The New American Town House

A study of the townhouse as both a cultural phenomenon and as a important design type in American urban architecture looks at the unique design chracteristics, construction, and history of some of the nation's finest townhouses, including homes from Charleston, New York City, Brooklyn, St.

"Recent societal changes brought about renewed interest by architects, town planners and housing officials in terraced and row homes. This prototype whose origins date back several centuries offers relevant solutions to contemporary challenges. Chief among these challenges is a need to adopt sustainable approaches to the planning of neighbourhood and the design of dwellings. These homes built in higher densities help halt urban sprawl with its many negative traits and also contribute to the reduction of materials used in their construction, and once occupied - to their energy efficiency. Another aspect that occupies both housing providers and consumers is affordability. It has become highly difficult for first time homebuyers to purchase a dwelling in most urban centres. Due to their physical characteristics these narrow-frontage homes reduce the amount of land consumed and investments in costly infrastructure which makes them affordable. Society's rapidly changing demographic make-up is another trend which renewed interest in this prototype. There are more singles, single parents and childless couples who wish to reside in a ground-related dwelling rather than in an apartment. Over the years, the row or terraced home maintained its appeal by offering privacy and green yards in dense configuration. New challenges have given them renewed importance which makes this book on their design and planning highly relevant"--

The house, throughout history, in every place in the world, has been built to provide shelter from the elements. The dwellings that have resulted are as different as the people that have built them, the social norms that prevailed at the time and place in which they were built and the natural environment that they adapted to. Studying them now in a comprehensive way allows us to understand the social, political, economic and religious conditions that existed for their inhabitants. They are a three-dimensional record of culture. Twenty-four pages of color images, along with black and white images through three volumes, illustrate the homes of people throughout the world. The volumes cover ancient times to the late Middle Ages, the Renaissance to the Industrial Revolution, and the Post-Industrial Revolution to the Present.