Архитектура

The park of the palace of Versailles spreads out from the foot of the chateau to as far as the eye can see. In designing it, Louis XIV shared the same aim as the Medicis in Florence and Henri IV at the Louvre to manifest the ideal of rational government through the mastery of nature by intellect.

The seasons and the time of day dramatically transform the park in a matter of days, hours, or even minutes. The photographs here capture the moments when light suddenly colours the pools and basins crimson; when the Swiss Pond is transformed into a storm-tossed lake by the wind; or when, in the morning haze, phantoms emerge evocatively from the Basin of Neptune.

The author tells the story of the vision that Louis XIV, great gardener Andre le Notre, artist Hardouin-Mansart, and architect Charles Le Brun had for the gardens. Even those that know the gardens well will have the impression that they are encountering their magic for the first time in this splendid publication.

Exquisite photography of one of Frances most significant historical landmarks.

The largest château in the world holds a thousand and one secrets, even from those who know it intimately. Versailles has been described in minute detail since the reign of Louis XIV, but numerous rooms in the palace and its outbuildings are inaccessible to the public due to their fragility or state of preservation.

From the most renowned salons to the gardens, passing through the Trianon or the Queens hamlet, Versailles contains extraordinary details, transformed by light and shadow. From dusk on a summers evening to the veil of mist on a winters morning, these photographs reveal the many facets of Versailles and offer readers unprecedented access to this historical treasure.

For this book, the Château de Versailles gave photographer Francis Hammond carte blanche access to the palace and its grounds; the resulting photographs uniquely capture the exceptional ambience and light of both famous and lesser known places.

From Marie-Antoinette's boudoir, the wings of the Queens theater, or even the Orangerie on a beautiful wintery day, Versailles: A Private Invitation is richly illustrated and brings to life this extraordinary theater of unrivaled splendor, this place of hidden secrets, mysteries, and everlasting beauty, which continues to capture the hearts of visitors and aficionados of France from around the world.

About the Author:

Francis Hammond’s photographs have been published in Mariage Frères French Tea (2003) and Elegant Entertaining (2009) and in lifestyle magazines such as Elle Décor and Martha Stewart Living. Béatrix Saule is chief curator and director of the research center at the Château de Versailles.

Ecoinfrastructure is the continuous 'green' subculture which runs throughout a building integrating inorganic mass with the organic content of the green ecoinfrastructure, imitating the balance of biotic with the abiotic constituents present in an ecosy

Bringing nature into urban environments has always been a challenge; one of the most spectacular solutions to this problem is the vertical garden. Far more than just an unusual decoration attached to a wall, these gardens are an exciting means of bringing life and greenery to a bleak courtyard, a gray city street or a cold modern building.

Vertical Gardens is the first publication to present a collection of the most important examples of this emerging trend. Not content with projecting gardens and cultivating plants on horizontal terrain, those who create vertical gardens apply the principles of hydroponics (a technique of growing plants in water containing dissolved nutrients) and use ingenious framing systems that allow luxuriant compositions of plant life to colonize the exteriors of buildings.

Overshadowing the traditional band of less versatile climbing plants, the extraordinary array of botanical species that thrive with hydroponic cultivation allows for the creation of a limitless variety of living compositions with different textures, patterns, chromatic effects, and aromas.

The aesthetic result is truly stunning and has attracted the attention of architects and designers such as Jean Nouvel, Renzo Piano, and Andrée Putman who, in collaboration with Patrick Blanc, have added the vertical garden to their design vocabularies. There are also projects where entire buildings have been imagined as biological organisms, or as a landscape, like the apartment building by Edouard François in Montpellier, constructed out of a mix of stone, wood, metal, and plants.

Vertical Gardens explores this phenomenon in thematic sections, which are enriched by the reflections of its most innovative practitioners.

This richly illustrated book is essential reading for all professionals or anyone interested in this fertile new area of design.

Vertical gardens are an exciting means of bringing life and greenery to a bleak courtyard, a grey city street or a cold modern building. This is the first book to present a collection of the most important examples of this emerging trend.

Those who create vertical gardens apply the principles of hydroponics (a technique of growing plants in water containing dissolved nutrients) and use ingenious framing systems that allow luxuriant plant life to colonize the exteriors of buildings.

The extraordinary array of botanical species that thrive with hydroponic cultivation allows for the creation of a limitless variety of textures, patterns, colours and scents. The result is truly stunning and has attracted the attention of architects and designers such as Jean Nouvel, Renzo Piano and Andrée Putman who, in collaboration with Patrick Blanc, have added the vertical garden to their design vocabularies.

Vertical Gardens explores this phenomenon in thematic sections, enriched by the reflections of innovative practitioners. This richly illustrated book will be essential reading for all professionals or anyone interested in this fertile new area of landscape design.

Traditionally, state subsidized or social housing has been associated with an image of simplicity, finishes of bad quality or even marginal. Maybe it was so during the sixties, where residential areas of huge blocks of flats ended up in being some kind of ghettos where top priority was to arrange the number of families to settle instead of offering life conditions halfway acceptable or decent. It is evident that this obsolete and out of date system is not been put into practice, but even so, nowadays these cases are isolate and town-planning is taken care of and planned in a very different way in any city of the world.

Therefore, the task of this volume is to demonstrate that the widespread idea which associates social housing with ugly, boring or low quality buildings as much in the constructive as in the architectonic aspects is wrong. It would be enough to have a brief look at the volume to discover it.

This photographic project by Gabriele Basilico, in association with the architect Umberto Zanetti, was inspired by a desire to document this metamorphosis, and takes as its focal point the city’s seven Stalinist towers, known in Russian as the vysotnye zdania, or ‘tall buildings’.

In the 1940s and 1950s, Stalin’s skyscrapers assumed a key role in the town plan of Moscow. They convincingly blended ideology, architectural monument and urban form to embody the idea of ‘Socialist Realism’, and between the end of the war and the death of Stalin they provided inspiration for the reconstruction of major cities in the Soviet Union and many cities in Eastern Europe. They continue to play an important role today: their unmistakable image is forcibly impressed on Moscow, where the vertical accent is ever more prominent.

Basilico’s images use the towers as a privileged viewpoint for a vertiginous exploration and contemplation of the changing fabric of Moscow. After half a century of history, his work allows these striking buildings to be re-evaluated in the context of the new urban landscape of the 21st century.

Very Small Cafés and Restaurants features 40 projects from around the world by such designers as Wonderwall, Marti Guixé and Thomas Heatherwick. Almost all of the establishments featured measure less than 150 square metres so the designers must make a big impact with very little space. The book will be inspirational for designers faced with the challenge of a tiny café or restaurant, as well as for independent food retailers looking for fresh new ways to present their product.

264 illustrations

The limitations of a tiny space, rather than inhibiting designers, often result in some of the most innovative and exciting retail design. This book brings together some of the best recent, innovative examples of small store designs from around the world. All the shops measure less than 150 square metres/1,600 square feet (many much less), and are categorized by size (small, smaller and tiny), with explanations and tips from their designers. Types of outlet featured include fashion, accessories, opticians, technology, food and confectionery. Each section begins with an interview with a designer of a small shop, explaining the creative opportunities and difficulties in greater detail. This book will inspire retail designers and small shop owners looking to create their own big statement in a small space.

John Stones is a freelance writer and former features editor of Design Week. He has written for publications such as 'Icon', 'Elle Decoration' and 'Marketing Week'. He is also the author of Total Design Sourcebook: Display (2008) and No Rules! Logos (2009)

The furniture designs of William Morris, C. R. Ashbee and Charles Rennie Mackintosh are even more popular today than in their own lifetimes.

The work of other figures, such as William Burges and Christopher Dresser is also being avidly collected. Jeremy Cooper’s survey contains an astonishing range of photographs and drawings: nearly 700 illustrations offer a uniquely comprehensive coverage of nineteenth-century furniture.

Every major designer is represented, and the choice of pictures includes little-known pieces from private collections. Rare contemporary photographs of Victorian and Edwardian interiors show how the furniture formed part of complete decorative ensembles.

Extensive commentaries on the illustrations and detailed text provide the essential background – wherever possible using the actual words of the designers, architects and critics themselves.

Originally published over 130 years ago by one of America's leading architectural firms, this volume provided prospective homeowners and other customers with a wide range of design alternatives. While the collection includes elevations and floor plans for a variety of handsome, private residences and commercial structures, the emphasis is on architectural details — from cornices, dormer windows and piazzas, to balconies, fireplace mantels, and gable ornaments. A delight for anyone who appreciates the charm of Victorian architecture.

Reprint of Detail, Cottage and Constructive Architecture, A. J. Bicknell & Co., New York, 1873.

541 beautiful full-color architectural drawings illustrating the imaginative use of brickwork and terra-cotta appliqués in Victorian revival styles, reprinted from a rare portfolio by a well-known 19th-century French architect. Includes front and side elevations, floor plans, and detailed sections. 682 illustrations.

Reprint of rare catalog by one of America's most successful, late-19th-century domestic architects, with more than 100 designs for 68 houses. Elevations and floor plans for custom-designed homes in the Colonial, Romanesque, and Queen Anne styles, as well as plans for verandas, summer pavilions, and barns. Invaluable to architectural historians, preservationists, and home restorers.

More than 160 exquisitely rendered color illustrations offer a fabulous array of decorative borders and panels in a tremendous variety of styles: Byzantine, Roman, Gothic, Renaissance, Louis XIV, and other historical fashions.

Many of these enchanting images are drawn from Christopher Dresser's Studies in Design, a landmark in home-decorating stylebooks. Dresser's compilations of unusual designs from far-flung sources - including Egypt, Morocco, and the Far East - exercised an enormous influence upon his Victorian contemporaries and subsequent generations. Images from his book, together with selections from a nineteenth-century French album and other pictorial collections of the era, afford a wealth of delights for art enthusiasts as well as inspiration for designers and crafters.

Dover original selection from Album du Peintre en Bâtiment, N. Glaise, Ducher et Cie, Paris, 1885, and Studies in Design, Christopher Dresser, Cassell, Peter and Galpin, London, 1876.