 The Defective Premises Act 1972.
4.2.5 Failure to complete.
4.2.6 Cross-claims.
4.2.7 Latent defects.

5 Letters of Intent.
5.1 Function.
5.2 Legal analysis.
5.3 Implications where defects occur.

6 Tort – an overview.
6.1 Negligence.
6.1.1 Persons and property.
6.1.2 Pure economic loss.
6.2 Complex structures.
6.2.1 A theory?.
6.2.2 An exception?.
6.2.3 A test?.
6.3 Economic harm.
6.3.1 A concurrent duty.
6.3.2 Third parties.
6.3.3 The tests.
6.3.3.1 Assumption of responsibility.
6.3.3.2 Proximity, foreseeability and fairness.
6.3.3.3 Incrementalism.
6.3.3.4 Which test?.
6.4 Builders and professional consultants.
6.4.1 Builders.
6.4.2 Professional consultants.
6.4.3 Liability to third parties.
6.4.4 Conclusion.

7 The Defective Premises Act 1972.
7.1 Application.
7.2 Fitness for habitation.
7.3 Exclusion.

8 Third Party Rights.
8.1 The exception.
8.2 Agency.
8.3 Assignment.
8.4 Novation.
8.5 Statutory third party rights.
8.6 Collateral contracts.
8.7 Tort.

9 Statutory requirements.
9.1 The Building Act 1984.
9.2 Building regulations.
9.3 Construction products.
9.4 Workplace safety regulations.
9.5 CDM regulations.
9.6 Relationship with contractual obligations.

10 The builder’s obligations - design, workmanship and materials.
10.1 Buildability, durability and maintenance.
10.2 Workmanship.
10.2.1 Care & skill.
10.2.2 Specified standards.
10.2.3 Inspection of materials.
10.2.4 Duty to warn.
10.2.4.1 An implied duty.
10.2.4.2 An aspect of care and skill.
10.3 Materials.
10.3.1 Description.
10.3.2 Satisfactory quality – history.
10.3.3 Satisfactory quality – scope.
10.3.4 Satisfactory quality – relevance of selection.
10.3.5 Fitness for purpose.
10.4 Design.

11 The builder’s obligations - defects before completion.
11.1 Temporary disconformities.
11.1.1 The theory.
11.1.2 The theory confined.
11.1.3 Reconciling the cases.
11.2 Opening up the work.
11.3 Defects and interim payment.
11.3.1 The contractual position.
11.3.2 Interim valuations, certificates and payments.
11.3.3 The effect of the HGCRA.

12 The builder’s obligations - defects at completion.
12.1 Scope of work to be completed.
12.1.1 Indispensably necessary work.
12.1.2 Contingently necessary work.
12.2 Completion.
12.2.1 The common law concept.
12.2.2 Substantial completion.
12.2.3 Practical completion.
12.3 Snagging.
12.4 The effect of practical completion.
12.5 The ICE, NEC3 and MF/1 conditions.
12.6 The JCT Major Project Construction Contract.
12.7 The provision of information prior to practical completion.

13 Defective works post completion.
13.1 The common law.
13.2 Defects liability period.
13.2.1 Duration.
13.2.2 Snagging.
13.2.3 ‘Defects arising’.
13.2.4 Compensation instead of repair.
13.2.5 Instructions.
13.2.6 Making good.
13.3 Retention money.
13.4 Retention bonds.
13.5 Final certificates.
13.5.1 The JCT SBC conditions.
13.5.1.1 Qualifications to the conclusivity rule.
13.5.1.2 The class of defects affected.
13.5.2 The ICE conditions.
13.5.3 The MF/1 conditions.

14 The Professional Team.
14.1 Membership of a professional body.
14.2 The structure of the team.
14.3 Duties.
14.3.1 Reasonable care and skill.
14.3.2 Fitness for purpose.
14.3.3 Concurrent duty of care.
14.4 Buildability, durability and maintenance – the designer’s obligations.

15 Architects/Engineers.
15.1 Design.
15.2 Selecting builders and other specialists.
15.3 Supervision.
15.4 Periodic Inspection.
15.5 Certification.
15.6 Design review.
15.6.1 Stage one: up to implementation.
15.6.2 Stage two: implementation to practical completion.
15.6.3 Stage three: after practical completion.
15.7 Defects investigations.
15.8 Honest reporting.
15.9 Termination of performance.

16 Surveyors, Project Managers & others.
16.1 Project managers.
16.2 Quantity surveyors.
16.3 CDM Co-ordinators.
16.4 Clerk of works/engineer’s representatives.

17 Compensation.
17.1 Abatement.
17.2 Compensation.
17.2.1 Cost of reinstatement.
17.2.2 Diminution in value.
17.2.3 Reinstatement and diminution.
17.2.4 Date of assessment.
17.3 Betterment.
17.4 Mitigation.
17.5 Parasitic losses.
17.6 Distress and inconvenience.
17.7 Contribution.
17.8 Contributory negligence.

18 Remedies/damages/limitation.
18.1 Breach of condition.
18.2 Repudiation.
18.3 Express termination provisions.

19 Limitation.
19.1 Contract.
19.2 Tort.
19.2.1 The primary limitation period.
19.2.1.1 Physical damage.
19.2.1.2 Economic damage.
19.2.1.3 Reconcilliation of the cases.
19.2.2 The secondary limitation period.
19.3 Contractual limitation provisions.
19.4 Limitation and contribution proceedings.

20 Dispute resolution.
20.1 Litigation.
20.2 Arbitration.
20.3 Adjudication.
20.4 Expert Determination.
20.5 Alternative Dispute Resolution.

Table of casesIndex

EDITORIAL REVIEW

Construction Waterproofing Handbook

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:52:00 +0000

M.T. Kubal
McGraw-Hill | 0071489738 | 2008 | PDF | 576 pages | 10 Mb

DESCRIPTION

The Latest Waterproofing Techniques and Technology

Fully updated to include new techniques for mold remediation, Construction Waterproofing Handbook simplifies the critical task of keeping a building's envelope watertight. It begins with a tutorial on basic waterproofing concepts and materials, then moves on to the particulars of designing and installing systems in commercial, industrial, and residential structures.

Written by a renowned expert and popular author on the subject, this comprehensive guide provides key information on such matters as quality assurance, admixtures, expansion joints, testing, and safety. Because of recent natural disasters, clients are more concerned with waterproofing than ever. Construction Waterproofing Handbook provides everything you'll need to complete the most demanding projects with confidence and within budget.

Packed with hundreds of illustrations, Construction Waterproofing Handbook includes:
Innovative mold remediation techniques
New information about residential waterproofing
Illustrations of installation procedures
Detailed plans and specifications
SI units

Inside:
• Waterproofing Principles • Below-Grade Waterproofing • Above-Grade Waterproofing • Residential Waterproofing • Sealants • Expansion Joints • Admixtures • Remedial Waterproofing • Mold • The Building Envelope • Life Cycles • Envelope Testing • Leak Investigation and Detection • Safety • Guide Specifications • Resources

LIST OF CONTENT

Chapter 1. Waterproofing Principles – The Building Envelope
Chapter 2. Below-Grade Waterproofing
Chapter 3. Above-Grade Waterproofing
Chapter 4. Residential Waterproofing
Chapter 5. Sealants
Chapter 6. Expansion Joints
Chapter 7. Admixtures
Chapter 8. Remedial Waterproofing
Chapter 9. Mold
Chapter 10. The Building Envelope: Putting It All Together
Chapter 11. Life Cycles: Quality, Maintenance, and Warranties
Chapter 12. Envelope Testing
Chapter 13. Leak Investigation and Detection
Chapter 14. Safety
Chapter 15. Guide Specifications for Waterproofing
Chapter 16. Resources
Glossary
Index

EDITORIAL REVIEW

Construction Drawings and Details for Interiors

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:40:00 +0000

W.O. Kilmer, R. Kilmer
Wiley | 0471109533 | 2001 | PDF | 256 pages | 25 Mb

DESCRIPTION

Provides a "real-world" perspective on the preparation of construction documents.
* Highly visual book with extensive drawings and details.
* Essential reference for NCIDQ examination.

As interior designers assume an expanding role coordinating interior projects, producing construction drawings has become even more integral to their job. Construction Drawings and Details for Interiors: Basic Skills, Second Edition, provides interior designers with the information and skills they need to create construction documents that clearly communicate the interior space of new construction, remodeling, or installation projects.

In a highly visual format, complete with the authors' drawings as well as those from practicing professionals, this book acquaints the reader with drafting fundamentals and conventions; drawing types, plans, and schedules; and computer-aided design (CAD). The book is organized in two parts:

Part One discusses graphic language as a communication tool in design and architecture

Part Two details the construction document process, from overall concepts and organization to current practices and topics such as floor plans, sections, elevations, millwork, schedules, finish and furniture plans, lighting and electrical plans, HVAC and plumbing plans, and preparing specifications

This updated Second Edition features expanded coverage of the preparation and communication of construction documents in digital formats; drawing interior wall and partition types; field measuring existing buildings and interiors; as-built drawings; demolition plans; fire and life safety plans; sustainability and LEED standards; as well as a new companion Web site supplying template grids for schedules and contract documents for practice exercises.

An essential reference for designers and students preparing interior construction documents, Construction Drawings and Details for Interiors: Basic Skills, Second Edition will also serve as a valuable study reference for the contract documents section of the NCIDQ exam.

LIST OF CONTENT

Part I—Drawing, Equipment, and Fundamentals 1

CHAPTER 1 DRAWING AS COMMUNICATION 3
Drawing for Idea Generation 3
Drawing as a Design and Presentation Media 6
Drawing as Guide for Construction 6

CHAPTER 2 DRAFTING EQUIPMENT AND ITS CARE 9
Drawing Tables and Surfaces 9
Drawing Papers and Plastic Films 10
Pencils, Leads, and Pens 11
Parallel Bar, T-Square, and Drafting Machines 14
Triangles, Templates, and Compasses 15
Scales 17
Erasers, Erasing Shields, and Brushes 18
Additional Equipment 20

CHAPTER 3 DRAWING AND DRAFTING FUNDAMENTALS 21
Starting the Drawing 22
Line Types 24
Drafting Standards, Abbreviations, and Symbols 26
Lettering 27

CHAPTER 4 DRAWING CLASSIFICATION SYSTEMS 31
Multiview Drawings 31
Single-view Drawings 32
Perspective Drawings 37

Part II—Contract Documents 47

CHAPTER 5 CONSTRUCTION DRAWINGS, SPECIFICATIONS, AND CONTRACTS 49
Specifications 49
Contracts 51
Construction Drawings 52
Guidelines for Preparing Construction Drawings 59
Drawing Conventions and Representations 64

CHAPTER 6 FLOOR PLANS 77
Scale of Floor Plans 81
Drafting Standards 81
Dimensioning Floor Plans 93
Designation of Materials 96
Checklist for Floor Plans 97

CHAPTER 7 ELEVATIONS 99
Exterior Elevations 101
Interior Elevations 102
Scale of Interior Elevations 102
Drafting Standards for Interior Elevations 104
Designation of Materials 108
Dimensioning Elevations 110
Checklist for Interior Elevations 112

CHAPTER 8 SECTIONS 113
Types of Section Drawings 115
Drafting Standards 117
Building Sections 117
Sections of Interior Spaces 118
Wall Sections 119
Detail and Object Sections 121
Checklist for Section Drawings 122

CHAPTER 9 SPECIALTY DRAWINGS AND DETAILS 123
Purpose of Specialty Drawings 123
Stairs and Ramps 123
Millwork 129
Cabinetry 132
Fireplaces 136

CHAPTER 10 SCHEDULES 141
Door Schedules 144
Checklist for Door Schedules 148
Window Schedules 149
Checklist for Window Schedules 150
Finish Schedules 151
Checklist for Finish Schedules 152
Other Schedules 152

CHAPTER 11 FINISH PLANS 153
Scale of Finish Plans 156
Drafting Standards for Finish Plans 156
Designation of Materials in Finish Plans 157
Dimensioning Finish Plans 159
Checklist for Finish Plans 159

CHAPTER 12 FURNITURE INSTALLATION PLANS 161
Scale of Furniture Installation Plans 165
Drafting Standards for Furniture Installation Plans 165
Dimensioning Furniture Installation Plans 168
Designation of Materials 168
Checklist for Furniture Installation Plans 170

CHAPTER 13 FURNISHINGS AND EQUIPMENT PLANS 171
Scale of Drawings 175
Drafting Standards 175
Designation of Materials 177
Dimensioning of Furnishings and Equipment Plans 178
Checklist for Furnishings and Equipment Plans 178

CHAPTER 14 REFLECTED CEILING AND ELECTRICAL PLANS 181
Reflected Ceiling Plans 182
Electrical Plans 195

CHAPTER 15 MECHANICAL AND PLUMBING PLANS 201
Mechanical (HVAC) Plans 202
Plumbing Plans 207
Drafting Standards for Plumbing Drawings 210

CHAPTER 16 REPRODUCTION METHODS AND COMPUTERS 213
Reproductions of Drawings 214
Using Computers for Design, Communication, and Drafting 216

Appendix A MasterFormat™ Level Two Numbers and Titles 219
Appendix B Section Format Outline 225
Appendix C Sample ADA Guidelines 227
Appendix D Abbreviations for Construction Drawings 231
Glossary 233
Index 239

EDITORIAL REVIEW

Well thought out and addresses almost all of the major topics that interior designers need. I was elated with its comprehensiveness."

-Martin Zelnik

Concentrator Photovoltaics

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:58:00 +0000

A.L. Luque, V.M. Andreev
Springer | 3540687963 | 2007 | PDF | 345 pages | 11 Mb

DESCRIPTION

Photovoltaic solar-energy conversion is one of the most promising technologies for generating renewable energy, and conversion of concentrated sunlight can lead to reduced cost for solar electricity. In fact, photovoltaic conversion of concentrated sunlight insures an efficient and cost-effective sustainable power resource. This book gives an overview of all components, e.g. cells, concentrators, modules and systems, for systems of concentrator photovoltaics.

The authors report on significant results related to design, technology, and applications, and also cover the fundamental physics and market considerations. Specific contributions include: theory and practice of sunlight concentrators; an overview of concentrator PV activities; a description of concentrator solar cells; design and technology of modules and systems; manufacturing aspects; and a market study.

Written for: Scientists

Keywords:

Concentrators
Photovoltaics
Semiconductors
Solar cells
Solar energy

About the Author

A.Luque: Engineer and Doctor Engineer form the Polytechnic University of Madrid (School of Telecommunications). Professor at the Politechnic University of Mdrid since 1970. Founder of the Solar Energy Institute at his University in 1978, Founder of the Company IsofotÃ³n today the 8th world producer of solar cell- in 1981 and President until 1990, Inventor of the Bifacial Cell and of the Intermediate Band Solar Cell. Two doctorates Honoris Causa Member of three scientific academies. Several National and International prizes (including Becquerel Prize). Author of numerous publications.

V.Andreev: Graduated Electrotechnical University, St.Petersburg, Russia in 1963 and started scientific carrier at the IOFFE Physico-Technical Institute in St.Petersburg. Scientific achievements: technology of AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructures (1967), inventions in AlGaAs/GaAs light emitting diodes (1967), heterolasers (1969), AlGaAs/GaAs solar cells (1969), high efficiency concentrator solar cells, concentrator PV installations and thermophotovoltaic devices. European Becquerel Prize for outstanding merits in Photovoltaics (2001).

LIST OF CONTENT

1 Past Experiences and New Challenges of PV Concentrators
G. Sala, A. Luque 1
2 III-V Heterostructures in Photovoltaics
Zh.I. Alferov, V.M. Andreev, V.D. Rumyantsev 25
3 Silicon concentrator solar cells
A. Blakers 51
4 Multijunction Concentrator Solar Cells
A.W. Bett, F. Dimroth, G.Siefer 67
5 Very-High-Concentration Challenges of III-V Multijunction Solar Cells
C. Algora 89
6 Concentrator Optics
J.M. Gordon 113
7 Solar Cell Cooling
G. Martinelli, M.Stefancich 133
8 Terrestrial Concentrator PV Systems
V.D. Rumyantsev 151
9 Solar Thermophotovoltaics
V. Andreev, V. Khvostikov, A. Vlasov 175
10 Multijunction Concentrator Solar Cells: an Enabler for Low-Cost Photovoltaic Systems
N.H. Karam, R.A. Sherif, R.R. King 199
11 Inspira’s CPV Sun Tracking
I. Luque-Heredia, J.M. Moreno, P.H. Magalhães, R. Cervantes, G. Quéméré, O. Laurent 221
12 The Amonix High-Concentration Photovoltaic System
V. Garboushian, K.W. Stone, A. Slade 253
13 The EUCLIDES Concentrator
I. Antón, G. Sala 279
14 The FLATCON System from Concentrix Solar
A.W. Bett, H. Lerchenmüller 301
15 Concentrator Solar Cell Modules and Systems Developed in Japan
M. Yamaguchi, K. Araki, T. Takamoto 321

EDITORIAL REVIEW

Compact Houses

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:29:00 +0000

Carles Broto
Links International | 849626310X | 2005 | PDF | 240 pages | 47 Mb

DESCRIPTION

This exhaustively documented sourcebook will be invaluable to professionals and students of architecture, interior design, interior de-corating, and furniture design. Information is provided on every aspect of the design process from the ground up—floor plans, materials, and specifications—on furniture and fixtures. The 30-plus illustrated case studies are of homes that are streamlined on the inside and out, and include full-color photographs, floor plans, and sketches. Also revealed are dozens of never-before-seen solutions in storage and an array of ingenious design solutions for furniture and fixtures that serve a variety of purposes.

240 pages 8 3/4" x 8 3/4" 350 color and 120 b&w illustrations hardbound 8-49626-310-X

LIST OF CONTENT

Bauart Architekten - Small House/Option
Bower Eith Murken - House Kaiser
J.L. Canosa, Silvia Barbera - Housing in Begur
Chiba Manabu Architects - House in Black
Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen - Chicken Point Cabin
Archi-Tectonics - Gypsy Trail Guesthouse
Featherstone Associates - Voss Street House
EM2N Architects - Holiday Cottage in the Swiss Alps
Traut Architekten - Single Family House
Dry design, inc. - 3773 Studio
Jun Aoki - House I
Thinking Space Architects - House on Club Row London
Tomotsugu Akutsu Architects - House in Minaminasu
The weeHouse team/Warner + Asmus - weeHouse
Takaharu + Yui Tezuka/Tezuka Architects, Masahiro ikeda/mias - House to Catch the Sky III
Hamonic et Masson - House in a Garage
NAYA Architects - House in Futakoshinchi
pool Architecture - In spe-single family house
Claesson Koivisto Rune - No.5 House
Esteve Terradas - House in Gauses
FOBA/Katsu Umebayashi - Aura House
Studio Aisslinger - Loftcube
Moriko Kira - Weekend House Hakone

EDITORIAL REVIEW

Ceramic and Glass Materials: Structure, Properties and Processing

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:20:00 +0000

James F. Shackelford, Robert H. Doremus
Springer | 0387733612 | 2008 | PDF | 201 pages | 3 Mb

DESCRIPTION

Ceramic and Glass Materials: Structure, Properties and Processing is a concise and comprehensive guide to the key ceramic and glass materials used in modern technology. Each chapter focuses on the structure-property relationships for these important materials and expands the reader’s understanding of their nature by simultaneously discussing the technology of their processing methods. In each case, the resulting understanding of the contemporary applications of the materials provides insights as to their future roles in twenty first century engineering and technology.
Organized to be a practical and comprehensive resource, each chapter is dedicated to a specific material such as: alumina, mullite, sillimanite minerals, aluminates, quartz and silicas, refractory oxides, clays, concrete and cement, lead compounds, and zirconia.
Written by international authors in materials science and engineering, Ceramic and Glass Materials: Structure, Properties and Processing is an invaluable reference for advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and working professionals in a wide range of scientific fields.

Written for:
libraries, graduate students and practicing engineers in ceramic engineering, metallurgy, and materials science and engineering, as well as related fields

Keywords:
ceramic materials
ceramic processing

LIST OF CONTENT

Chapter 1 Alumina 1
Chapter 2 Mullite 27
Chapter 3 The Sillimanite Minerals: Andalusite, Kyanite, and Sillimanite 41
Chapter 4 Aluminates 49
Chapter 5 Quartz and Silicas 71
Chapter 6 Refractory Oxides 87
Chapter 7 Clays 111
Chapter 8 Concrete and Cement 135
Chapter 9 Lead Compounds 151
Chapter 10 Zirconia 169

EDITORIAL REVIEW

"Editors ... have prepared a remarkable summary of the properties of and processing conditions for various important ceramic materials. ... Overall, the book will be very useful for anyone working with ceramic materials. ... Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals; technical program students."

(H. Giesche, Choice, Vol. 46 (3), November, 2008)

Building Systems for Interior Designers

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 14 May 2009 15:50:00 +0000

Corky Binggeli
Wiley | 0471417335 | 2002 | PDF | 464 pages | 8 Mb

DESCRIPTION

The first desk reference on technical building systems for interior designers
Building Systems for Interior Designers is the first book to explain technical building systems and engineering issues in a clear and accessible way to interior designers. The technical knowledge and vocabulary presented here allow interior designers to communicate more effectively with architects, engineers, and contractors while collaborating on projects, leading to more accurate solutions for problems related to a broad range of other building considerations with an impact on interior design. Information on sustainable design is integrated throughout the book, making it a relevant tool for current and emerging trends in building design.

Written in a straightforward, nontechnical style that maintains depth and accuracy, this book is the first complete text applicable to interior design courses and provides thorough preparation for the NCIDQ exam. Engaging, clear illustrations support the text, which is accessible to those without a math or physics background.

Topics covered include:

Heating and air conditioning systems
Environmental issues
Water and waste
Thermal comfort
HVAC systems
Electricity
Lighting
Security and communications systems
Fire safety
Transportation systems
With numerous case examples illustrating how interior designers apply this material in the real world, Building Systems for Interior Designers is a valuable book for students, as well as a practical desktop reference for professionals.

LIST OF CONTENT

PART I: THE BIG PICTURE.

Chapter 1 Natural Resources.
Chapter 2 Building Site Conditions.
Chapter 3 Designing for Building Functions.
Chapter 4 The Human Body and the Built Environment.
Chapter 5 Building Codes.

PART II: WATER AND WASTES.

Chapter 6 Sources of Water.
Chapter 7 Water Quality.
Chapter 8 Water Distribution.
Chapter 9 Hot Water.
Chapter 10 Waste Plumbing.
Chapter 11 Treating and Recycling Water.
Chapter 12 Recycling Solid Wastes.
Chapter 13 Plumbing Fixtures.
Chapter 14 Designing Bath and Toilet Rooms.

PART III: THERMAL COMFORT.

Chapter 15 Principles of Thermal Comfort.
Chapter 16 Thermal Capacity and Resistance.
Chapter 17 Humidity.
Chapter 18 Mechanical Engineering Design Process.
Chapter 19 Indoor Air Contaminants.
Chapter 20 Designing for Indoor Air Quality.
Chapter 21 Ventilation.
Chapter 22 Fenestration.
Chapter 23 Solar Heating.

PART IV: HEATING AND COOLING SYSTEMS.

Chapter 24 Heating Systems.
Chapter 25 Cooling.
Chapter 26 Heating,Ventilating, and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) Systems.

PART V: ELECTRICITY.

Chapter 27 How Electrical Systems Work.
Chapter 28 Electrical Service Equipment.
Chapter 29 Electrical Circuit Design.
Chapter 30 Electrical Wiring and Distribution.
Chapter 31 Receptacles and Switches.
Chapter 32 Residential Appliances.

PART VI: LIGHTING.

Chapter 33 Daylighting.
Chapter 34 Lighting Design.
Chapter 35 Lighting for Specific Spaces.

PART VII: SECURITY AND COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS.

Chapter 36 Communications and Control Systems.
Chapter 37 Securing the Building.
Chapter 38 Systems for Private Residences.
Chapter 39 Other Security and Communications Applications.
Chapter 40 Office Communications Systems.

PART VIII: FIRE SAFETY.

Chapter 41 Principles of Fire Safety.
Chapter 42 Design for Fire Safety.
Chapter 43 Escape Routes.
Chapter 44 Limiting Fuels.
Chapter 45 Fire Suppression.
Chapter 46 Fire Detection and Alarms.

PART IX: CONVEYING SYSTEMS.

Chapter 47 Elevators.
Chapter 48 Escalators.
Chapter 49 Materials Handling.

PART X: ACOUSTICS.

Chapter 50 Acoustic Principles.
Chapter 51 Acoustic Design.
Chapter 52 Sound Absorption Within a Space.
Chapter 53 Sound Transmission Between Spaces.
Chapter 54 Acoustic Applications.
Chapter 55 Electronic Sound Systems.

EDITORIAL REVIEW

Contractual Correspondence for Architects and Project Managers

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:43:00 +0000

D. Chappell
Wiley-Blackwell | 140513514X | 2006 | PDF | 296 pages | 860 Kb

DESCRIPTION

This book provides over 160 model letters, with commentary for use with all the main JCT 2005 building contracts. It concentrates on problems which can arise during a project, and draws on the author’s extensive experience as a contracts consultant. It is a companion to the author’s Standard Letters in Architectural Practice which covers more routine matters.

The revised Fourth Edition takes account of:

the 2005 editions of the JCT Standard Building Contract, the Intermediate Building Contract and the Minor Works Building Contract, both with their contractor’s design versions, ICD and MWD

the 2004 updates of the Standard Form of Agreement for the Appointment of an Architect

changes to case law since the last edition was published in 1996

It will be an invaluable guide for architects, building surveyors and project managers.

LIST OF CONTENT

Introduction;
Appraisal;
Strategic brief;
Outline proposals;
Detail proposals;
Final proposals;
Production information;
Tender documentation;
Tender action;
Mobilisation;
Construction to practical completion;
After practical completion;
Feedback.

EDITORIAL REVIEW

'This book appeals to both practitioners and non-practitioners of procurement and contractual procedures and should be essential reading for both students on the undergraduate built environment-related degrees and practitioners involved within the project life-cycle'

Building Engineer May 2006

Building Information Modeling : Planning and Managing Construction Projects with 4D CAD and Simulations

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 14 May 2009 06:44:00 +0000

W. Kymmell
McGraw-Hill | 0071494537 | 2008 | PDF | 270 pages | 16 Mb

DESCRIPTION

In-depth information on BIM techniques and tools being used by major
construction companies.
This is the first in-depth explanation of Building Information Modeling concepts,
tools and techniques as applied to both new and retrofit construction projects. By
using this combination of 3D CAD (Computer Aided Design) and 4D animations,
you can dramatically improve communication, coordination and planning of
construction projects while reducing risks and costs.

LIST OF CONTENT

Chapter 1: Introduction to BIM
Chapter 2: Simulations
Chapter 3: Tools
Chapter 4: Construction Management Education
Chapter 5: Case Studies

EDITORIAL REVIEW

Urban Regions: Ecology & Planning Beyond the City

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 12 May 2009 09:10:00 +0000

Richard T.T. Forman
Cambridge University Press | 0521670764 | 2008 | PDF | 432 pages | 14 Mb

DESCRIPTION

With land planning, socioeconomics and natural systems as foundations, this book combines urban planning and ecological science in examining urban regions. Writing for graduate students, academic researchers, planners, conservationists and policy makers, and with the use of informative urban-region color maps, Richard Forman analyzes 38 urban regions from 32 nations, including London, Chicago, Ottawa, Brasilia, Cairo, Seoul, Bangkok, Canberra, and a major case study of the Greater Barcelona region.

Alternative patterns of urbanization spread (including sprawl) are evaluated from the perspective of nature and people, stating land-use principles extracted from landscape ecology, transportation and hydrology. Good, bad and interesting spatial patterns for creating sustainable land mosaics are pinpointed, and urban regions are considered in broader contexts, from climate change to biodiversity loss, disasters and sense of place.

LIST OF CONTENT

1 Regions and land mosaics 1

2 Planning land 27

3 Economic dimensions and socio-cultural patterns 51

4 Natural systems and greenspaces 80

5 Thirty-eight urban regions 113

6 Nature, food, and water 138

7 Built systems, built areas, and whole regions 164

8 Urbanization models and the regions 198

9 Basic principles for molding land mosaics 223

10 The Barcelona Region’s land mosaic 243

11 Gathering the pieces 282

12 Big pictures 315

EDITORIAL REVIEW

'It should certainly inform practice around the world over the coming years and help to construct the intellectual arguments for much more effective big urban region planning, with much more intelligent ecological consciousness.' esrevs.co.uk

'... an important contribution to the critically important debate about the future planning management of world cities at a time when their population will increase by 2 billion over the next 20 years. ... a timely ... attempt to demonstrate the significance of a spatial and ecological context to solving the problems that lie ahead.' Biologist

Sustainable Facilities Green Design Construction & Operations

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 12 May 2009 06:35:00 +0000

Keith Moskow
McGraw-Hill Professional | 2008 |PDF | 208 pages | 47 Mb

DESCRIPTION

A vital working tool for all building professionals interested in green architecture and construction, Sustainable Facilities presents an in-depth look at 20 facilities that were designed for environmental organizations and were constructed and now operate using green building methods and materials.

Featuring contributions by leading architects in green building, this expert resource examines each building_from planning through operations-- covering new construction, energy-efficient design, operational cost savings, historic preservation, renovation and expansion, land conservation, and LEED ratings.

Packed with 200 black & white and full-color illustrations, Sustainable Facilities takes readers through the Woods Hole Research Center… Chesapeake Bay Foundation Environmental Center…Conservation Law Foundation Headquarters… Marion Art and Environmental Center… …Thoreau Center for Sustainability… California EPA Headquarters Building…Forestech Centre…Institute for Forestry and Nature Research…and many other facilities. This skills-building reference features:

Discussions of 20 facilities_from planning to operations
Contributions by leading architects in green building
Answers to FAQs about sustainable methods and materials
Guidance on the advantages and obstacles involved with green projects
Methods for weighing up-front costs against operating costs for facilities
Essential for architects, engineers, and contractors, Sustainable Facilities presents state-of-the-art guidance on all the materials, methods, and costs needed for success in green design and building.

A groundbreaking resource in the literature of green architecture and construction, Sustainable Facilities offers building professionals everywhere a compelling, in-depth look at 20 facilities that were designed for environmental organizations and were constructed and now operate using green building methods and materials.

Written by award-winning architect Keith Moskow, together with a team of leading architects in green building, the book focuses on the unique challenges of each building—from planning through operations-- covering new construction, energy-efficient design, operational cost savings, historic preservation, renovation and expansion, land conservation, and LEED ratings.

Sustainable Facilities also explores the advantages and obstacles building teams face on green projects, and explains how to weigh up-front costs against operating costs for facilities.

In addition, this cutting-edge reference provides answers to many frequently asked questions about sustainable methods and materials such as:

How did the design process differ from that of a conventional building?
Has the building performed up to expectations?
Were the initial building costs higher than conventional costs?
What effect has the building had on its users?
Has the building changed people's perceptions of sustainability?
Filled with 200 outstanding black & white and full-color illustrations, Sustainable Facilities examines a wide range of noted green buildings in the U.S., Europe, and Australia, including:

Woods Hole Research Center (Falmouth, MA)
Conservation Law Foundation Headquarters (Boston, MA)
Appalachian Mountain Club's Highland Lodge (Crawford Notch, NH)
Doyle Conservation Center, (Leominster, MA)
Bay Education Center (Providence, RI)
Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Philip Merrill Environmental Center (Annapolis, MD)
PEEC Visitor Activity Center (Dingmans Ferry, PA)
Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center (Gwinnett County, GA)
World Birding Center (Rio Grande, TX)
Kresge Foundation Building (Troy, MI)
National Outdoor Leadership School Headquarters (Lander, WY)
National Park Service, Carl T. Curtis Midwest Regional Headquarters (Omaha, NE)
California Environmental Protection Agency Headquarters (Sacramento, CA)
Thoreau Center for Sustainability (San Francisco, CA)
IslandWood (Bainbridge Island, WA)
Marion Art and Environmental Center (Marion, IA)
The Robert Redford Building (Santa Monica, CA)
Federal Environmental Agency Headquarters (Dessau, Germany)
The Forestech Centre (East Gippsland, Australia)
Institute for Forestry and Nature Research (Wageningen, Netherlands)
Authoritative and up-to-date, Sustainable Facilities now equips architects, engineers, and contractors with a state-of-the-art guide to green design, construction, and operations. The reference contains information on materials, methods, and costs that will enable them to take an integrated team approach to green design and building for facilities of all kinds.

About the Author
Keith Moskow is principal of Moskow Linn Architects, a firm specializing in sustainable and environmentally sensitive architecture. He has won awards from the American Institute of Architects, The Boston Society of Architects, The Municipal Arts Society of New York, The Centre for Critical Architecture, San Francisco, and AIA Chicago. Mr. Moskow is also the author of Houses of Martha's Vineyard.

LIST OF CONTENT

1 Appalachian Mountain Club, Highland Lodge and Education Center,
Crawford Notch, New Hampshire 2
2 The Doyle Conservation Center, Leominster, Massachusetts 12
3 Conservation Law Foundation Corporate Headquarters, Boston, Massachusetts 22
4 Woods Hole Research Center, Gilman Ordway Campus, Falmouth, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 32
5 Bay Education Center, Providence, Rhode Island 42
6 Pocono Environmental Education/Visitor Activity Center, Dingmans Ferry, Pennsylvania 52
7 Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Philip Merrill Environmental Center, Annapolis, Maryland 62
8 Kresge Foundation Headquarters, Troy, Michigan 72
9 Gwinnett Environmental & Heritage Center, Buford, Georgia 82
10 Marion Arts and Environmental Center at Lowe Park, Marion, Iowa 92
11 Carl T. Curtis, Midwest Regional Headquarters Building, National Park Service, Omaha, Nebraska 102
12 World Birding Center, Mission, Texas 112
13 National Outdoor Leadership School Headquarters, Lander, Wyoming 122
14 IslandWood, Bainbridge Island, Washington 132
15 The Joe Serna, Jr.—California Environmental Protection Agency (CALEPA) Headquarters Building, Sacramento, California 142
16 The Thoreau Center for Sustainability, San Francisco, California 152
17 The Robert Redford Building for the Natural Resources Defense Council, Santa Monica, California 162
18 Forestech, Baimsdale, Australia 172
19 Federal Environmental Agency, Dessau, Germany 182
20 Institute for Forestry and Nature Research (IBN), Wageningen, The Netherlands 192

EDITORIAL REVIEW

Building Acoustics

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 12 May 2009 04:34:00 +0000

T.E. Vigran
Taylor & Francis | 041542853X | 2008 | PDF | 364 pages | 5 Mb

DESCRIPTION

Covering all aspects of sound and vibration in buildings, this book explores room acoustics, sound insulation, and noise and vibration problems connected to service equipment and external sources.

From the Back Cover

Covering all aspects of sound and vibration in buildings, this book explores room acoustics, sound insulation, and noise and vibration problems connected to service equipment and external sources. Measuring techniques connected to these fields are also brought in. It is designed for advanced level engineering studies and is also valuable as a guide for practitioners and acoustic consultants who need to fulfil the demands of building regulations.

The main focus of the book is on the design of elements and structures to provide high sound insulation and high absorbing power, emphasising the acoustical performance of buildings. Examples are predominantly taken from industrial buildings and understanding of the physical principles involved is therefore essential. Chapters include; vibration phenomena, sound waves in fluids and solid media.

LIST OF CONTENT

CHAPTER 1
Oscillating systems. Description and analysis

CHAPTER 2
Excitation and response of dynamic systems

CHAPTER 3
Waves in fluid and solid media

CHAPTER 4
Room acoustics

CHAPTER 5
Sound absorbers

CHAPTER 6
Sound transmission. Characterization and properties of single walls and floors

CHAPTER 7
Statistical energy analysis (SEA)

CHAPTER 8
Sound transmission through multilayer elements

CHAPTER 9
Sound transmission in buildings. Flanking sound transmission

EDITORIAL REVIEW

Careers in Architecture 2nd ed

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 11 May 2009 16:21:00 +0000

B. Camenson
McGraw-Hill | 0071545565 | 2008 | PDF | 192 pages | 1 Mb

DESCRIPTION

Ideal for college students or anyone ready to go back to school, this series explores specific areas of interest and helps job seekers determine which job in that field suits them.

Breaks down specific educational requirements and additional training
Surveys the salaries and job opportunities to help seekers find the perfect match

From the Back Cover
Architecture is one of the oldest career choices known to us and is a field in which your work can last more than a lifetime. The buildings and structures that surround us in our everyday lives tell the tales of our culture and values for generations to come. Perhaps you want to leave your own mark on our ever-changing landscape!
In Careers in Architecture, you will find out about the variety of jobs within the architecture field--residential, commercial, and institutional architecture; historic preservation; landscape architecture; engineering; urban and regional planning; and more.

Up-to-date salary statistics and descriptions of the work culture will give you a comprehensive look at what to expect on the job. Careers in Architecture also includes advice on where and how to fulfill educational requirements as well as professional organizations for further information--everything you need to enter the exciting field of architecture! --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

McGraw-Hill authors represent the leading experts in their fields and are dedicated to improving the lives, careers, and interests of readers worldwide.

LIST OF CONTENT

P A R T O N E
CAREERS IN ARCHITECTURE

C H A P T E R 1
The Field of Architecture 3
A history of architectural education • The duties of the architect
Working conditions for architects • Employment opportunities
Job outlook for architects • Types of architectural offi ces
Getting that fi rst job • Starting your own fi rm • Sample intern
job openings • Earnings for architects • Related fi elds • Firsthand
accounts

C H A P T E R 2
Preparing for a Career in Architecture 17
Types of degrees • Paths to the professional degree • Course
of study • Specialization • The portfolio • Selecting a school
Financing your education • Sample programs • Student statistics
Skills an architect must have • Training periods • Architect
Registration Examination (ARE) • Preparing early • Intern
Development Program (IDP) • Intern Development Program
(IDP) core competencies

C H A P T E R 3
Residential, Commercial,
and Institutional Architecture 37
Specializing • Sample job listings • Firsthand accounts

C H A P T E R 4
Historic Preservation 51
Preservation categories • Related fi elds • Architectural
conservators • Architectural historians • Historic interior
designers • Associations involved with historic preservation
Firsthand accounts

C H A P T E R 5
Teaching Architecture 63
Job outlook for architecture faculty • Who teaches architecture
Faculty responsibilities • Salaries for architecture faculty
Training for university faculty • Finding that job • Sample job
listings • Firsthand account

P A R T T W O
RELATED FIELDS

C H A P T E R 6
Landscape Architecture 75
Working conditions • Employment fi gures • Job outlook
Training for landscape architects • Skills needed for landscape
architecture • Intern landscape architects • Self-employment
Related fi elds • Job hunting • Sample job listings • Salaries for
landscape architects • Firsthand accounts

C H A P T E R 7
Engineering 95
Engineering specializations • Possible employers • Training for
engineers • Licensure • Getting started and advancing • Sample
program • Salaries for engineers • Job outlook • Continuing
education for engineers • Sample job listings • Firsthand account

C H A P T E R 8
Urban and Regional Planning 109
Duties • Working conditions for planners • Employment fi gures
Job outlook • Training for planners • Salaries • Sample job listings
Firsthand account

C H A P T E R 9
Construction and Cost Estimation 119
Duties of construction managers • Training for construction
managers • Certifi cation for construction managers • Salaries
for construction managers and contractors • Job outlook for
construction managers • Duties of cost estimators • Training for
cost estimators • Certifi cation for cost estimators • Salaries for
cost estimators • Job outlook for cost estimators • Sample job
listing • Firsthand accounts

C H A P T E R 1 0
More Firsthand Accounts from the Field 137

A P P E N D I X A
Professional Associations 151

A P P E N D I X B
Further Reading 173

A P P E N D I X C
Accredited Training Programs for Architecture in the
United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada 177

A P P E N D I X D
Accredited Programs in Landscape Architecture 199

EDITORIAL REVIEW

A Practical Introduction to Computer Architecture

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 11 May 2009 06:41:00 +0000

Daniel Page
Springer | 1848822553 | 2009 | PDF | 642 pages | 10 Mb

DESCRIPTION

Provides a practically driven approach to teaching computer architecture, while still offering breadth and continuity to the reader
Inclusion of mathematical preliminaries, enforces the linkage between the theory and practice
Uses Verilog as a means to bridge the gap between a high-level, systems architecture approach and a low-level, digital logic approach, offering a level of integration between the topics

Computer architecture, which underpins computer science, is a topic in which "getting things done" is paramount: The ability to understand trade-offs before selecting between and implementing well-considered design options is often as important as the study of those options at a more theoretical level.

This easy-to-follow A Practical Introduction to Computer Architecture blends traditional teaching approaches with the use of mathematics, together with the use of a hardware description language (Verilog) and a concrete processor (MIPS32) as vehicles for "hands-on" modelling and experimenting with digital logic and processor design. This unique approach encourages readers to derive their own conclusions via experimentation, enabling them to discover for themselves the fundamental and exciting topics of computer architecture.

The book is divided into three parts, covering each of the three levels of abstraction: the digital logic layer, the instruction set and micro-architecture layer, and the hardware/software interface. The first part deals with the basic tools and techniques which underpin the rest of the book, whereas the second part deals with the broad topic of processor design and implementation. The final part bridges the gap between hardware and software by examining the programming tools and operating-system concepts that support the development and execution of programs.

Topics and features:
• Includes a wide-ranging introductory chapter, familiarising the reader with both the subject and the book’s contents
• Outlines basic methods for evaluating processors, with a focus on performance
• Investigates advanced topics in processor design, such as superscalar and vector processors
• Presents a detailed description of a development tool-chain
• Provides a stand-alone tutorial on using SPIM, a MIPS32 simulator
• Focuses on aspects of compilers which are closely tied to the processor, covering register allocation, instruction selection and scheduling
• Explores real implementations of concepts such as scheduling and interrupt handling
• Examines the concept of efficient programming
• Concludes every chapter with a set of example problems, and contains an appendix that discusses solutions
• Supplies additional supportive material, such as example source code and electronic lecture slides, at http://www.cs.bris.ac.uk/home/page/teaching/pica.html

This practical, reader-friendly textbook has been written with undergraduates in mind, and is suitable for self-study. The book can also be used by postgraduate students as a supportive reference for use in combination with more specialised textbooks.

Dr. Dan Page is a lecturer at the University of Bristol, affiliated with both the Languages and Architecture Group and the Cryptography and Information Security Group. He was one of the founders of Identum (now part of Trend Micro), which is involved in delivering cryptographic expertise and products to industrial customers.

Written for:
Undergraduates

LIST OF CONTENT

Part I Tools and Techniques

1 Mathematical Preliminaries
2 Basics of Digital Logic
3.1 Introduction

Part II Processor Design

4 A Historical and Functional Perspective
5 Basic Processor Design
6 Measuring Performance
7 Arithmetic and Logic
8 Memory and Storage
9 Advanced Processor Design

Part III The Hardware/Software Interface

10 Linkers and Assemblers
11.1 Introduction
12 Operating Systems
13.1 Introduction

Part IV Appendices

SPIM: A MIPS32 Simulator
A.1 Introduction
A.2 Configuring SPIM
A.3 Controlling SPIM
A.4 Example Program Execution
A.5 Using System Calls

EDITORIAL REVIEW

Philosophy and Design: From Engineering to Architecture

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 08 May 2009 16:29:00 +0000

P.E. Vermaas, P.A. Kroes, A. Light, S. Moore
Springer | 9048127335 | 2009 | PDF | 362 pages | 2 Mb

DESCRIPTION

This volume provides the reader with an integrated overview of state-of-the-art research in philosophy and ethics of design in engineering and architecture. It contains twenty-five essays that focus on engineering designing in its traditional sense, on designing in novel engineering domains, including ICT, genetics, and nanotechnology, designing of socio-technical systems, and on architectural and environmental designing. These essays are preceded by an introductory text structuring the field of philosophy and ethics of design in engineering and architecture as one in which a series of similar philosophical, societal and ethical questions are asked.

This volume enables the reader to overcome the traditional separation between engineering designing and architectural designing. The emerging discipline of designing socio-technical systems is shown to form an intermediate between engineering and architecture to which the philosophical and ethical analyses of both domains apply. This volume thus announces a challenging cross-fertilization between the philosophy and ethics of engineering and of architecture that will lay down the integrated ground works for the renewed interests in the importance of design in modern society.

LIST OF CONTENT

Part I Engineering Design

Design, Use, and the Physical and Intentional Aspects of Technical Artifacts 21
Maarten Franssen
Designing is the Construction of Use Plans 37
Wybo Houkes
The Designer Fallacy and Technological Imagination 51
Don Ihde
Technological Design as an Evolutionary Process 61
Philip Brey
Deciding on Ethical Issues in Engineering Design 77
Anke Van Gorp and Ibo Van de Poel
Morality in Design: Design Ethics and the Morality of Technological Artifacts 91
Peter-Paul Verbeek
Thinking about Design: Critical Theory of Technology and the Design Process 105
Patrick Feng and Andrew Feenberg
Design Culture and Acceptable Risk 119
Kiyotaka Naoe
Alienability, Rivalry, and Exclusion Cost: Three Institutional Factors for Design 131
Paul B. Thompson

Part II Emerging Engineering Design

Friends by Design: A Design Philosophy for Personal Robotics Technology 143
John P. Sullins
Beyond Engineering: Software Design as Bridge over the Culture/Technology Dichotomy 159
Bernhard Rieder and Mirko Tobias Schäfer
Technology Naturalized: A Challenge to Design for the Human Scale 173
Alfred Nordmann
Re-Designing Humankind: The Rise of Cyborgs, a Desirable Goal? 185
Daniela Cerqui and Kevin Warwick
Designing People: A Post-Human Future? 197
Inmaculada de Melo-Martín
Redesigning Man? 209
C. T. A. Schmidt
Design: Structure, Process, and Function: A Systems Methodology Perspective 217
Kristo Miettinen
Co-Designing Social Systems by Designing Technical Artifacts: A Conceptual Approach 233
Ulrich Krohs
Beyond Inevitability: Emphasizing the Role of Intention and Ethical Responsibility in Engineering Design 247
Kathryn A. Neeley and Heinz C. Luegenbiehl
Design and Responsibility: The Interdependence of Natural, Artifactual, and Human Systems 259
S. D. Noam Cook

Part III Architectural Design

Form and Process in the Transformation of the Architect’s Role in Society 273
Howard Davis
Expert Culture, Representation, and Public Choice: Architectural Renderings as the Editing of Reality 287
Steven A. Moore and Rebecca Webber
Diverse Designing: Sorting Out Function and Intention in Artifacts 301
Ted Cavanagh
Design Criteria in Architecture 317
Joseph C. Pitt
Cities, Aesthetics, and Human Community: Some Thoughts on the Limits of Design 329
J. Craig Hanks
Nature, Aesthetic Values, and Urban Design: Building the Natural City 341
Glenn Parsons

EDITORIAL REVIEW

Philosophy and Design: From Engineering to Architecture is a significant contribution to the expanding field of design studies. It brings questions of design into philosophy and thereby brings diverse philosophical perspectives to bear on conceptual, methodological, epistemological, metaphysical, and ethical issues of design. It is also the first collection of philosophical papers to bridge the divide between critical reflections on design in engineering and in architecture. After the publication of this well edited collection, it will be difficult for philosophy to ignore design as a theme as worthy of attention as such phenomena as scientific theory, aesthetic creativity, or political law. Indeed, as a phenomenon design may well span theory, creativity, and law in ways that can contribute to a deeper understanding of each and to their mutual relations. In addition, this collection is to be commended for the interdisciplinary character of many of its contributions and the multinational perspectives provided by its diverse contributors from Europe, North America, and Japan.

- Carl Mitcham is Professor of Liberal Arts and International Studies at the Colorado School of Mines. He also serves on the adjunct faculty of the European Graduate School and the Center for Science and Technology Policy Research at the University of Colorado, Boulder. His “Thinking through Technology: The Path between Engineering and Philosophy” (1994) is a widely respected contribution; more recently he served as editor-in-chief of the 4-volume “Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Ethics” (2005).

Richard Meier Architect, Vol. 3

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 08 May 2009 16:08:00 +0000

R. Meier, K. Frampton, J. Rykwert
Rizzoli | 0847819965 | 1999 | PDF | 444 pages | 57 Mb

DESCRIPTION

The third volume in Rizzoli's bestselling monograph series on the eminent modernist presents 24 of his post -1985 masterworks, including the internationally acclaimed Getty Center arts and humanities complex in Los Angeles. Other projects documented in this significant survey include the Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona and the Church of the Year 2000, to be built in Rome.

About the Author

Richard Meier received his architectural training at Cornell University and established his office in New York City in 1963. Since that time, his international practice has included museums, courthouses, city halls, corporate headquarters, educational facilities, and public housing in addition to private houses. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the Pritzker Prize for Architecture and the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects.

Kenneth Frampton is Ware Professor of Architecture at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.

Joseph Rykwert is Paul Philippe Cret Professor of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania

LIST OF CONTENT

Smith House
Bronx Development Center
Douglas House
Olivetti Branch Office Prototype
The Atheneum
The Hartford Seminary
Frankfurt Museum of Art
Siemens Corporate Headquarters
The Getty Center
Westchester House
Ackerberg House
Grotta House
The Hague City Hall and Central Library
Ulm Exhibition and Assembly Building
Weishaupt Forum
Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art
Royal Dutch Paper Mills Headquarters
Madison Square Garden Site Redevelopment
Canal+ Headquarters
Rachofsky House
Islip Courthouse
Neugebauer House
Phoenix Courthouse
Church of the Year 2000
The Richard Meier Archive

EDITORIAL REVIEW

Amazon.com Review

While architectural styles keep changing, Richard Meier is a rock of constancy, holding fast to the forms and principles of classic 20th-century modernism. His pristine white buildings, precise and articulated, proclaim that rationality and clarity still have the power to impress us in an age of unfettered stylistic experimentation. Others may seize the role of Dionysus, but he is content to be Apollo.
This is the third installment of a series of monographs on Meier's architecture; the first volume was published in 1985. It records 23 works designed or completed between 1992 and 1999. The best known of these is the legendary Getty Center in Los Angeles, but that billion-dollar Wagnerian extravaganza has not distracted Meier from turning out many other impressive structures of large and small scale, including the Hague City Hall and Central Library, the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Rachovsky House in Dallas. Two-thirds of the projects are in Europe or Asia, suggesting that America may not be taking full advantage of this native son's abilities.

This large-format, square book is handsomely assembled, with 444 pages and more than 650 well-reproduced color and black-and-white photos and finely honed line drawings. Essays by architectural historians Kenneth Frampton and Joseph Rykwert and a postscript by architect Arata Isozaki--all major figures in their fields--provide valuable analysis that completes this impressive volume. --John Pastier