DOM publishers Eugenio Miozzi. Modern Venice between Innovation and Tradition. 1931–1969 Kusch Clemencs

Post-Civil War Spain used the countryside as locus and symbol for the reconstruction and modernisation of the state. The Modern Village in Franco’s Spain studies the reconstruction of the towns devastated between 1936 and 1939. It analyses the ideological, political, and urbanistic principles of Franco’s hydro-social programme of modernisation of the countryside through the creation of man-made landscapes (Kulturlandschaften) of dams, irrigation canals, electric power plants, and new settlements – a genuine experiment in water urbanism • The consequent strategy of interior colonisation entailed the construction of 300 new villages or pueblos, each designed as a ‘rural utopia’ centred on a plaza mayor, which embodied, between tradition and modernity, the political ideal of civil life under the national-catholic regime

Builders have never been so prolific as they are today. And never have there been so many technical and design-related options available to architects. Yet contemporary architecture often creates a sense of unease. In their book, Sergei Tchoban and Wladimir Sedow show how the balance between prominent buildings and the buildings around them in the background has been lost in the modern era. Every building strives to assert itself over others - to drown out its peers. At the same time, contemporary architects are capable of developing 'a sense of harmony full of contrasts'. They have a wealth of options at their disposal to this end. After prowling through 2,500 years of architectural history, the authors arrive at what makes modern buildings so particular

Presented in it's entirety for the very first time, this text captures the very last words of architect Ludwig Miles van Der Rohe • The German-American architect Dirk Lohan began to record his conversations with his grandfather Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in the summer of 1969. The tapes, recorded during the final weeks of Mies's life, captured some of the architect's very last words. They were sent to the Museum of Modern Art in New York after his death, though they went missing under unknown circumstances. Only an incomplete typescript remains as a testimony to the conversations. The Lost, Last Words of Mies van der Rohe presents this text in it's entirety for the very first time. The conversations relayed in the typescript reveal the famously reticent Mies speaking about his own life with a level of detail, precision, and candour found nowhere else

From the record-breaking architecture of Dubai to the majestic gravitas of buildings found in Abu Dhabi, this book combines the diversity and complexity of the United Arab Emirates. Indeed, the rich building culture of the lesser known emirates Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fu-jairah is also given emphasis. The (architectural) history of the country is deeply anchored in Arabic tradition and was also influenced by Persia, other neighbouring countries and colonial powers. In 1971 the seven emirates established the United Arab Emirates (UAE). What followed was a race to catch up which catapulted the State from a modest Bedouin society into the era of the Burj Khalifa. At the same time, the country is increasingly shedding it's dependency on oil and gas and investing heavily in trade, tourism and construction

After its golden age in the last decades of the 20th century, diagramming is still an experimental practice today, but it focuses on the synthesis of complexity and on new disciplinary territories on the edge between humanities, art, architecture, urban planning and landscape. This manual presents experimental diagrams through sensing, analysing and transforming space. The contributions critically delineate diagrammatic behaviours in architectural history, present the design practices of offices such as AZPML and MVRDV, take the medium to its extreme consequences, and outline future trajectories

During the Covid-19 pandemic we have been forced to retreat into private shelters and to question the limits of residential typologies. The villa is an obvious example of such a shelter. It has reemerged as an object of desire, because of the urge to escape the boundaries of our own four walls. Throughout history this typology has been rethought and reinvented by architectural greats who sought to break radically with the tradition of their times. But what does it mean to us to design a villa during a period of isolation and lockdown? • The answer is not clear. The villa has always been both a dream home for clients and a means of expression for architects. It combines architecture's most primitive function - to create a liveable shelter - with an architect's endeavour to manifest their ideology in a single building

The machines that orbit our planet live in a void environment – however, space travel itself does not exist in a vacuum. Travelling to space is an immense effort of humans and machines, taking not just • ‘a small step for a man’ but leaving a huge carbon footprint in the process. We are in the midst of a paradigm shift in which private companies and leadership figures in the form of billionaires are re-popularising space travel to an extent not seen since the space race between the USSR and USA. Space exists isolated from the place that births its mechanical and a few select human inhabitants. Thus, we tend to forget that every single thing that exits our atmosphere takes with it more than just its own weight of materials when it departs our fragile blue marble

With its over-1,200 year history, more than 300,000 residents and an attractive old city, Munster is a modern industrial centre and a university city as well as the regional hub of the Munsterland area, bearing great influence on the region and beyond. In its dialogue among citizens, politicians and the administration, Munster has never lost its characterisation as a truly European city: The historical centre is still legible, streets and squares shape the public spaces and the various functions of the city centre are tightly intertwined • On the basis of 170 buildings and projects, this volume recounts the latest architectural history in Munster and Munsterland since 2006. Many of the objects presented in this architectural guide are competition prizewinners, others have been distinguished with architectural awards and not just a few of them are well-known beyond the region

Prefabricated housing has long since ceased to mean the disfigurement of the urban landscape with monotonous grey boxes. Particularly in Central Europe and Russia, modern assembly methods and 100 years of experience in planning prefabricated buildings and constructing with large panels are experiencing a renaissance. Whereas predominantly in Moscow - the largest European metropolis with seventeen million - prefabricated housing is an essential instrument for the provision of residential assistance, prefabrication methods in Germany and Switzerland, for example, are used to build exclusive properties. This construction manual examines the potential of prefabricated housing on structural, historical and architectural grounds. In addition to an insight into the methods of production and assembly, roughly twenty selected examples are presented in large-format photographs, plans rich in detail and meaningful diagrams, providing a contribution to the discussion on affordable housing

Sofia is one of the oldest cities in Europe, though it still remains relatively undiscovered as a destination. It's urban fabric comprises an immense range of architectural cultures, with structures by the ancient Thracians, the Romans, the Byzantines, as well as works from the Bulgarian medieval era, the Ottoman Empire, and modern Bulgarian times, including the peculiar period of communist historicism and modernism. This book presents the city and it's capacity to produce a unique architectural experience by tracing it's specific geography and dissecting it's historical layers. Sofia is not defined by any pure styles; it re-mixes various influences into an amalgamation, typical of peripheral cultures, creating an authenticity and uniqueness

In the times when the Ukrainian art sphere was regulated by the Soviet institutions, local monumental and decorative arts existed at the frontier of the Party's propaganda and the artistic thirst to experiments. Nowadays, Ukrainian mosaics are wrested out of the architectural context of the country in both literal and metaphorical ways. The artworks are liquidated from the buildings they were specifically created for and indiscriminately despised as ideological pieces of no value. Furthermore, in legal terms mosaics are not defined as objects of art that makes them unguarded in the face of the decommunization process. Initially incepted as a guide, this book is an equally beneficial companion for the journey through space (in the context of the geographical area of modern Ukraine) and hitchhiking through time (in terms of Ukrainian cultural history)

The exotic and ultra-modern architecture of Japan's capital city fascinates architecture aficionados all around the world. This new Tokyo Architectural Guide is an indispensable companion for anyone seeking to explore the architecture of one of the world's largest and most complex cities. Two hundred of Tokyo's most interesting buildings from the post-1945 era are introduced in pictures and informative texts. Historical photographs, plans and several indices complete this practical and user-friendly guide, with maps making the buildings easy to locate. Includes a foreword by the renowned expert on contemporary architecture in Japan, Botond Bognar