The Iconic American House: Architectural Masterworks Since 1990

The Iconic American House: Architectural Masterworks Since 1990
Dominic Bradbury, Richard Powers
$65.00

Some of the world’s greatest architects, including Walter Gropius, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, have used their talents to create groundbreaking innovations in American residential architecture over the past 120 years. Though wide-ranging in style, these houses share a remarkable sensitivity to site and context; appreciation of local materials; experimentation with form, materials, and technology; and understanding of clients’ needs. Spanning the length and breadth of the United States, The Iconic American House features fifty of the most important, timeless, and recognizable houses designed since 1900.

With concise, informative text and fresh, vibrant illustrations, this book presents a lavish array of architectural masterpieces designed by architects such as Philip Johnson, Richard Neutra, Peter Eisenman, and Thomas Gluck. Specially commissioned and stunning photographs, floor plans, drawings, and architect biographies ensure that this book is perfect for students, professionals, design aficionados, and anyone who dreams of building a house of their own.

The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design

The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design
Roman Mars and Kurt Kohlstedt
$30.00

Have you ever wondered what those bright, squiggly graffiti marks on the sidewalk mean? Or stopped to consider why you don’t see metal fire escapes on new buildings? Or pondered the story behind those dancing inflatable figures in car dealerships?

99% Invisible is a big-ideas podcast about small-seeming things, revealing stories baked into the buildings we inhabit, the streets we drive, and the sidewalks we traverse. The show celebrates design and architecture in all of its functional glory and accidental absurdity, with intriguing tales of both designers and the people impacted by their designs. Host Roman Mars and coauthor Kurt Kohlstedt zoom in on the various elements that make our cities work, exploring the origins and other fascinating stories behind everything from power grids and fire escapes to drinking fountains and street signs. With deeply researched entries and beautiful line drawings throughout, The 99% Invisible City will captivate devoted fans of the show and anyone curious about design, urban environments, and the unsung marvels of the world around them.

Stanford White in Detail

Stanford White in Detail
Samuel G. White
$40.00

Once proposed as the “Commissioner of Beauty” for New York City, Stanford White was a master of architecture, interior design, and ornament, fearlessly juxtaposing materials and objects from myriad cultures and times. Drawing on precedents from antiquity and the Renaissance, from Asia, the Middle East, and Europe as well as Colonial America, White created complex surfaces inside and out. Stanford White in Detail examines this innovative and intricate web through lush, tightly framed vignettes of carved wood and marble, metalwork, mosaic, and tile as well as generous overall room views to demonstrate how these are woven together for a unique effect.

Classic Greenwich Houses

Classic Greenwich Houses
Charles Hilton
$55.00

This book presents nine spectacular houses, each responding to an equally spectacular site. They are the work of Charles Hilton, a leading traditional architect in Greenwich, Connecticut, whose firm has been honored with multiple regional and national awards including Palladio and Stanford White awards.

As an architect, Hilton is committed to designing imaginative buildings that inspire and delight and to creating a humanistic architecture that embodies the aspirations of his clients. He works in traditional vocabularies–principally Georgian, Beaux-Arts and shingle style–with exquisite classical detailing, but his houses are also completely contemporary in incorporating state-of-the-art technology and sustainable design. As he observes, “Our clients rely on our creativity and ingenuity to create houses that honor tradition, while seamlessly integrating modern amenities essential for contemporary living.”

Hilton has practiced in Greenwich for more than thirty years, and he is completely fluent with its rich and diverse architectural heritage. This means that his houses, while meticulously detailed and impressive, are also beautifully integrated into the panoramic waterfronts, rolling lawns and rustic back-country landscapes that are characteristic of Greenwich and the surrounding countryside.

Marvelous Machines: A Magic Lens Book

Marvelous Machines: A Magic Lens Book
Jane Wilsher, Illustrated by Andres Lozano
$19.99

In this eye-catching book, readers can explore the hidden inner workings of machines and inventions, from everyday objects such as toasters and bicycles, to cutting edge technologies such as pill-sized medical robots and super-fast maglev trains. Readers use the see-through “magic lens” to reveal how things work and the elements hidden within machines—everything from wires and pipes to the magnetic and gravitational forces machines rely on to function.

Accompanying text explains how these machines function, how they affect our daily lives, and the physical and chemical phenomena that enable them to work.

Modern Architecture: A Critical History (World of Art)

Modern Architecture: A Critical History (World of Art)
Kenneth Frampton
$29.95

Kenneth Frampton’s highly acclaimed survey of modern architecture and its origins has been a classic since it first appeared in 1980. Starting with the cultural developments since 1750 that drove the modern movement, moving through the creation of modern architecture, and exploring the effects of globalization and the phenomenon of international celebrity architects, this book is the definitive history of modern architecture.

For this extensively revised and updated fifth edition of Modern Architecture, Frampton added new chapters exploring the ongoing modernist tradition in architecture while also examining the varied responses to the urgent need to build more sustainably and create structures that will withstand changing climates. This new edition features completely redesigned interiors and an updated and expanded bibliography, making this volume more indispensable than ever.