How Buildings Learn is a masterful new synthesis that proposes that buildings adapt best when constantly refined and reshaped by their occupants, and that architects can mature from being artists of space to becoming artists of time. From the connected farmhouses of New England to I.M. Pei's Media Lab, from "satisficing" to "form follows funding," from the evolution of bungalows to the invention of Santa Fe Style, from Low Road military surplus buildings to a High Road English classic like Chatsworth—this is a far-ranging survey of unexplored essential territory.More than any other human artifacts, buildings improve with time—if they're allowed to. How Buildings Learn shows how to work with time rather than against it.

    They provide information. foster our enthusiasms and spark our memories. But these personal treasures also add colour and a true sense of personality to our homes. Books Make a Home explores the important role they play as Decoration. as well as functional items. Author and bibliophile Damian Thompson tours the rooms of the home in turn - Living Rooms. Home Libraries & Studies. Kitchens . Bedrooms & Bathrooms. Corridors & Staircases and Childrens' Spaces - discovering a host of techniques for stacking. shelving and closeting volumes. and illustrating how each space can be brought to life by books. Alongside inspirational photography is a wealth of practical design solutions for each space and every size of collection. You will learn how to make the best use of existing storage and create new space for an ever-growing collection; how to combine books with other personal effects to create eye-catching displays; and helpful feature spreads will illustrate how to organize and care for your books. Beautifully presented and elegantly written, scattered with quotes from famous readers throughout, Books Make a Home is an insightful guide to enjoying books with the eye as well as with the mind.

    Showcasing inspiring homes around the world, the book reflects our growing passion for crafting, stitching and painting. These are homes packed with personality and interest, full of homemade pieces, restored junk-shop finds and one-off treasures. Interiors stylist Selina Lake and writer Joanna Simmons will show you how this homely, crafty look has been given a modern twist with vivid colours, tactile fabrics and bold combinations. The book begins with the Themes, from the basics of modern craft to making colour and pattern work. It also focuses on imaginative ways to recycle and reuse, from transforming furniture with a lick of paint to finding inspired new uses for everyday items. Next, Details looks at textiles, furniture and display, while the third section, Spaces, shows how the style works beautifully in living rooms, kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms, children's rooms, workrooms and even out of doors.

    Then, and perhaps most importantly, the text determines exactly when and in which order to apply these seven techniques.

    The essays offer a refreshing take on the question of architecture and provocatively rethink many of the accepted tenets of architecture theory from a broader cultural perspective.The book represents a careful selection of the very best theoretical writings on the ideas which have shaped our cities and our experiences of architecture. As such, Rethinking Architecture provides invaluable core source material for students on a range of courses.

    You'll find 37 inspirational cabins from all over the country showing how people are building, reclaiming and transforming this unique American dwelling. The Cabin celebrates the appeal of this unique form or retreat, providing inspiration and practical ideas for realizing your own cabin dream.Based on design, shape, age and material, the cabins are divided into four distinct styles: rustic, traditional, modern and transformed. Whatever the style, each is a classic American getaway. The Cabin features:37 inspirational cabins from around all over the country. Nearly 250 photographs and 50 illustrations Detailed descriptions, site plans, and floor plans

    Charting the glorious decade that spans Halo: Combat Evolved to Halo: Reach, Halo: The Great Journey is a lavish and spectacular review of ten years of groundbreaking game art brought together in one place as never before. Halo: The Great Journey is the ultimate gallery of the Halo universe - from characters to weapons and much more; with sketches and concept art by acclaimed artists such as Ashley Wood, the detailed interiors and sweeping landscapes of Alex Chu, and Frank Capezzuto's breathtaking spacescapes. In addition there is art from Halo: Legends - the anime DVD - book covers, comic pages, marketing images and more; plus an introduction from "the face of Halo," Frank O'Connor. A celebration of visual splendor - from the Spartans themselves to the breathtaking vistas of dawn breaking on an alien world - Halo: The Great Journey is dramatic, grandiose and utterly awesome.

    Selected and introduced by Joseph Parisi, former longtime editor of Poetry magazine, this brilliant collection brings together the greatest poems by all the classic authors, along with the choicest works by today's most accomplished artists in America and abroad. From W. H. Auden and T. S. Eliot to John Ashbery and A. R. Ammons; Elizabeth Bishop and Marianne Moore to Sylvia Plath and Mary Oliver; Robert Frost and W. B. Yeats to Allen Ginsberg and Thom Gunn, this comprehensive anthology features the poems that have best expressed the spirit of our times and helped create modern culture. In addition to such ground-breaking works as "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and "Howl," Mr. Parisi has included the incisive social satire and whimsical wordplay of such wits as Dorothy Parker, Ogden Nash, and Frank O'Hara. Among contemporary poets in the book are Seamus Heaney, Jane Kenyon, Rita Dove, Sharon Olds, Paul Muldoon, Adrienne Rich, and the redoubtable Billy Collins, all of whom have already achieved wide popular acclaim for poems that speak compellingly about modern life and the perennial concerns of the human heart. Mr. Parisi provides a general introduction to the book and introduces each poem with a brief biographical and critical note. For anyone who wishes to discover or to re-experience the most important and vital poems of our time, 100 Essential Modern Poems is, quite simply, indispensable.

    How do you find your style? How do you keep expenses under control? What essential pieces does every home need for maximum functionality and flair? How will you merge tastes—and stuff—to create a space that feels like home to you both? Here to take the guesswork out of decorating is The Nest Home Design Handbook, a practical, gorgeous, room-by-room guide to giving your place unique and affordable style.Learn how to: -Design with your inner stylist in mind-Arrange your living room-Mix modern pieces and Mom's hand-me-downs-Choose the right paint colors-Freshen a formal kitchen space-Make a small space look bigger-Hang pictures properly-Jazz up your walls-Buy good furniture (on a budget)-Kill the clutterPLUS: Suggestions for displaying your stuff in fun and interesting ways, DIY wall art ideas, tips for organizing every room, information on basic home repairs, and more!

    The design maven behind livinginanutshell.com and Oprah Winfrey’s interior style producer for a decade, Lee has personally handpicked a battery of clever projects for enhancing every area of a tiny living space—all are simple to do, require no craft skills, are emphatically affordable, readily portable, and big on style, so you can make these design dreams become your reality.

    As she was handed me by the midwife, my mother wept for all the wrong reasons. She could have shagged a platypus and I still would have come out better than this.So begins Jason Byrne's Adventures of a Wonky-Eyed Boy, a laugh-out-loud memoir that captures the childhood adventures of an accident-prone youngster in 1970s and 1980s suburban Dublin.It was a time when your brother persuaded you to eat the grease behind the cooker by telling you it was caramel, your house was blown up by lightning, your dad mixed up the toothpaste and the arse-cream, and you fell asleep on Sunday nights to the sound of one of the neighbours who were all named Paddy drunkenly singing Magic Moments in the good front room. All of this while trying to stop your wonky eye from giving the game away.Jason Byrne's childhood adventures are nostalgic, heart-warming and, above all, hilarious."When you read this you'll realise Jason might actually be the normal one in his family." John Bishop."I loved this book so much I wanted to cover it in wallpaper and write to all my pen pals about it!" Amy Huberman"A comedy god" The Mirror."Outright king of live comedy" The Times.

    Thirty-one leading architects are represented in this updated Third Edition in examinations of more than 100 structures assessed through a diagrammatic technique that is applicable to any structure. This impressive collection includes sixteen new buildings and eight innovative architects distinguished by the strength, quality, and interest of their designs. Readers will find valuable guidance in analyzing architectural history as an evolutionary process by exploring the commonality of design ideas reflected in a broad range of structures by internationally renowned architects. Both novices and seasoned professionals will find Precedents in Architecture, Third Edition a very useful tool for enriching their design vocabulary and for the ongoing assessment of buildings found in today's evolving landscape.

    As energy costs continue to rise, the almost-off-the-grid house proves its worth. Prefabulous + Almost Off the Grid profiles more than 30 of the most energy-efficient homes in the United States, and this hardworking guide reveals how homeowners can achieve similar results with floor plans, the latest, most efficient technologies, and multiple images of the exterior and interior of each home. Praise for Prefabulous + Almost Off the Grid: Recipient of the 2013 Robert Bruss Gold Book Award from the National Association of Real Estate Editors (NAREE) “You can build a high quality, environmentally friendly and efficient home at a reasonable price with a look and feel of a traditional home. Advancements like those used in our house and the other houses in this book will transform the homebuilding industry.” —Christine Todd Whitman, former governor of New Jersey and administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency “The time has come to throw out the old stereotypes and to embrace prefab building techniques as the way of the future—and the best approach for today. For anyone wanting to create a house that’s sustainable in every sense of the word, this book is an excellent place to start.” —Sarah Susanka, architect and author of The Not So Big House series “I'm passionate about prefab because I know that it can spark an incredibly positive change in the building industry and dramatically reduce costs and construction duration. Prefabulous + Almost Off the Grid is an enlightening guide on using prefab to create your own affordable, energy-efficient home.” —Bruce Ratner, chairman and chief executive of the Forest City Ratner Companies “Sheri Koones highlights the many ways of using prefabrication to create almost-off-the-grid homes that are not only environmentally friendly but often operate at nearly zero annual energy cost. . . . This is an easy-on-the-eyes guide that includes floor plans and multiple images of the exterior and interior of each home. It is not a manual for green construction, but a general overview of aspects of prefab and green construction. And it does that well.” —Natural Life magazine “If you’re ready to do something about your energy dependence, or if you enjoy stories of people who’ve bucked the trends, you owe it to yourself to give Prefabulous + Almost Off the Grid a look. Beautifully illustrated, it ends with a great resources list for the homes showcased.” —Examiner.com “Indispensable guide to creating the ideal, almost-off-the-grid home. . . . This text is both timely and tempting to anyone interested in inhabiting a more comfortable and cost-efficient abode.” —Bask “This attractive coffee-table-style book, the third in Koones’s Prefabulous series, features 32 prefabricated houses that, to a greater or lesser extent, boast environmentally friendly, efficient, and renewable-energy elements.” —Publishers Weekly

    With equal expertise and enthusiasm she radiates her testimony of the brightness of hope that the gospel brings.A bumper sticker she quotes could well be a summary of this collection of addresses. 'Hard-hat construction area: christian under construction'. She adds: 'We're all Christians under construction, and that's an area where we need hard hats. It's . . . a little risky sometimes'.Sister Okazaki shares her personal experiences reaching out to the reader with love, support and encouragement. Her often penetrating insights into the tests of mortal life ring with truth and sincerity. Just as with the pattern of the cat's cradle, our lives connect and intersect. She describes those connections in both inspiring and practical terms over a broad spectrum of topics: partnership in marriage and in Church callings; love, the heart of the gospel; the process and the joy of service; replacing circles that exclude with circles that include; the changes life brings and the responses we choose; how to accept and handle our mistakes; bringing hope and growth out of the deserts of adversity; using the flowers of our loves for either joy or consolation, as needed; and much more. Pervading every address is Sister Okazaki's sense of the reality of Jesus Christ and how we can make his cause- love- more deeply our own.

    Using full-color photos, detailed drawings, and clear step-by-step instructions, Beemer shows you exactly how to build one small (12ʹ x 16ʹ) timber-frame structure — suitable for use as a cabin, workshop, or studio. He also explains how to modify the structure to suit your needs and location by adding a loft, moving doors or windows, changing the roof pitch, or making the frame larger or smaller. You’ll end up with a beautiful building as well as solid timber-framing skills that you can use for a lifetime.