Like many UK cities Birmingham was heavily bombed during the Second World War and as with so many bombed British cities, and many un-bombed ones that jumped on to the re-planning bandwagon, there was a clear imperative to reconstruct. But Birmingham was atypical in how it went about this. The city had begun planning in the mid-1930s, principally to replace vast quantities of slum housing – and there had been suggestions about ring roads even from the time of the First World War. So plans were available virtually ready to go, and were approved by a private Act of Parliament in 1946. Yet within Birmingham there were individuals and organisations with a great interest and influence in planning matters. This followed a significant and long-standing local tradition from the Chamberlain family to Nettlefold’s pioneering work on planning and housing at the start of the twentieth century. Prominent amongst these was the Cadbury family and the Bournville Village Trust, and one of its immediate responses to bomb damage was the book, When We Build Again. This was immediately influential in several respects, as contemporary reviews and ongoing citations demonstrate. It highlighted some less-palatable truths about conditions in the city and more widely, with ideas about what might be done. To modern eyes some of these are radical – for example the wholesale redevelopment of the Jewellery Quarter – an area which was recently proposed for World Heritage status. The origins of the derided post-war comprehensive clearance approach lie in these papers. Further, it used innovative and striking graphics to communicate statistical information to lay readers, including the use of striking photography of places and, particularly, people. Also included in this volume is a facsimile of a second Bournville Trust publication from 1955, Birmingham - Fifty Years On. This less famous but equally important publication grew from a frustration at the slow pace of post-war reconstruction, and envisaged what the city would look like half a century later.

In an era of brash, expensive, provocative new buildings, a prominent critic argues that emotions—such as hope, power, sex, and our changing relationship to the idea of home—are the most powerful force behind architecture, yesterday and (especially) today. We are living in the most dramatic period in architectural history in more than half a century: a time when cityscapes are being redrawn on a yearly basis, architects are testing the very idea of what a building is, and whole cities are being invented overnight in exotic locales or here in the United States. Now, in a bold and wide-ranging new work, Rowan Moore—former director of the Architecture Foundation, now the architecture critic for The Observer—explores the reasons behind these changes in our built environment, and how they in turn are changing the way we live in the world. Taking as his starting point dramatic examples such as the High Line in New York City and the outrageous island experiment of Dubai, Moore then reaches far and wide: back in time to explore the Covent Garden brothels of eighteenth-century London and the fetishistic minimalism of Adolf Loos; across the world to assess a software magnate’s grandiose mansion in Atlanta and Daniel Libeskind’s failed design for the World Trade Center site; and finally to the deeply naturalistic work of Lina Bo Bardi, whom he celebrates as the most underrated architect of the modern era.

We Build The City features a selection of the exemplary infrastructure, public realm and civic building projects developed during New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's administration under Commissioner David Burney's groundbreaking Department of Design + Construction Excellence (D+CE) program. This publication celebrates the DDC's commitment to the idea that design matters and that great design reinvigorates public spaces and, ultimately, transforms people's lives. The DDC has been lauded for its fresh approach to facilitating innovative and collaborative architecture and urban planning solutions and improving public buildings, spaces and communities with a focus on design that reflects important key values: education and culture, health and safety, and diversity and opportunity. The D+CE program has offered dynamic design and construction strategies that have inspired some of the best architects and engineers in the world--and given the city's small firms--the opportunity to work with the DDC to reimagine and reshape the built environment. From the Queen's Botanical Garden, Mariner's Harbor Library, Brooklyn Children's Museum and the Bronx Museum of the Arts to Madison Avenue, Houston Street, Columbus Circle, the Central Park Precinct and PSAC II, the DDC and its pioneering D+CE initiative has helped to transform all five boroughs of the great City of New York. Highlighting the work of numerous talented design and construction firms, We Build The City showcases a collection of some the most notable public projects developed and built under the acclaimed D+CE program. Each featured project--whether large- or small-scale, visible or underground--has contributed to the improvement of the city, building upon principles of creativity, sustainability, performance, efficiency and longevity. The publication includes detailed drawings and striking imagery that reveal the complex processes that have shaped one of the most active and successful design periods in NYC's history.

An instant New York Times bestseller! From Oliver Jeffers, world-renowned picture book creator and illustrator of The Crayons' Christmas, comes a gorgeously told father-daughter story and companion to the #1 New York Times bestseller Here We Are! What shall we build, you and I? Let's gather all our tools for a start. For putting together . . . and taking apart. A father and daughter set about laying the foundations for their life together. Using their own special tools, they get to work, building memories to cherish, a home to keep them safe, and love to keep them warm. A rare and enduring story about a parent's boundless love, life's endless opportunities, and all we need to build a together future. The perfect baby shower gift or gift for new parents! Praise for What We'll Build: "[Has] the offbeat, sweet style Jeffers' fans know and love." --Kirkus Reviews "An intensely personal statement of intergenerational fellowship and an obvious pick for library shelves best explored at home." --School Library Journal "Children will love his playbook for building a future of love and imagination, and they will delight in the special relationship the father and daughter share." --Booklist "Stroked in generous swaths of warm color and Jeffers's signature childlike scribbles . . . .. Jeffers's benediction portrays a parent who surrounds his child with love and steadies her as she learns how to bring her dreams to fruition." --Publishers Weekly

We Build Our Homes is a beautifully illustrated picture book exploring the incredible structures built by animals and the reasons why they build them. Each spread looks at a different animal, told as though from their viewpoint.