With their understated beauty and holistic design, Mediterranean homes are a perennial source of inspiration. The Mediterranean Home has an ongoing influence on residential architecture and interior design: from classical to rural styles to more grounded spaces that interweave form and function. Blending the inside and the outside, bringing together traditional features with contemporary elements, Mediterranean houses connect with their environments and the local culture. The Mediterranean Home looks at architecture, at interior design, decoration and furniture, at how vegetation and rock provide both shade and colorful warmth. It showcases old buildings converted into modern homes in various regions and coastal hinterlands and celebrates the unique Mediterranean aesthetic that continues to inspire a sense of home and comfort around the globe. Read more

"Radical and inspiring ... Yanagi's vision puts the connection between heart and hand before the transient and commercial" - Edmund de WaalThe daily lives of ordinary people are replete with objects, common things used in commonplace settings. These objects are our constant companions in life. As such, writes Soetsu Yanagi, they should be made with care and built to last, treated with respect and even affection. They should be natural and simple, sturdy and safe - the aesthetic result of wholeheartedly fulfilling utilitarian needs. They should, in short, be things of beauty.In an age of feeble and ugly machine-made things, these essays call for us to deepen and transform our relationship with the objects that surround us. Inspired by the work of the simple, humble craftsmen Yanagi encountered during his lifelong travels through Japan and Korea, they are an earnest defence of modest, honest, handcrafted things - from traditional teacups to jars to cloth and paper. Objects like these exemplify the enduring appeal of simplicity and function: the beauty of everyday things. Read more

This first ever complete guide to Scottish bothies reveals the country's unique and often hidden network of bothy cabins and mountain huts. Scattered across Scotland's most beautiful landscapes, these evocative abandoned crofts and farmsteads are free to stay in and offer a chance to experience the ultimate in wild adventure living. Read more

Francesco Borromini is one of the great geniuses of Baroque architecture, perhaps the greatest in inventiveness and in use of spatial effects. Here is the first book in English to survey the whole work of the master. The author, former Director of the Courtauld Institute of Art, is known internationally for his many works on French and Italian architecture and painting.In this lucid and fully illustrated account, Anthony Blunt charts Borromini’s career and analyzes and assesses his art. Mr. Blunt tells of Borromini’s training, relating his style to that of Bernini, under whom he worked, and to the architecture from which he learned, for example Michelangelo’s. Borromini’s patrons allowed him freedom to evolve his own ideas, and his originality and imagination in inventing new architectural forms become apparent as the author studies individual commissions. His imagination was apparently limitless, but his inventions evolved in terms of rigidly controlled geometry. It is this combination of revolutionary inventiveness and intellectual control that gives Borromini’s work particular appeal in the twentieth century. Read more

This magnificent book will bring the summer vibe into your home - Ibiza-style - with the most beautiful interiors, imposing architecture and stunning photographyOffers a glimpse of exclusive projects by top designers and creative minds, inspired by Ibiza, Europe's Number 1 hotspot When you think of Ibiza, you think of sun, sea, sand, and the Mediterranean way of life. But that's not all: you think of gorgeous design, funky interiors, scrumptious food and breath taking nature. With that in mind, it's time for an ode to good taste, La Pura Vida. This magnificent book will bring the summer vibe into your home with the most beautiful interiors, imposing architecture and pictures that will have you imagining you are standing amidst the azure bays yourself. Two hundred and forty pages filled with joy and good taste, interiors, architecture, and scenery. Read more

By the late 1960s, The Architectural Review had a history of campaigning for important issues related to the built environment. Photography had long been at the centre of their strategy as a means to communicate ideas and make them more easily understood by a lay audience. However, the project they embarked on in 1969, called ‘Manplan’, was revolutionary both in ambition and in execution. A brainchild of Hubert de Cronin Hastings, long time proprietor and part-time editor of the magazine, the project was conceived as an analysis of the state of architecture and urban planning in Britain at the end of the decade and ran as a series of eight special issues, from September 1969 to September 1970. Each issue was devoted to an individual area of human activity that was considered affected by design and planning choices. Under the supervision of series editor Tim Rock, each issue’s guest editor worked with a specially invited photographer chosen from the world of photojournalism and street photography rather than architectural photography. The photographs taken for the ‘Manplan’ project did not simply illustrate but articulated very strongly the theme of each issue. They frequently included in the composition people inhabiting and using the spaces studied by the survey, thereby shifting the focus from the architecture itself to the human element within the built environment. Designers Michael Reid and Peter Baistow – who was also an accomplished photographer - created a graphically powerful backdrop for the work of the guest photographers. Imbued with the spirit of photo-reportage and shot on 35mm cameras, the black and white images were reproduced - often at full page - using a special matt-black ink, which made them even more dramatic. The overall message was a powerful, uncompromising and highly critical comment on contemporary living conditions, which embodied both the idealism of the 1960s and the disillusionment felt at the end of that decade, while many of the issues addressed are still extremely relevant today. Most of the photographs in the exhibition and catalogue, taken by renowned professionals such as Ian Berry, Patrick Ward and Tony Ray-Jones, have never been published or exhibited before (apart from their use in the Manplan issues), while some of them were taken for the project but ultimately not used. Read more

Liverpool was a burgeoning trading centre and rapidly growing town in the early 18th century, developing into a thriving mercantile metropolis by the 19th century. The demand for new housing was high, and court housing largely filled that need. Court housing was a form of high-density back-to-back housing around courtyards. It provided homes to nearly half of Liverpool's working-class people by the mid 19th century. Contemporary descriptions highlight the cramped, dark and often damp conditions in these houses. This book uses a range of historical and archaeological evidence about courts to consider their development, life within them, and the measures eventually taken to rid Liverpool of them. This book considers courts and their impact on people's lives in Liverpool for over 250 years. This book features international parallels to courts as well as some of the people involved in investigating this type of housing, providing historical context to this fascinating aspect of Liverpool's past. Read more

The first ever spomenik guidebook, with over 75 examples alongside map references and information on why they exist and who built them. Spomenik’ the Serbo-Croat/Slovenian word for ‘monument’ – refers to a series of memorials built in Tito’s Republic of Yugoslavia from the 1960s-1990s, marking the horror of the occupation and the defeat of Axis forces during World War II. Hundreds were built across the country, from coastal resorts to remote mountains. Through these imaginative forms of concrete and steel, a classless, forward–looking, socialist society, free of ethnic tensions, was envisaged. Instead of looking to the ideologically aligned Soviet Union for artistic inspiration, Tito turned to the west and works of abstract expressionism and minimalism. As a result, Yugoslavia was able to develop its own distinct identity through these brutal monuments, which were used as political tools to articulate Tito’s personal vision of a new tomorrow. Today, following the breakup of the country and the subsequent Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s, some have been destroyed or abandoned. Many have suffered the consequences of ethnic tensions – once viewed as symbols of hope they are now the focus of resentment and anger. This book brings together the largest collection of spomeniks published to date. Each has been extensively photographed and researched by the author, to make this book the most comprehensive survey of this obscure and fascinating architectural phenomenon. A fold-out map on the reverse of the dust jacket shows the exact location of each spomenik using GPS coordinates. Read more

Beyond The West inspires a fresh understanding of global contemporary architecture beyond the Western Countries. Architects throughout the world work against a backdrop of rapidly growing cities, changing societies and climate, and emerging economies. But while Western architecture has largely dominated the discourse, architecture firms from Africa, Asia and the Americas have been establishing local and global -recognition for themselves, often finding strikingly different solutions to local requirements, including sustainability, transportation and migration, construction materials, and traditions.Beyond The West journeys across Asia, Africa, and the Americas to understand how local architects respond to a changing world, and focuses its wide lens on inspiring and truly global architecture. Read more

A follow-up to the hugely successful Soviet Bus Stops, with new photographs of bus stops in Russia, Crimea, Georgia and Ukraine. Christopher Herwig has an insatiable appetite for ‘Soviet Bus Stops’. After the popular and critical success of his first book, Herwig has returned to the former Soviet Union to hunt for more. In this second volume, as well as discovering new stops in the remotest areas of Georgia and Ukraine, Herwig turns his camera to Russia itself. Following exhaustive research, he drove 15,000 km from coast to coast across the largest country in the world, in pursuit of new examples of this singular architectural form. A foreword by renowned architecture and culture critic Owen Hatherley reveals new information on the origins of the Soviet bus stop. Examining the government policy that allowed these ‘small architectural forms’ to flourish, he explains how they reflected Soviet values, and how ultimately they remained – despite their incredible individuality – far-flung outposts of Soviet ideology. The diversity of architectural approaches is staggering: juxtaposed alongside a slew of audacious modern and brutal designs, there are bus stops shaped as trains, birds, light bulbs, rockets, castles, even a bus stop incorporating a statue of St George slaying the dragon. Essential companion to the first volume, this book provides a valuable document of these important and previously overlooked constructions. Read more

The English Country House takes a look at the architecture and interiors of sixty-two stunning houses in a range of architectural styles spanning seven centuries―from the medieval Stokesay Castle to the newly built, Lutyens-inspired Corfe Farm―brought to life through the world-renowned photography library of Country Life. More than four hundred color and black and white illustrations provide an insight into the architecture, decoration, gardens, and landscape settings of these houses, which are set into their architectural and historical context by the accompanying text and extended captions. The book provides an entrée into the houses to which Country Life has had privileged access over the years, many of which are still private homes, often occupied by descendants of the families that built them. Punctuating the book at intervals in the form of booklets on rich, uncoated paper are six essays by leading British architectural historians that set the English country house into its social context and chart the changing tastes in decorating and collecting, the development of ancillary buildings, gardens and landscapes, and finally, its influence in the United States.  Read more

A milestone in modern thought, Space, Time and Architecture has been reissued many times since its first publication in 1941 and translated into half a dozen languages. In this revised edition of Mr. Giedion's classic work, major sections have been added and there are 81 new illustrations. The chapters on leading contemporary architects have been greatly expanded. There is new material on the later development of Frank Lloyd Wright and the more recent buildings of Walter Gropius, particularly his American Embassy in Athens. In his discussion of Le Corbusier, Mr. Giedion provides detailed analyses of the Carpenter Center at Harvard University, Le Corbusier's only building in the United States, and his Priory of La Tourette near Lyons. There is a section on his relations with his clients and an assessment of his influence on contemporary architecture, including a description of the Le Corbusier Center in Zurich (designed just before his death], which houses his works of art. The chapters on Mies van der Rohe and Alvar Aalto have been brought up to date with examples of their buildings in the sixties. There is an entirely new chapter on the Danish architect Jorn Utzon, whose work, as exemplified in his design for the Sydney Opera House, Mr. Giedion considers representative of post-World War II architectural concepts. A new essay, "Changing Notions of the City," traces the evolution of the structure of the city throughout history and examines current attempts to deal with urban growth, as shown in the work of such architects as Jose Luis Sert, Kenzo Tange, and Fumihiko Maki. Mr. Sert's Peabody Terrace is discussed as an example of the interlocking of the collective and individual spheres. Finally, the conclusion has been enlarged to include a survey of the limits of the organic in architecture. Read more

Beautifully photographed with over 200 pages of interiors that have rarely been seen by the publicSocial/historical ‘memoir’ text, specially compiled for this volume, to transport us back to a time when these residences were in their heydayIn granting the authors uncommon access to their private residences or former homes, inviting fresh architectural and interior photography of the patrician surroundings their families inhabited, the heirs and descendants of those whose fortunes were made through the once pre-eminent Philippine sugar industry reveal a world not quite lostArchitectural overview, setting the houses in their international context with regard to: – Dwellings built from the profits of a lucrative, international commodity trade – The search for national architectural styles in a world emerging from colonialism – The influence of local/vernacular traditions on their programme and formsWinner of the architectural category of the Paris Photo Competition (PX3)Finalist for the Sony World Photography Awards 2024 in the Architecture and Design category Houses that Sugar Built - An Intimate Portrait of Philippine Ancestral Homes explores the largely unknown architectural legacy to be found in the ancestral houses of Iloilo, Negros Occidental and Pampanga – the three main sugar-producing provinces of the Philippines. These grand residences have yet to receive international exposure. Nonetheless, they are important in two ways. Firstly, although easily classifiable in terms of architectural style, upon experiencing the buildings themselves there are almost always layers of additional influence. Secondly, this assured blending of styles reveals what we might call a ‘Critical Ambition’ – a desire on the part of the patrons who commissioned these residences to participate in an international architectural culture. Their relatively overlooked location did not stop the sugar barons responsible for these houses from undertaking a 20th-century form of the Grand Tour of European capitals, returning with a desire to bring the latest trends from Paris or Vienna to the provincial Philippines, or from partaking of the latest streamlined Moderne style from the US. Beautifully photographed with over 200 pages of interiors that have rarely been seen by the public, Houses that Sugar Built - An Intimate Portrait of Philippine Ancestral Homes is layered with intimate stories and individual house texts that transport us back to a time when these residences were in their heyday. Read more

Expand the sharing movement to your community with Little Free Libraries and Tiny Sheds—your complete source for building tiny sharing structures, including plans for 12 different structures, step-by-step photography and instructions, inspirational examples, and maintenance. Around the world, a community movement is underway featuring quaint landscape structures mounted on posts in front yards and other green spaces. Some are built for personal use, as miniature sheds for gardeners or as decorative accent pieces. More commonly, though, they are evidence of the growing trend toward neighborhood organization and community outreach. This movement has been popularized by Wisconsin-based Little Free Library (LFL), whose members currently include 75,000 stewards seeking to build community togetherness and promote reading at the same time by sharing books among neighbors. LFL has inspired builders to use similar structures to share things like CDs, food, garden tools, and seeds in the community. Produced in cooperation with Little Free Library, Little Free Libraries and Tiny Sheds is the builder's complete source of inspiration and how-to knowledge. Illustrated throughout with colorful step-by-step photography and a gallery of tiny structures for further inspiration, Little Free Libraries and Tiny Sheds covers every step: planning and design, tools and building techniques, best materials, and 12 complete plans for structures of varying size and aesthetics. In addition, author and professional carpenter Phil Schmidt includes information on proper installation of small structures and common repairs and maintenance for down the road.Little Free Libraries and Tiny Sheds even includes information on how to become a steward, getting the word out about your little structure once it's up and running, and tips for building a lively collection. Community togetherness has never been so at the fore of our consciousness—or so important. Little Free Libraries and Tiny Sheds is one tool on the road to helping you build community in your neighborhood. Read more

The great appeal of Spanish Style homes lies in their aura of romance and drama, a sense of story, of magic, as well as in their very comfortable and engaging proportions and the great livability of the interior spaces. Deep shadow, arched doorways, trickling courtyard fountains, climbing bougainvillea on wrought-iron window grilles, wood-beamed ceilings, and white-plaster walls are all hallmarks of the style. Here, through a celebration of contemporary and historic homes in Southern California, as well as existing historic precedents in Andalusia, Spain most notably the intricatedly detailed Casa de Pilatos in Seville and the Alhambra of Granada The Spanish Style House presents the definitive picture of the style as it exists today. Featured homes include the George Washington Smith-designed Casa Blanca a fantasy made real in stone and stucco replete with the romance of old Morocco in its horseshoe arches, its domes, and evocative tile murals and a Marc Appleton-designed beach house in Del Mar, California, which is a dream on the sea and an eloquent testament to the virtues of the style for today. Read more

The Coloring Journey" is not just a coloring book—it's an immersive experience into the world of the iconic singer-songwriter, Taylor's. Dive into intricate illustrations that capture Taylor at various stages of her illustrious career, from her early country music days to her chart-topping pop hits. Each page is a blend of art and narrative, offering fans a unique opportunity to interact with Taylor's music and story in a creative way. Whether you're a long-time Swiftie or new to her melodies, this coloring book promises hours of artistic enjoyment and a chance to celebrate one of the most influential artists of our time. Read more