Book picks similar to
Social Design: Creating Buildings With People In Mind by Robert Sommer


architecture-design
arquitetura-psicologia
design
don-norman-s-recommended-reading

Between Silence and Light: Spirit in the Architecture of Louis I. Kahn


John Lobell - 1979
    Kahn, whose many buildings include the Salk Institute, the Yale Study Center, and the Exeter Library. He is remembered, however, not only as a master builder, but also as one of the most important and creative thinkers of the twentieth century. For Kahn, the study of architecture was the study of human beings, their highest aspirations and most profound truths. He searched for forms and materials to express the subtlety and grandeur of life. In his buildings we see the realization of his vision: luminous surfaces that evoke a fundamental awe, silent courtyards that speak of the expansiveness and the sanctity of the spirit, monumental columns and graceful arches that embody dignity and strength. Updated with a new preface, this classic work is a major statement on human creativity, showing us Louis Kahn as architect, visionary, and poet.

Engineering Mechanics of Solids


Egor P. Popov - 1989
    Traditional topics are supplemented by several newly-emerging disciplines, such as the probabilistic basis for structural analysis, and matrix methods.KEY TOPICS: Although retaining its character as a complete traditional book on mechanics of solids with advanced overtones from the first edition, the second edition of Engineering Mechanics of Solids has been significantly revised. The book reflects an emphasis on the SI system of units and presents a simpler approach for calculations of axial stress that provides a more obvious, intuitive approach. It also now includes a greater number of chapters as well as an expanded chapter on Mechanical Properties of Materials and introduces a number of avant-garde topics. Among these topics are an advanced analytic expression for cyclic loading and a novel failure surface for brittle material. MARKET: An essential reference book for civil, mechanical, and aeronautical engineers.

Mailboat: Book One


Danielle Lincoln Hanna - 2016
    Falling into the lake is pretty much a hazard of the job. Finding a dead body underwater is pretty much not. One mistimed jump restarts a manhunt, unsolved since before she was born, and reopens old wounds that were only half healed. As if that weren’t bad enough, she’s stuck in the most epically abysmal foster home ever, since she first entered “the system” eleven years ago. Abuse at home, bullets flying in the street … and she thought prom was bad. All she wants is a family of her own. Is that so much to ask for? A forever family–provided she survives the summer.

Informal


Cecil Balmond - 2002
    His structural thinking differs from that of others in his field, in its completely innovative conception of the engineer's contribution to architecture. The plasticity of architectural plans is enhanced through a decisive promotion of their structural designs. The borderline between structure and architecture thus becomes increasingly blurred. This process is explained in detail in "Informal" by reference to eight seminal projects. Balmond elucidates the theoretical basis of his engineering and architectural solutions, and his sketches transcend purely technical illustration - they are key to his approach. "Informal" invites readers to rethink their understanding of the relationships between architecture, design and engineering.

By Design: Why There Are No Locks on the Bathroom Doors in the Hotel Louis XIV and Other Object Lessons


Ralph Caplan - 1982
    A network of engrossing stories illuminate the process as it applies to industrial design, interior design, fashion design, graphic design and the design of business and social situations. It is the perfect accompaniment to a broad area of foundation courses for designers-in-training. This new edition of the popular classic features updated examples of timeless ideas, illustrated in full colour. A concluding chapter discusses what has, and has not, changed since the first edition, examining design responses to radical technological development and shifting consumer demands. An elegant foreword by Paola Antonelli of the Museum of Modern Arts Department of Architecture and Design reintroduces the book to a fresh generation of readers.

Camera: A History of Photography from Daguerreotype to Digital


Todd Gustavson - 2009
    Few inventions have had the impact of this ingenious, elegant, and deceptively simple device.This gorgeous cornerstone volume, created in collaboration with the world-famous George Eastman House, celebrates the camera and the art of the photograph. It spans almost two hundred years of progress, from the first faint image ever caught to the instantaneous pictures snapped by today’s state-of-the-art digital equipment.The informative narrative by Todd Gustavson traces the camera’s development, the lives of its brilliant but often eccentric inventors, and the artists behind the lens. Images and highly descriptive captions for more than 350 cameras from the George Eastman House Collection, plus more than 100 historic photos, ads, and drawings, complement the text.A foreword by the George Eastman House Director Anthony Bannon, and insightful essays by Steve Sasson, inventor of the digital camera, and Alexis Gerard, visionary founder and president of Future Image Inc., completes this illuminating study of one of the greatest modern technological achievements.

Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic Interiors: My rooms, treasures and trinkets


Rachel Ashwell - 2009
    Chic Interiors—My Rooms, Treasures, and Trinkets, an eclectic book of quirky inspiration, falls into chapters according to location, and begins with Rachel’s breathtaking Los Angeles residence. Next, we wander into a photographer’s minimalist mountain-top home in the Hollywood hills before heading to the coast and a beautiful Malibu beach cottage. A truly bohemian hideout in southern California is next on the journey, followed by a peek at celebrity homes, including the house that once belonged to Marilyn Monroe. With rooms combining flea-market finds and objects of pure functionality—an elegant French mirror reflecting a painting, a bejeweled metallic candle holder sitting by a cluster of willow-patterned china, a single faded velvet pillow lounging under the twinkle of a vintage chandelier—this book celebrates all that is wonderfully Shabby Chic.

Atlas of Novel Tectonics


Jesse Reiser - 2006
    With Atlas of Novel Tectonics, Reiser+Umemoto hone in on the many facets of architecture and illuminate their theories with great thought and simplicity. The Atlas is organized as an accumulation of short chapters that address the workings of matter and force, material science, the lessons of art and architectural history, and the influence of architecture on culture (and vice versa). Reiser+Umemoto see architectural design as a series of problem situations, and each chapter is an argument devoted to a specific condition or case. Influenced by a wide range of fields and phenomenaBrillat-Savarin's classic The Physiology of Taste is one of their primary modelsthe authors provide a cross-section of thinking and inspiration. The result is both an elucidation of the concepts that guide Reiser+Umemoto through their own design process and a series of meditations on topics that have formed their own sense as architects. Atlas of Novel Tectonics offers an entirely fresh perspective on subjects that are generally taken for granted, and does so with a welcome punch and energy.

The Clothing of Books


Jhumpa Lahiri - 2016
    Probing the complex relationships between text and image, author and designer, and art and commerce, Lahiri delves into the role of the uniform; explains what book jackets and design have come to mean to her; and how, sometimes, “the covers become a part of me.”

The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World


Simon Winchester - 2018
    At the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in eighteenth-century England, standards of measurement were established, giving way to the development of machine tools—machines that make machines. Eventually, the application of precision tools and methods resulted in the creation and mass production of items from guns and glass to mirrors, lenses, and cameras—and eventually gave way to further breakthroughs, including gene splicing, microchips, and the Hadron Collider.Simon Winchester takes us back to origins of the Industrial Age, to England where he introduces the scientific minds that helped usher in modern production: John Wilkinson, Henry Maudslay, Joseph Bramah, Jesse Ramsden, and Joseph Whitworth. It was Thomas Jefferson who later exported their discoveries to the fledgling United States, setting the nation on its course to become a manufacturing titan. Winchester moves forward through time, to today’s cutting-edge developments occurring around the world, from America to Western Europe to Asia.As he introduces the minds and methods that have changed the modern world, Winchester explores fundamental questions. Why is precision important? What are the different tools we use to measure it? Who has invented and perfected it? Has the pursuit of the ultra-precise in so many facets of human life blinded us to other things of equal value, such as an appreciation for the age-old traditions of craftsmanship, art, and high culture? Are we missing something that reflects the world as it is, rather than the world as we think we would wish it to be? And can the precise and the natural co-exist in society?

On the Map: A Mind-Expanding Exploration of the Way the World Looks


Simon Garfield - 2012
    Now Garfield takes on a subject even dearer to our fanatical human hearts: maps.Imagine a world without maps. How would we travel? Could we own land? What would men and women argue about in cars? Scientists have even suggested that mapping—not language—is what elevated our prehistoric ancestors from ape-dom. Follow the history of maps from the early explorers’ maps and the awe-inspiring medieval Mappa Mundi to Google Maps and the satellite renderings on our smartphones, Garfield explores the unique way that maps relate and realign our history—and reflect the best and worst of what makes us human.Featuring a foreword by Dava Sobel and packed with fascinating tales of cartographic intrigue, outsize personalities, and amusing “pocket maps” on an array of subjects from how to fold a map to the strangest maps on the Internet, On the Map is a rich historical tapestry infused with Garfield’s signature narrative flair. Map-obsessives and everyone who loved Just My Type will be lining up to join Garfield on his audacious journey through time and around the globe.

Where There's a Will: Who Inherited What and Why


Stephen M. Silverman - 1991
    In Where There's a Will, Stephen M. Silverman shows just how different with a peek at the wills of the richest, most celebrated people of all time, and he provides the intimate scoop on what their heirs had to say about it. Discover what secret pact Clark Gable made in 1942 and took to his grave - only to be exposed when his will was read. Learn why it took more than a year for Liza Minnelli to raise the $37,500 needed to bury the ashes of her mother, Judy Garland, and what treasures were left to the heirs of Babe Ruth, James Dean, John Jacob Astor, Ernest Hemingway, and Ayn Rand once those wills cleared probate. From Marilyn Monroe and Andy Warhol to John Lennon, Jim Morrison, John Steinbeck, Rita Hayworth, and Jack Dempsey, Where There's a Will . . . is an utterly engrossing read sure to captivate tycoons and gossip addicts alike with its fascinating tales of how the other half bequeaths.

Draw 50 Buildings and Other Structures: The Step-by-Step Way to Draw Castles and Cathedrals, Skyscrapers and Bridges, and So Much More...


Lee J. Ames - 1980
    From the Eiffel Tower to the Taj Mahal -- 50 man-made and natural structures from around the world are drawn here.

Graphic Guide to Frame Construction


Rob Thallon - 1991
    This revised fourth edition reflects the most recent changes in residential frame construction. It contains more details for engineered wood products, fasteners, and seismic hold-down requirements, as well as the latest IRC code updates. It is well annotated and covers foundations, floors, walls, stairs, and roofs. Because examples are taken from actual job sites by a trusted expert, this book is an invaluable visual aid that can help builders and homeowners alike to tackle a wide range of framing projects.

Big, Hot to Cold: An Odyssey of Architectural Adaptation


Bjarke Ingels - 2015