Books published by Birkhauser

Quality living in old age is one of the key topics of our time. Integrative forms of housing and living emerge from sophisticated design solutions, transcending the boundaries between individual, collective and assisted forms of living.

As building construction is becoming increasingly complex, the field of building technology is becoming more and more important. As an intermediary between all parties involved in a construction project, the architect must be able to understand what is involved and to advise his clients. This volume covers the fields of water supply and disposal, electric installations and the energy-related subjects, i.e. heating, ventilation and lighting. The compendium combines the successful individual volumes Room Conditioning and Water Cycles and supplements these with the two hitherto unpublished volumes Electric Installation and Lighting design. The student and architect are introduced to the basic principles, terms and systems of building technology installations and equipment.

Hans Scharoun is one of the most important architects of the 20th century; as a proponent of organic architecture, he created unconventional and imaginative buildings which adapt to usersΓÇÖ needs in a dynamic way. His oeuvre includes family residences and housing estates but also encompasses the German embassy in Brazil, and urban icons such as the Berlin Philharmonie. The book, a cooperation with Baukunstarchiv (the architecture archive) of the Akademie der K├╝nste, Berlin, documents the entire range of known completed buildings by Scharoun, including, for the first time, early works in East Prussia. The specially taken photographs by Carsten Krohn, together with the historic photographs and plans from the Hans-Scharoun-Archive offer a new overview of this expressive organic architecture.

Informal settlements made up of corrugated iron shacks and other materials are a ubiquitous feature in the megacities of Africa, Asia and Latin America. In spite of their obvious shortcomings, these shelters provide planning strategies and possibly even a roadmap to a resilient city in an emerging territory. This book deals with this topic.

Hans Scharoun is one of the most important architects of the 20th century; as a proponent of organic architecture, he created unconventional and imaginative buildings which adapt to usersΓÇÖ needs in a dynamic way. His oeuvre includes family residences and housing estates but also encompasses the German embassy in Brazil, and urban icons such as the Berlin Philharmonie. The book, a cooperation with Baukunstarchiv (the architecture archive) of the Akademie der K├╝nste, Berlin, documents the entire range of known completed buildings by Scharoun, including, for the first time, early works in East Prussia. The specially taken photographs by Carsten Krohn, together with the historic photographs and plans from the Hans-Scharoun-Archive offer a new overview of this expressive organic architecture.

After the success of Unbuildable Tatlin?!, this book focuses on Friedrich Kiesler's visionary "Endless House", which was only ever realized in the form of a model. It presents the state of research and discusses the possibility of realizing the project using today's means.

The experience of architectural spaces is formed by the way they are staged. The Drama of Space examines the composition and articulation of architectural spaces in terms of spatial dramaturgy, as a repertoire of means and strategies for shaping spatial experience.

A growing, living house, a building made of a plant seems to be a contradiction in terms. Nevertheless, the Khasi in eastern India already knew how to connect the branches of rubber trees to form footbridges, and in southern Germany dance lime trees formed the centre of villages for centuries. Following on from this, the new discipline of Baubotanik is dedicated to designing with trees. Built projects, prototypes and visionary concepts point the way to a new green architecture. This introduction shows the possibilities of such living constructions and goes into the botanical growth laws that guide the design. The basics of constructing with trees are presented. The book encourages a whole new look at architecture that becomes part of urban nature.

A collection of essays that offers insight into urban anthropological research, including its methods, recent developments, and novel approaches (the imagination of a city, urban scenes). It also includes a concluding chapter on street ethnography that presents a variety of ethnographic, experimental and artistic methods.

The rhythm, dynamics, and processes of our natural environment are increasingly affected by human activitiesΓÇöit is high time that we focus on the greater planetary context of our social activities! This book explores climate and atmosphere and the potential impact on different design disciplines. For this purpose, the focus is on the performative characteristics of climate and atmosphereΓÇöair, atmosphere, and climate are considered important input factors that prompt us to rethink our actions and designs in the Anthropocene era. This carefully edited volume contains contributions from well-known authors in various disciplines, who provide many examples to illustrate their ideas and observations.

The author analyses the workings and the rhetoric of crowdsourced work platforms by comparing the way they address the masses today with historic notions of the crowd.

Water has always served as an inspiration, a material, a catalyst for architecture and design - from Scarpa's poetic use of water, through the reuse of urban waterfront infrastructure, to technically innovative foundations of buildings designed for rising sea levels.

Josef Frank is seen as an important visionary at the early stages of the Modern movement, as well as a critic of its dogmatism. He not only left his mark on Viennese culture and also on Swedish Modernism. This book has emphasis on Frank's later work. It introduces his late, unbuilt building projects, as well as his furniture and fabric designs.

Garden festivals are often a testing area for new ideas for landscape designers. The International Garden Festival in Metis in northern Quebec is probably the best-known festival in North America. This publication intends to explain the role of garden festivals in landscape design and present a selection of 25 gardens from Metis.

Design interventions for the reuse of existing structures must face the question of the past and the extent to which it should be included in a new design. This volume investigates the relationship of art and building reuse. How can art transform the economics of a built context?