The Modern Townhouse

Townhouses are some of the most interesting features of modern urban architecture. Below we present a selection of newly designed townhouses, unconventional architectural concepts in terraced housing for cosmopolitan families. The main feature of these houses is the imaginative use of space and the creative way in which natural light is allowed to enter.

A townhouse is a residence that many find combines the best amenities of a single–family home and a condominium. By definition, a townhouse is a home that is attached to adjacent houses, which sits upon land that you own. THE MODERN TOWNHOUSE will look at three types of town house projects that are increasingly popular in urban areas and close–in suburbia: 1) Renovation of existing town houses. This is a particularly popular activity in older, urban neighborhoods undergoing re–gentrification. Eighteenth and nineteenth century "shells" long in disrepair, are being gutted and totally modernized 2) Vacant lots, primarily in the inner cities, but also in close–in suburban neighborhoods where zoning restricts high rise housing, are being filled with four or five town houses that are built perpendicular to the street, usually in neighborhoods where the lot size would normally accommodate only one, detached house. This activity is in response to the increasing demand for urban housing where high land prices mandate multifamily housing solutions. 3) New, one–off townhouses, that are found primarily in wealthier neighborhoods where the high land cost can be recovered with a single, luxury town home. The book will be divided into these three categories and feature project from around the country including Baltimore, San Diego, San Francisco, Miami, and in smaller metropolitan areas.

Once the bastion of the haute bourgeoisie, the town house has now been embraced by families with young children, single urban professionals, and retired couples, all looking for more comfortable city or suburban living. Architect Alexander Gorlin explores a spectacular array of diverse town house designs (often referred to by different terms in different parts of the country) that carry this familiar symbol of architectural innovation and refinement into the twenty-first century. Creating the New American Town House features cutting-edge town houses that each draw from architectural tradition while achieving originality by both breaking from and adhering to the limitations of the town house form. Within the typical five-story frame and two parallel walls presented here are ingenious and exquisite and, above all, extremely livable design solutions to the constraints of this classic housing type. Ranging from sites in New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC, each of the buildings featured in Creating the New American Town House represents an eloquent contribution to the form and is designed by such celebrated architects as Steven Ehrlich, Hugh Newell Jacobson, Reed Krakoff, Stanley Saitowitz, and 1100 Architect. Each project is extensively illustrated with full-color photography that showcases the interior design as well as plans and drawings. Alexander Gorlin's insightful text continues the discourse begun in his The New American Town House, surveying the adaptation of this beloved urban dwelling to the demands of a new century.

This volume shows the great architectural diversity of townhouses, the ideal starting point for new approaches to urban living.

New Townhouse Plans contains more than 250 floor and elevation plans, as well as constructive details of 38 housing projects. These plans and projects are perfect constructions in tiny pieces of the city's urban ground.

Explores the designs of twenty-six recently built town homes by such architects as Tod Williams, Dan Solomon, Mark Mack, and Dirk Lohan.

Continuing her exploration of English interiors, Ros Byam Shaw visits 14 distinctive townhouses full of charm, character and style. In Perfect English Townhouse, Ros Byam Shaw examines the timeless English style of decoration in a variety of Georgian, Victorian, and contemporary townhouses. Architecturally, these tall, narrow properties present challenges. How do you make the best of a basement kitchen with a low ceiling and little light? Or allocate space effectively when you live across five floors? And how do you maximize any outdoor space? Perfect English Townhouse features case studies of such homes, not only in London but also in the provincial towns and cities of England. Some feel like little corners of countryside surrounded by sidewalks, others have a more sophisticated urban allure; some are endearingly quirky, others more classical. All the interiors featured are interesting, inspiring, and reflect the personalities of the people who live in them. These are the kinds of spaces that most of us are familiar with, and that many of us occupy. What is unusual is how cleverly and creatively these examples have been decorated and designed, in the Perfect English style.

Jack Madigan should be leading an enviable life. He’s the sole heir of a ’70s rock icon. He lives with his retro-obsessed teenage son, Harlan, in a once-magnificent Boston town house. But now 36, Jack’s painting career is buckling under a raging case of agoraphobia. And when the foreclosure notice arrives, Jack must face losing the only home he’s ever known—and his only safe zone. When Jack’s ex-wife announces that Harlan would be better off living with her and her vitamin-enriched fiancé, Jack has to figure out how to deter the perky, inexperienced real-estate agent, hold on to his house, keep his son at home, and—through the tenacity of the little girl next door—finally step out onto the sidewalk. Fox 2000 swooped in to pre-empt the film rights while Town House was still on submission to publishers. Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions is set to produce the movie and Pulitzer Prize-winning screenwriter Doug Wright (Memoirs of a Geisha) is adapting the screenplay. A book with the ability to both entertain and move us, Town House is a smart, acerbic novel bursting with heart and quirky charm.