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The two-dimensional drawing with plan layout, elevation, and section is a necessary prerequisite for all building. Perspectives help to give three-dimensional expression to the architect's ideas. In order to convey architecture and to build it, drawings at a reduced scale are mandatory, for the...

The bentwood furniture developed by Michael Thonet made style history and served as the foundation of one of the world’s most successful furniture brands. At the end of the 1920s, Thonet also entered the tubular steel furniture business, which continues to be an important...

Challenging European cultural conventions, the work of Swiss-Bolivian artist Carmen Perrin (b.1953) is infused with fine undertones and references to her Latin American roots. In her preference for industrial mass-produced materials she transposes electric wire, cables and building materials into a subtle, ambiguous imagery...

Christian Hauvette (b. 1944) studied under the philosopher Roland Barthes before going on to train as an architect. Since 1980 he became one of France's leading architects. His architecture is characterised by a clear, constructive purpose which is at the same time highly expressive....

This dictionary provides a stimulating and categorical foundation for a serious international discourse on design. It is a handbook for everyone concerned with design in career or education, who is interested in it, enjoys it, and wishes to understand it. 110 authors from Japan, Austria,...

In the form of a well illustrated essay, the architect Valerio Olgiati explains how he develops his projects, the parameters that influence his design process, and the intellectual context from which he works. In a reduced, clear language this iconographic autobiography offers a very...

The minimalist concrete architecture of Tadao Ando has roots both in Japanese traditions and in Western architecture. This book begins with both contexts: it explores how Ando unites Japanese tradition with a contemporary Western architectural idiom. By analysing systematically and chronologically the roots and...

In 1929, Eileen Gray designed Villa E 1027 for herself and her youthful partner Jean Badovici, but only lived there for three years. Today, the elegant house in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin in southern France is an icon of modernism. In 1937, Le Corbusier discovered the place...