Friedman House

Written in celebration of the saving of Friedman House: a historical milestone of modernist architecture The Friedman House is a modernist icon, designed by Frederic Lasserre, founder of the UBC School of Architecture, and landscaped by Cornelia Oberlander. Faced with possible demolition, it was saved by purchasers who understood its architectural value and historical significance.AUTHOR: Richard Cavell is Professor of English and co-founder of the Bachelor of Media Studies Program at the University of British Columbia. He is the author or editor of six books and more than 80 chapters, articles and reviews. 200 colour

With economic restructuring, demographic shifts, and lifestyle changes, the traditional family - working father, stay-at-home mother, two to three children - is no longer the norm and the need for smaller homes at moderate cost has skyrocketed. The first prototype of the Grow Home was built on the campus of McGill University in 1990 and more than one thousand units were built across North America and Europe in the first year alone. In this illustrated guide, Friedman describes the background, conception, and construction of these modest (14" x 36") homes. He details their construction for prospective owners, builders, and architects, showing how past and contemporary precedents have been transformed and how the first versions were adapted by the building industry. Visits to completed Grow Homes shed light on why such homes were purchased and the process by which they "grew." Friedman also shows how the design has been adapted for prefabrication to meet the needs of the developing world. He describes the contribution that small-unit design makes to saving valuable natural resources and shares his experiences in planning communities based on the Grow Home. The Grow Home reveals the development and history of a concept that revolutionizes the home and building industry, has been translated into over 10,000 housing units, and has received, among many accolades, the United Nations World Habitat Award.

Investigates how women patrons of architecture were essential catalysts for innovation in domestic architectural design. This book explores the challenges that unconventional attitudes and ways of life presented to architectural thinking, and to the architects themselves.

Finalist, 2023 Trillium Book Award Finalist, Writers Union of Canada 2023 Daunta Gleed Literary Award Finalist, 2023 ReLit Award for Short Fiction Twelve exquisitely written stories depicting the search for human connection and the attempt to fit in far from home. All the Shining People explores migration, diaspora, and belonging within Toronto’s Jewish South African community, as individuals come to terms with the oppressive hierarchies that separate, and the connections that bind. Seeking a place to belong, the book’s characters — including a life-drawing model searching the streets for her lover; a woman confronting secrets from her past in the new South Africa; and a man grappling with the legacy of his father, a former political prisoner — crave authentic relationships that replicate the lost feeling of home. With its focus on family, culture, and identity, All the Shining People captures the experiences of immigrants and outsiders with honesty, subtlety, and deep sympathy.

An Israeli immigrant's journey to become a "real" American. With their mother caring for relatives in Israel and their father driving a cab all hours of the day, Roxanne and her sister, Gayle, spend a lot of time watching television reruns of Little House on the Prairie, The Brady Bunch, and Wonder Woman—perfect examples of perfect Americans. Roxanne is desperate to be like them. When Liat, a fellow Israeli, moves into the "Cursed House" next door, things begin to change and Roxanne realizes that maybe real life isn’t like TV—maybe it’s even better. The novel is set on Staten Island, New York, in the early 1980’s.

One of the great architects of our time, Frank Gehry has revolutionized the use of materials in design and redefined how architects use computers as a design tool to advance form-making as we know it. He has achieved worldwide fame for such large-scale public projects as the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California, but it was in private houses that Gehry first explored and interrogated the principles of modern architecture. In these houses—most notably his own, in Santa Monica, California—Gehry distorted, expanded, and collapsed the modernist box, exploring everyday materials (corrugated metal, unfinished plywood, and chain link), experimenting with color, and challenging accepted notions about geometry and structure. In houses such as the Schnabel House in Brentwood, California, and the Winton Guest House in Wayzata, Minnesota, he experimented with collage and assemblage. More recently, Gehry’s work has taken on sculptural forms, aided by new structural and geometric potentials of digital design, as in the near-legendary Lewis House in Lyndhurst, Ohio. Color photographs, sketches, and plans create an illuminating visual record of some of the most groundbreaking, seminal projects of Gehry’s oeuvre.