Lighting plays an essential role in good design, drawingattention to certain places and highlighting details that mightotherwise go unnoticed. 100+ Tips.Ideas: Areas with Light features dozens of ideas to get light into the home and use it asan essential part of the design, all illustrated with gorgeouscolor photography. Featuring both natural and manmade sources oflight, this book provides endless inspiration.

Born and raised in Vienna, Richard Neutra (1872-1970) came to America early in his career, settling in California. His influence on post-war architecture is undisputed, the sunny climate and rich landscape being particularly suited to his cool, sleek modern style. Neutra had a keen appreciation for the relationship between people and nature; his trademark plate glass walls and ceilings which turn into deep overhangs have the effect of connecting the indoors with the outdoors. Neutra's ability to incorporate technology, aesthetics, science, and nature into his designs him recognition as one of Modernist architecture`s greatest talents.

From the Ferris wheel to the integrated circuit, feats ofengineering have changed our environment in countless ways, big andsmall. In Remaking the World: Adventures in Engineering, DukeUniversity's Henry Petroski focuses on the big: Malaysia's1,482-foot Petronas Towers as well as the Panama Canal, a cutthrough the continental divide that required the excavation of 311million cubic yards of earth. Remaking the World tells the stories behind the man-made wondersof the world, from squabbles over the naming of the Hoover Dam tothe effects the Titanic disaster had on the engineering communityof 1912. Here, too, are the stories of the personalities behind the wonders, from the jaunty IsambardKingdom Brunel, designer of nineteenth-century transatlanticsteamships, to Charles Steinmetz, oddball genius of the GeneralElectric Company, whose office of preference was a batteredtwelve-foot canoe. Spirited and absorbing, Remaking the World is acelebration of the creative instinct and of the men and women

People tend to leave home in search of rest and relaxation,heading to hotels, campsites, or rentals to get away from thereminders of day-to-day life. But that doesn't need to be the case.The things we associate with vacation — outdoor living areas,spacious rooms, and cozy sleeping areas — can be brought into thehome, making every day like a vacation. 100+ Tips.Ideas: RestfulHomes features dozens of ideas for making the home more like agetaway, all illustrated with lavish color photos.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886 1969) was one of the founding fathers of modern architecture. The creator of the Barcelona Pavilion (1929), the Farnsworth House in Plano, Illinois (1945 1951) and the Seagram Building in New York (1954 1958), Mies was one of the founders of a new architectural style. Well known for his motto "less is more," he sought a kind of refined purity in architectural expression that was not seen in the reduced vocabulary of other Bauhaus members. His goal was not simply building for those of modest income but building economically in terms of sustainability, both in a technical and aesthetical way; the use of industrial materials such as steel and glass were the foundation of this approach. Though the extreme reduction of form and material in his work garnered some criticism, over the years many have tried mostly unsuccessfully to copy his original and elegant style.

Filled cover-to-cover with gorgeous full-color photographs of inspirational home ideas from around the world, Houses DesignSource showcases myriad examples of wonderful design solutions. This beautiful volume considers the many factors, which impact the design of a home, including location, climate, and space. Also featured are green homes, prefab houses, renovated residences, and more.

The Case Study House program (1945 1966) was an exceptional, innovative event in the history of American architecture and remains to this day unique. The program, which concentrated on the Los Angeles area and oversaw the design of 36 prototype homes, sought to make available plans for modern residences that could be easily and cheaply constructed during the postwar building boom. Highly experimental, the program generated houses that were designed to redefine the modern home, and thus had a pronounced influence on architecture American and international both during the program's existence and even to this day. This compact guide includes all projects featured in our XL version, with over 150 photos and plans and a map of where all houses are (or were) located.