Whether it be Calatrava's elegant bridges in Seville or Barcelona, Peter Zumthor's beautiful thermal baths in Vals, Switzerland, Dominique Perrault's Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, or Tadao Ando's museum building on the island Naoshima, these are just a few structures which have been celebrated around the world, making their architects household names. In the 20th century, we have seen striking buildings scatter our town-scapes, awe-inspiring skyscrapers shape our skylines, and beautiful bridges span our rivers. Growing numbers of people are becoming aware of the architectural environment around them and are taking an interest in the issues which are at the heart of our built surroundings. The Birkhauser Architectural Guides provide a handy overview to the greatest - and latest - buildings in the 20th century. Each volume is devoted to one country or group of countries, and the contents are organised by provinces and towns. Full addresses and information on the architect, the building itself, in addition to a general overview of the architectural scene in the given country are presented. Available are guides to Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Benelux, France, Japan, and Spain at the special low price of $18.

In the 20th century, France has proved astonishingly fertile ground for modern architecture. The architectural ideas of Modernism and the avant garde are firmly rooted here and dominate the French architectural landscape unlike in any other country. Her architects are acclaimed throughout the world. Paris, a center for international architecture, rightly forms the focus of this guidebook with more than 100 notable buildings. However, this guidebook also does justice to the entire country with more than 450 buildings from all regions. The buildings are documented with photographs, drawings and texts, providing a comprehensive and portable guide.

The building shell is the interface with the outside world, it offers protection and at the same time represents its owners or occupants. But what are the criteria for choosing a specific shell? Why is a particular material used on a particular undercoat? The fifth volume of the SCALE series, Enclose | Build, is not about the curtain, the dressing of the facade that surrounds a building, but rather on a causal level about the exterior termination of a building, the wall, the facade, which can be made of various materials, surfaces, and achieves different design effects. It shows the conditions under which certain constructions can be employed and why; what criteria such as construction costs, issues of sustainability, of energy efficiency, of assembly or of insulation or protection against moisture can also influence the choice of a system. In addition to classical constructions, Enclose | Build offers a look at future developments. How will the facade evolve as an interface for information? What do viable concepts for environmentally active, energy-efficient building shells look like? Enclose | Build is an indispensable tool for every architect and planner.

This book, like all volumes in the Birkhauser Architectural Guide series, beginning with Germany by Nerdinger/Tafel, successfully represents all important developments of the 20th century. This includes work by the masters Kenzo Tange, Arata Isozaki and Tadao Ando, the projects of younger architects such as Itsuko Hasegawa, Hiroshi Naito and Kazuo Shinohara as well the buildings designed by foreign architects such as Aldo Rossi, Cesae Pelli, Rem Koolhaas and Norman Foster. Nearly 400 buildings are introduced in separate entries. The addresses locating each building and the weatherproof jacket make the book an indispensible companion for all travelers to Japan. It is also a valuable, and inexpensive reference guide by virtue of extensive indices and bibliographical information.

A manual that conveys the fundamentals of architectonic design while also providing a novel didactic approach to the presentation of course material: individual design steps are illustrated by student projects.

Facades - they are the first feature of a building to be noticed, they determine its distinctive appearance and are often the subject of controversial debate. This new first edition of the Facade Construction Manual provides a systematic survey of contemporary expertise in the application of new materials and energy- efficient technologies in facade design, and represents an invaluable addition to our series of Construction Manuals. It surveys the facade design requirements made by various types of buildings, as well as the most important materials, from natural stone through to synthetics, and documents a diversity of construction forms for a wide range of building types. Over 100 international case-studies in large-scale, detailed drawings are presented in the comprehensive project section.

Michael Sorkin's iconic list is now in a handsome printed package, a perfect gift for any architect, student of architecture, or design-savvy urbanist. By turns poetic and humorous, practical and wise, this book is a joyful celebration of the craft of architecture. A posthumous book by critic, architect, urban theorist, and educator, Michael Sorkin (1948-2020), 250 Things An Architct Should Know is filled with details that architects love to obsess over, from the expected (golden ratio and the seismic code) to the unexpected (the heights of folly and the prismatic charms of Greek islands.)

This is a systematic introduction to technical and constructional open space planning, with all the relevant topics covered, from the most common materials and surfaces to the construction of open space elements and the use of plants. The text is supported by over 1200 photographs, illustrations and plans.