Workshopvapd Homes

The first book from award-winning interior design and architecture firm Workshop/APD with projects ranging from sleek Manhattan apartments to Shingle Style getaways. Since its founding by Andrew Kotchen and Matt Berman, Workshop/APD has perfected a unique amalgam of traditional warmth and contemporary simplicity. All of their projects, whether a modern yet cozy Manhattan pied-à-terre or a surprisingly streamlined Shingle Style compound in Nantucket, strike an exquisite balance between architectural brilliance and decorative expressiveness. The architecture and interior design Workshop/APD represent a cleanly tailored and brightly hued modernity, with all the embellishments of refined and luxurious decoration. In every project, high tech and hand finishing are applied to exquisite details and fine materials and finishes, resulting in one-of-a-kind designs that are meticulously crafted, inviting, and intentional.

From acclaimed architect and designer Keith Summerour comes an alluring new book of carefully crafted dwellings that redefine the idea of home for today. When we think about what home is, many of us would say a house that is soulful and welcoming, a place with an inviting porch and a lush garden, a welcoming entryway and well-crafted living spaces that will nurture our private moments and expand to welcome guests. In this alluring new book, Keith Summerour shares nine houses, exploring their architecture, interiors, and grounds, to illustrate a new idea of home. Reinterpreting and making new his own Southern legacy that speaks both of aristocratic charm and homespun appeal, these homes range from rustic retreats that draw their power from the land to elegant manor houses, but all share extraordinary character and charm that nod to history while reflecting the way people wish to live in the world today. Enriched by the work of some of the top interior decorators working today, including Beth Webb, Barbara Westbrook, Circa Interiors, and Liza Bryan, as well as world-renowned landscape designers Jeremy Smearman and John Howard, and beautifully illustrated with all-new photography, Creating Home is the ultimate dream book.

When the levee system protecting New Orleans failed and was overtopped in August 2005 following the arrival of Hurricane Katrina, 80 percent of the city was flooded, with a loss of 103,000 homes in the metropolitan area. At least 986 Louisiana residents died. The devastation hit vulnerable communities the hardest: the elderly, the poor, and African-Americans. The disaster exposed shocking inequalities in the city. In response, numerous urban plans and myriad architectural projects were proposed. Nearly nine years later, debates about planning and design for recovery, renewal, and resilience continue. This bold, challenging, and informed book gathers together a panorama of responses from writers, architects, planners, historians, and activists-including Mike Davis, Rebecca Solnit, Naomi Klein, Denise Scott Brown, and M. Christine Boyer-and searches for answers to one of the most important questions of our age: How can we plan for the urban future, creating more environmentally sustainable, economically robust, and socially equitable places to live? A 2014 grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts supported in part the publication of this book.

A new volume from the esteemed architecture firm Historical Concepts features extraordinary homes rooted in tradition and enriched with a modern sensibility. Known for designing welcoming Southern homes, Historical Concepts, one of today's leading traditional architecture firms, is now working on diverse projects across America and in exotic locales, such as the Caribbean and Patagonia. A multigenerational team of architects is extending the firm's founding philosophy--expressing both timeless and inventive perspectives on design. Showcased are beautifully photographed country estates, coastal retreats, and pastoral properties, all weaving the classical principles of symmetry, scale, and proportion with vernacular motifs and artisanal craftsmanship to create stylish and comfortable backdrops for contemporary living. Sophisticated interior decoration and stunning landscapes accompany the architecture, creating a harmonious sense of place. Through engaging stories that inform, Andrew Cogar shows how to reimagine the traditional home--whether an elegant Greek Revival pavilion, a chic Hamptons summer house, or a reinterpretation of a historic Charleston single house--to capture one's unique point of view. Visions of Home is an invaluable resource for those who enjoy the warmth and charm of traditional architecture.

Ambiguous Spaces, the newest installment in the Pamphlet Architecture series and a return to Pamphlet's own progressive roots, features the architectural fictions "The Pregnant Island" and "Nuclear Breeding." These two projects develop alternative urban concepts that address the challenges presented by the specific situations and social dynamics described in controversial locations such as the Brazilian Tucurui Dam, the Three Gorges Dam in China, and former English nuclear test sites. Using narrative techniques, fictional programs, ambiguous spaces, and building devices, Ambiguous Spaces explores people, communities, and even entire cities oppressed by a lack of freedom.

A cross-referenced "index" of writings, interviews, and images representative of current architectural discourse. INDEX Architecture documents the extensive cross-fertilization of ideas that can occur between architectural practice and education. Through work developed by students and faculty at Columbia University's School of Architecture, it offers not only an archive of avant-garde work but a record of architectural discourse at a time when the design studio has been radically altered by digital technology. Writings, interviews, and images are organized according to an alphabetical "index" of key terms. Cross-referencing allows for a rich reading of concepts currently discussed in the field. Contributing Critics and Theorists Stan Allen, Karen Bausman, Lise Anne Couture, Kathryn Dean, Evan Douglis, Kenneth Frampton, Leslie Gill, Thomas Hanrahan, Laurie Hawkinson, Steven Holl, Jeffrey Kipnis, Sulan Kolatan, Greg Lynn, William MacDonald, Reinhold Martin, Mary Mcleod, Victoria Meyers, Hani Rashid, Jesse Reiser, Bernard Tschumi, Nanako Umemoto, and Mark Wigley

Tavis Smiley presents the successor to his two bestselling books, The Covenant of Black America and The Covenant in Action—Accountable will serve as a report card, holding the politicians accountable for what they have promised and holding the community responsible for its actions or inactions. In Accountable, New York Times bestselling author Tavis Smiley addresses two issues: Public officials and the promises they have made regarding issues of concern to the African American community; and holding individuals and communities accountable for the degree to which they have utilized various tools and strategies outlined in his previous books, The Covenant and The Covenant in Action, to effect change. In sum, this book will explore how well the covenant goals have been realized. It explores topics such as healthcare, education, the unequal justice system, and jobs, and it will do so through story—real life examples of how an issue manifests itself on the ground. Accountable will examine the conditions of our present day and the consequences for America if we fail to effect real change within the next two decades. It will make the case for American citizens to be driven by “the cause and not the candidate,” and demonstrate the need to hold our politicians and ourselves accountable—because the stakes have never been higher.

In a very short time America has realized that global warming poses real challenges to the nation's future. The Agile City engages the fundamental question: what to do about it? Journalist and urban analyst James S. Russell argues that we'll more quickly slow global warming-and blunt its effects-by retrofitting cities, suburbs, and towns. The Agile City shows that change undertaken at the building and community level can reach carbon-reduction goals rapidly. Adapting buildings (39 percent of greenhouse-gas emission) and communities (slashing the 33 percent of transportation related emissions) offers numerous other benefits that tax gimmicks and massive alternative-energy investments can't match. Rapidly improving building techniques can readily cut carbon emissions by half, and some can get to zero. These cuts can be affordably achieved in the windshield-shattering heat of the desert and the bone-chilling cold of the north. Intelligently designing our towns could reduce marathon commutes and child chauffeuring to a few miles or eliminate it entirely. Agility, Russell argues, also means learning to adapt to the effects of climate change, which means redesigning the obsolete ways real estate is financed; housing subsidies are distributed; transportation is provided; and water is obtained, distributed and disposed of. These engines of growth have become increasingly more dysfunctional both economically and environmentally. The Agile City highlights tactics that create multiplier effects, which means that ecologically driven change can shore-up economic opportunity, can make more productive workplaces, and can help revive neglected communities. Being able to look at multiple effects and multiple benefits of political choices and private investments is essential to assuring wealth and well-being in the future. Green, Russell writes, grows the future.