The Case Study House program (1945–1966) was a unique event in the history of American architecture. Sponsored by Arts & Architecture magazine, the program sought to respond to the postwar building boom with prototype modern homes that could be both easily replicated and readily affordable to the average American.Concentrated on the Los Angeles area, the Case Study Houses included 36 model homes commissioned from such major architects of the day as Richard Neutra, Raphael Soriano, Craig Ellwood, Charles and Ray Eames, Pierre Koenig, Eero Saarinen, A. Quincy Jones, and Ralph Rapson. Their criteria included “using, as far as is practicable, many war-born techniques and materials best suited to the expression of man’s life in the modern world.”The results of the program would redefine the modern home and extend influence not only across the United States but around the world. This compact guide includes all of the Case Study Houses with over 150 photos and plans, as well as a map showing locations of all sites, including those that no longer exist. Read more

The creative duo Charles Eames (1907–1978) and Ray Kaiser Eames (1912–1988) transformed the visual character of America. Though best known for their furniture, the husband and wife team were also forerunners in architecture, textile design, photography, and film. The Eameses’ work defined a new, multifunctional modernity, exemplary for its integration of craft and design, as well as for the use of modern materials, notably plywood and plastics. The Eames Lounge Chair Wood, designed with molded plywood technology, became a defining furniture piece of the 20th century, while the couple’s contribution to the Case Study Houses project not only made inventive use of industrial materials but also developed an adaptable floor plan of multipurpose spaces which would become a hallmark of postwar modern architecture. From the couple’s earliest furniture experiments to their seminal short film Powers of Ten, this book covers all the aspects of the illustrious Eames repertoire and its revolutionary impact on middle-class American living. Read more

After over a decade of travel, study and creative collaboration with Japan, Norm Architects’ shares their uniquely Scandinavian view of Japanese aesthetics.The book features richly illustrated dispatches from visits to Japanese landscapes, architecture and cultural sites, shedding light on the influence Japanese traditions have had on the studio’s contemporary projects, such as the Äng restaurant in Sweden or Heatherhill Beach House in Denmark. Juxtaposing images from Japan with Norm Architects’ work, the book highlights the centuries-old connections between the distinct design cultures, emphasizing mutual respect and shared philosophies. Commentary from expert collaborators in both regions provides in-depth understanding into key design principles. At once an ode to Japan, a personal travelogue, and an aesthetic manifesto, Stillness takes readers on Norm’s decade-long journey as they’ve sought to understand one of the world’s most revered creative cultures. Read more

Take a look through Cozy Place Coloring Book by Boo Meow!- 40 Drawings: Easy and comfy designs to enjoy.- Standard Page: 8.5 x 8.5 inches, suitable for all ages.- Single-Sided Pages: Each image is on its own page, making it easy to color and frame.- Engaging and Relaxing: Awesome for downtime or creative breaks.- Fun Gift Idea: A thoughtful and creative gift for loved ones.The Cozy Place Coloring Book features beautiful illustrations of serene nooks, cozy cottages, and hygge corners. This book is an awesome companion for a relaxed coloring session and for those who adore pocket corners and the charm of isometric drawings. Let your imagination bring warmth and color to every cozy space, creating a personal retreat filled with comfort and creativity.Relax, color, and let your style shine on every page! Read more

None

Krista Schrock and David John Dick, founders of DISC Interiors, masterfully combine traditional inspiration with contemporary elegance.Headed by principals Krista Schrock and David John Dick, DISC Interiors is an interior and furniture design firm based in Silver Lake, Los Angeles. DISC Interiors strives to create homes of calibrated simplicity that balance the push and pull of modern life, address a sense of place and persons rather than any particular period or style, and balance the traditional with the modern and aesthetics with function. DISC Interiors favors earthy color palettes that transition like seasons, and organic textures that patina gently like metals that burnish with touch, leathers that soften, and floorboards that reveal more of a home's soul with every year. The homes they design are filled with vintage furniture and rugs juxtaposed against custom upholstery to feel contemporary yet classic and familiar.The projects designed by DISC Interiors represent a one-of-a-kind combination of traditional details and contemporary chic, and Portraits of Home is inspiring for all those seeking both contemporary and traditional solutions to twenty-first-century living. Read more

Building spaces of equilibrium: Norm Architects’ humane simplicity creates environments that feel as good as they look. Guided by ideas of wellbeing, the essence of Norm Architects’ style is balance: richness focused by restraint, simplicity imbued with warmth, complexity heightened by order. Be it architecture, interiors, or furniture, Norm’s unique brand of soft minimalism speaks to the mind as much as the body, creating spaces for people. The first monograph by Norm Architects, Soft Minimal is their own curation of works that have made them key figures of Nordic design. It presents residential and commercial projects throughout Scandinavia, Italy and Japan as Norm reflect on Nordic traditions, modernist principles, and the importance of natural materials. Exploring a creative process that makes the visual speak to all senses, the book becomes insightful, inspirational, and deeply poetic. Read more

In the architecture of Richard Neutra (1892–1970), inside and outside find their perfect modernist harmony. As the Californian sun glints off sleek building surfaces, vast glass panel walls allow panoramic views over mountains, gardens, palm trees, and pools.Neutra moved to the United States from his native Vienna in 1923 and settled in Los Angeles. He displayed his affinity with architectural settings early on with the Lovell House, set on a landscaped hill with views of the Pacific Ocean and Santa Monica Mountains. Later projects such as the Kaufmann House and Nesbitt House would continue this blend of art, landscape, and living comfort, with Neutra’s clients often receiving detailed questionnaires to define their precise needs.This richly illustrated architect introduction presents the defining projects of Neutra’s career. As crisp structures nestle amid natural wonders, we celebrate a particularly holistic brand of modernism which incorporated the ragged lines and changing colors of nature as much as the pared down geometries of the International Style. Read more

Frank Lloyd Wright is not only synonymous with architecture, his name is also synonymous with the American house in the twentieth century. In particular, his residential work has been the subject of continuing interest and controversy. Wright's Fallingwater (1935), the seminal masterpiece perched over a waterfall deep in the Pennsylvania highlands, is perhaps the best-known private house in the history of the world. In fact, Wright's houses-from his Prairie style Robie House (1906) in Chicago, to the Storer (1923) and Freeman (1923) houses in Los Angeles, and Taliesen West (1937) in the Arizona desert-are all touchstones of modern architecture. For the first time, all 289 extant houses are shown here in exquisite color photographs. Along with Weintraub's stunning photos and a selection of floor plans and archival images, the book includes text and essays by several leading Wright scholars. Frank Lloyd Wright: The Houses is an event of great importance and a major contribution to the literature on this titan of modern architecture. Read more

The mother-and-son founders of powerhouse interior design firm Clements Design have mastered interiors of a spare yet sumptuous sophistication mixed with California ease that are highly sought after by a star-studded clientele, including Ellen DeGeneres, Adam Levine, Bruno Mars, Kendall Jenner, and Jennifer Lawrence. In their first book, Clements Design showcases eight outstanding residences that embody the Clements style: understated elegance, sensuous austerity, Zen-like simplicity, easy glamour, and grand intimacy. Clements creates rarefied environments that are ultra-luxurious but never pretentious. Instead, their pared-down rooms are remarkably cozy and relaxed due to the blend of natural materials, muted colors, and matte surfaces and textures, especially from wood, stone, and nubby textiles—perfect for the indoor-outdoor lifestyle of their clients. A Clements home is the perfect backdrop for jaw-dropping art collections that may include Picasso, Morandi, Warhol, and Twombly, and for entertaining in spacious, expansive rooms populated by Rick Owens daybeds, Prouvé chairs, Giacometti light fixtures, Asian sculptures, and Persian rugs in pale shades, all blended with exceptional antiques carefully placed about the spaces. Serenity reigns over all, filling the viewer with a peaceful calm that is priceless. Personal accounts of working with Clements Design and living in their interiors from, among others, Ellen DeGeneres and Adam Levine, complement the glorious photography. Eight Houses: Clements Design offers a simple life set in an environment of exceeding high style and taste. Read more

Zaha Hadid (1950 - 2016) was a revolutionary architect. For years, she was widely acclaimed and won numerous prizes despite building practically nothing. Some even said her work was simply impossible to build. Yet, during the latter years of her life, Hadid’s daring visions became a reality, bringing a new and unique architectural language to cities and structures such as the Port House in Antwerp, the Al Janoub Stadium near Doha, Qatar, and the spectacular new airport terminal in Beijing. By her untimely death in 2016, Hadid was firmly established among architecture’s finest elite, working on projects in Europe, China, the Middle East, and the United States. She was the first female architect to win both the Pritzker Prize for architecture and the prestigious RIBA Royal Gold Medal, with her long-time Partner Patrik Schumacher now the leader of Zaha Hadid Architects and in charge of many new projects. Based on the massive TASCHEN monograph, this book is now available in an accessible edition covering Hadid’s complete works, including ongoing projects. With abundant photographs, in-depth sketches, and Hadid’s own drawings, the volume traces the evolution of her career, spanning not only her most pioneering buildings but also the furniture and interior designs that were integrated into her unique, and distinctly 21st-century, universe. “A celebration of all that is brave and audacious in her work.” — Australian Financial Review Read more

The life of Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926) was full of complexity and contradictions. As a young man he joined the Catalonian nationalist movement and was critical of the church; toward the end of his life he devoted himself completely to the construction of one single spectacular church, La Sagrada Família. In his youth, he courted a glamorous social life and the demeanor of a dandy. By the time of his death in a tram accident on the streets of Barcelona, his clothes were so shabby that passersby assumed he was a beggar.Gaudí’s incomparable architecture channels much of this multifaceted intricacy. From the shimmering surface textures and skeletal forms of Casa Batlló to the Hispano-Arabic matrix of Casa Vicens, his work merged the influences of Orientalism, natural forms, new materials, and religious faith into a unique Modernista aesthetic. Today, his buildings enjoy global popularity and acclaim; his magnum opus, the Sagrada Família, is the most-visited monument in Spain and seven of his works are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.Packed full of expert texts and hundreds of full-color illustrations, including new photography, this book presents Gaudí’s complete oeuvre. Like a personal tour through Barcelona, we explore his residential, religious, and public projects. We see how the “Dante of architecture” was a builder in the truest sense of the word, crafting extraordinary constructions out of minute and mesmerizing details, transforming fantastical visions into realities on the city streets. Read more

Acclaimed as the “father of skyscrapers,” the quintessentially American icon Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) was an architect of aspiration. He believed in giving cultivated American life its fitting architectural equivalent and applied his idealism to structures across the continent, from suburban homes to churches, offices, skyscrapers, and the celebrated Guggenheim Museum.Wright’s work is distinguished by its harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture, and which found its paradigm at Fallingwater, a house in rural Pennsylvania, cited by the American Institute of Architects as “the best all-time work of American architecture.” Wright also made a particular mark with his use of industrial materials, and by the simple L or T plan of his Prairie House which became a model for rural architecture across America. Wright was also often involved in many of the interior elements of his buildings, such as the furniture and stained glass, paying particular attention to the balance between individual needs and community activity.Exploring Wright’s aspirations to augment American society through architecture, this book offers a concise introduction to his at once technological and Romantic response to the practical challenges of middle-class Americans. Read more

None

50 Lessons to Learn from Frank Lloyd Wright begins with a simple question. What lessons can designers today learn from Frank Lloyd Wright? Unlike recent books focusing on Wright’s tumultuous personal life and the Taliesin Fellowship, and equally unlike certain works that paint Wright as a mythical hero or genius, this handsome and valuable volume aims to reveal some of the design tools Wright used to create exceptional architecture, interiors, and landscapes—and how we may glean insight from an American master and find inspiration for the thoughtful design of our own homes. By means of succinct examples, pithy texts by noted architecture experts Aaron Betsky and Gideon Fink Shapiro, and evocative visuals provided by photographer Andrew Pielage, they share fifty lessons, or "learning points," with an eye to Wright-designed houses and interiors, ranging from "Let Nature Inspire You," "Screen, Don’t Close," and "Embroider Rooms with Textiles," to "Look to Asia," "Design for Resilience" and "Balance the Whole." Each lesson is accompanied by color photographs, original Wright drawings, newly commissioned diagrams, thoughtful analysis by the authors, and pearls of wisdom gathered from the master's trove of writings on architecture and design. Beyond specific lessons, this volume offers an informal yet richly detailed introduction to this seminal figure, world-famous for his romantic Fallingwater and magical Guggenheim Museum, and will be of much interest to the budding architecture enthusiast as well as to the interior designer, to those seeking ideas for their own homes, and to fans of Frank Lloyd Wright looking for just the right book. Read more

None

None

The Touch is a new collaboration between Nathan Williams of Kinfolk and Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen of Norm Architects that welcome readers into over 25 inspiring spaces where interior design is not only visually appealing but engages all of the human senses. Through beautiful homes, hotels, museums, and retail stores―from contemporary designs by Ilse Crawford and Bijoy Jain to classic cases by Arne Jacobsen―readers are invited to explore how experiencing elements such as light, nature, materiality, color, and community can deliberately bring us back to our senses and imbue every day with a richer quality. In addition to stunning photography and interviews with design industry leaders as John Pawson and David Thulstrup, the book also details philosophical and art history references that reflect the tradition of design and color theory. For a deeper understanding of the concepts explored, The Touch includes an appendix which profiles architects such as Lina Bo Bardi and Richard Neutra. Heritage design pieces that helped influence this movement are also listed in the book. The Touch―Spaces Designed for the Senses by Kinfolk & Norm Architects. Published by gestalten. Read more

Sustainable structures from New York-based architecture firm Weiss/Manfredi. In an era when the dual challenges of climate change and social isolation loom large, Drifting Symmetries emerges as a pivotal exploration of architecture's role in shaping a sustainable and connected future. Weiss/Manfredi's groundbreaking work transcends the boundaries between landscape, infrastructure, and architecture by reinventing sites in response to environmental and social challenges. Presented in this comprehensive volume of projects and parallel research, their work demonstrates a multidisciplinary approach that invents new settings for public life by exploring the gradient between nature and architecture. Featuring Weiss/Manfredi’s most acclaimed built works alongside historical precedents and insights from Thom Mayne, Barry Bergdoll, Walter Hood, Nader Tehrani, Tatiana Bilbao, James Corner, Meejin Yoon, Rahul Mehrotra, Hashim Sarkis, Sarah Whiting, and many others, Drifting Symmetries is more than a showcase of projects; it's a manual for expanding the terrain of contemporary architecture to construct more resilient settings for contemporary life. Read more

Zaha Hadid was a revolutionary architect, who for many years built almost nothing, despite winning critical acclaim. Some even said her audacious, futuristic designs were unbuildable.During the latter years of her life, Hadid’s daring visions became a reality, bringing a unique new architectural language to cities and structures as varied as the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati, hailed by The New York Times as “the most important new building in America since the Cold War”; the MAXXI Museum in Rome; the Guangzhou Opera House in China; and the London 2012 Olympics Aquatics Centre.At the time of her unexpected death in 2016, Hadid was firmly established among the elite of world architecture, recognized as the first woman to win both the Pritzker Prize for architecture and the RIBA Royal Gold Medal, but above all as a giver of new forms, the first great architect of the noughties.From her early sharply angled buildings to later more fluid architecture that made floors, ceilings, walls, and furniture part of an overall design, this essential introduction presents key examples of Hadid’s pioneering practice. She was an artist, as much as an architect, who fought to break the old rules and crafted her own 21st-century universe. Read more