An Illustrated Reference

By Ken Yeang, Lillian Woo

The first guide to the terminology of sustainable design. Written by an internationally renowned expert in the field, this illustrated dictionary provides over 1500 definitions and explanations of ecodesign terms.

Providing a unique resource for the practitioner and student, this book leaves the reader free to 'dip' in and out of the book allowing for 'bite-sized' learning at their own convenience. It is an essential reference for all architects, engineers, planners and environmentalists involved in designing and planning projects and schemes in the built environment.

ISBN: 9780415458993

Published March 11 2010 by Routledge.

By Felipe Hernandez

The work of Homi K. Bhabha has permeated into numerous publications which use postcolonial discourse as a means to analyze architectural practices in previously colonized contexts, particularly in Africa, Asia, the Middle-East, South-East Asia and, Latin America. Bhabha's use of the concept of ‘space’ has made his work highly appealing to architects and architectural theorists.

This introductory book, specifically for architects, focuses on Bhabha’s seminal book The Location of Culture and reveals how his work contributes to architectural theory and the study of contemporary architectures in general, not only in colonial and postcolonial contexts.

ISBN: 9780415477451

Published March 09 2010 by Routledge.

By Simon Unwin

Have you ever wondered how the ideas behind the world’s greatest architectural designs came about? What process does an architect go through to design buildings which become world-renowned for their excellence?

This book reveals the secrets behind these buildings. He asks you to ‘read’ the building and understand its starting point by analysing its final form. Through the gradual revelations made by an understanding of the thinking behind the form, you learn a unique methodology which can be used every time you look at any building.

ISBN: 9780415552516

Published March 02 2010 by Routledge.

A History of Engineering and Structural Design

By Matthew Wells

This innovative new book presents the vast historical sweep of engineering innovation and technological change to describe and illustrate engineering design and what conditions, events, cultural climates and personalities have brought it to its present state.

Matthew Wells covers topics based on an examination of paradigm shifts, the contribution of individuals, important structures and influential disasters to show approaches to the modern concept of structure. By demonstrating the historical context of engineering, Wells has created a guide to design like no other, inspirational for both students and practitioners working in the fields of architecture and engineering.

ISBN: 9780415325257

Published March 01 2010 by Routledge.

By CJ Lim, Ed Liu

Modern methods of agriculture have led to cities growing out of control and reducing the available agricultural land, threatening the sustainability of our food system. The previous mutually sustaining relationships of animals, humans and the land have been lost with the progress of industry.

The Smartcity - an ecological symbiosis between nature, society and the built form - is the innovative response to contemporary problems from one of the world’s leading urban design and architectural thinkers. Addressing the problems of unchecked city growth, the idea of the Smartcity questions whether we could begin to live once again from first principles, focusing in on the inhabitants of the city.

The holistic construct of the Smartcity is developed through a series of international case studies, some commissioned by government organisations, others speculative and polemic. Reframing the way people think about urban green space and the evolution of cities, CJ Lim explores how the reintegration of agriculture in urban environments can cultivate new spatial practices and social cohesion in addition to food for our tables.

Representing an emerging architectural voice in matters of environmental and social sustainability, Smartcities and Eco-warriors is a long overdue treatment of the subject from a designer’s perspective, and is essential reading for practitioners and students in the fields of architecture, urban planning, environmental engineering, landscape design, agriculture and sociology. An inspiration to government agencies and NGOs dealing with climate change, it also resonates with anyone concerned about cities, energy conservation and the future of food

ISBN: 9780415571227

Published February 25 2010 by Routledge.

Tradition and Today

By Dana Buntrock

In this beautiful and perceptive book, Dana Buntrock examines, for the first time, how tradition is incorporated into contemporary Japanese architecture. Looking at the work of five architects -- Fumihiko Maki, Terunobu Fujimori, Ryoji Suzuki, Kengo Kuma, and Jun Aoki -- Buntrock reveals the aims influencing many wonderful works barely known in the West; the sensual side of Japanese architecture borne out of approaches often less concerned with professionalism than with people and place.

The buildings described in this book illustrate an architecture that embraces uniqueness, expressing unusual stories in the rough outlines of rammed earth and rust, and demonstrating new paths opening up for architectural practice today.

For some, these examples will offer new insight into expressions of tradition in Japanese architecture; for others, this book offers inspiration for their own efforts to assert the unique heritage of other regions around the world. Compelling, insightful and groundbreaking, this book is essential for everyone studying Japanese architecture and anyone trying to invoke narrative and tradition in contemporary design.

ISBN: 9780415778909

Published February 23 2010 by Routledge.

Children's and adults' participation in designing learning environments

By Alison Clark

How can young children play an active role in developing the design of learning environments?

What methods can be used to bring together children’s and practitioners’ views about their environment?

What insights can young children offer into good designs for these children’s spaces?

With the expansion of early childhood education and the move to 'extended schools', more young children will spend more time than ever before in institutions. Based on two actual building projects, this book is the first of its kind to demonstrate the possibilities of including young children’s perspectives in the design and review of children’s spaces.

Situated at the heart of the debate about the relationship between the built environment and its impact on children’s learning and wellbeing, Transforming Children’s Spaces

• provides insights into how young children see their environment
• discusses children’s aspirations for future spaces
• develops the 'Mosaic approach' , pioneered by the author, as a method for listening to young children and adults

Emphasising the importance of visual and verbal methods of communication, this fascinating book demonstrates how practitioners and young children can articulate their perspectives, and shows how participatory methods can support new relationships between children, practitioners and architects.

This book is essential reading for those who work in children's spaces and for those who design them as well as being of general interest to those studying education and childhood studies.

ISBN: 9780415458597

Published February 22 2010 by Routledge.

A Contemporary and Historical Perspective

Edited by Soumyen Bandyopadhyay, Jane Lomholt, Nicholas Temple, Renée Tobe

Offering an in-depth consideration of the impact which humanities have had on the processes of architecture and design, this book asks how we can restore the traditional dialogue between intellectual enquiry in the humanities and design creativity.

Written by leading academics in the fields of history, theory and philosophy of design, these essays draw profound meanings from cultural practices and beliefs. These are as diverse as the designs they inspire and include religious, mythic, poetic, political, and philosophical references.

This timely and important book is not a benign reflection on humanities' role in architectural design but a direct response to the increased marginalization of humanities in a technology driven world. The prioritization of technology leaves critical questions unanswered about the relationships between information and knowledge, transcription and translation, and how emerging technologies can usefully contribute to a deeper understanding of our design culture.

ISBN: 9780415551137

Published February 18 2010 by Routledge.

By Paul Coates

programming.architecture is a simple and concise introduction to the history of computing and computational design, explaining the basics of algorithmic thinking and the use of the computer as a tool for design and architecture.

Paul Coates, a pioneer of CAAD, demonstrates algorithmic thinking through projects and student work collated through his years of teaching students of computing and design. The book takes a detailed and practical look at what the techniques and philosophy of coding entail, and gives the reader many "glimpses under the hood" in the form of code snippets and examples of algorithms.

This is essential reading for student and professional architects and designers interested in how the development of computers has influenced the way we think about, and design for, the built environment.

ISBN: 9780415451871

Published January 29 2010 by Routledge.

Urban Utopias of Modern Japan

By Zhongjie Lin

Metabolism, the Japanese architectural avant-garde movement of the 1960s, profoundly influenced contemporary architecture and urbanism. This book focuses on the Metabolists’ utopian concept of the city and investigates the design and political implications of their visionary planning in the postwar society. At the root of the group’s urban utopias was a particular biotechical notion of the city as an organic process. It stood in opposition to the Modernist view of city design and led to such radical design concepts as marine civilization and artificial terrains, which embodied the metabolists’ ideals of social change.

Tracing the evolution of Metabolism from its inception at the 1960 World Design Conference to its spectacular swansong at the Osaka World Exposition in 1970, this book situates Metabolism in the context of Japan’s mass urban reconstruction, economic miracle, and socio-political reorientation. This new study will interest architectural and urban historians, architects and all those interested in avant-garde design and Japanese architecture.

ISBN: 9780415776592

Published January 29 2010 by Routledge.