From basic storage sheds to playhouses, gazebos and workshops, there’s a growing trend toward standalone spaces as attractive alternatives to home additions. Build the outdoor structure of your dreams by doing all or part of the work yourself. This essential do-it-yourself guide will help you make your dreams a reality. All of the techniques and tips you’ll need are inside. Build Your Own Shed & Outdoor Projects Manual graphically demonstrates the latest in shed construction techniques and illustrates every step of the construction process in detail. Select from more than 200 expertly prepared plans for building a wide range of outdoor structures, from simple utility sheds to elegant cabanas, cottages, greenhouses, pole buildings and much more. Easy-to-follow construction blueprints and materials lists are available for each project to ensure success.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 144

Dimensions: 216 x 279 mm

Publication Date: 21-08-2017

How many modules do you need to live? with this simple question we present this new book about prefabricated and modular construction. Showing options for expanding or downsizing according to each person’s need for space, and the ease with which you can move the home to a new place. Homes that are economical, green, and durable.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 144

Dimensions: 180 x 230 mm

Publication Date: 20-12-2017

What does a contemporary Art Deco interior look like to you? Is it glittering and cabaret-like, featuring marabou trims, sequin scales, and striking chevron stripes? Or is it elegance personified in the manner of a Marlene Dietrich trouser suit—soft and well-tailored, but accessorised dramatique? Through jewel-like furnishings that light up the room, ornate mirrors as beautiful as brooches, simple Japanese-style lighting, and bold, curvaceous furniture shapes, join design journalist Claire Bingham as she tours the most sumptuous, modern day Deco interiors—at home, on holiday, in restaurants and bars. Spanning ritzy venues to sublimely-styled houses, Living in Style The New Art Deco is all about 21st century Deco-inspired interiors—vivid, glamorous, polished, and self-assured. With chapters focusing on all facets of the Art Deco look, including designers, design details, paint palettes, and Art Deco accessories, this gorgeous interiors book opens the door to exclusive, charismatic, contemporary Deco spaces and offers abundant Art Deco design ideas and inspiration for beginners and experts alike. Vintage photographs contextualize the featured interiors, showcasing the icons of Art Deco that have immortalized the era and style. From 1920s and 1930s trendsetters swathed in silks and furs to swanky Dimore Studio-designed salons, this book celebrates the enduring appeal of a halcyon design age as modern and desirable as it is elaborate and luxurious.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 224

Dimensions: 250 x 320 mm

Publication Date: 23-03-2018

As good as living can get: real estate with a rare combination of outstanding location, stylish architecture, and high-quality materials With an eye for architectural tradition, as well as an instinct for the finer details, Ralf Schmitz homes are outstandingly unique Redefining comfort zones—for designers, architects, and residents who have elevated standards for their living spaces Architectural mastery with handcrafted details, enhanced with all of today’s modern conveniences, is on full display in the elegant residences of Ralf Schmitz’s extraordinary portfolio. Whether urban villas or townhouses, Wilhelminian style or Art Deco, glimpse refined classical architecture combined with state-of-the art finishes as you tour an array of luxury interiors in this opulent book. Exceptional Homes shows a variety of distinctive, newly-constructed buildings and ultra-stylish homes in prime locations. The showroom apartments in Berlin, Düsseldorf, and Hamburg feature exquisite furnishings and tasteful color combinations that make them truly inspiring. Traditional architectural layouts are skillfully re-imagined and re-designed for modern living, allowing for light-flooded floor plans with harmonious room sequences to create beautiful, upscale home environments. Even the common areas of the unique properties are splendidly accentuated—lavish lobbies and elaborate elevators make the mere arrival to a building or residence a memorable experience. Exclusive cooperative projects with prestigious interior design professionals, such as Jacques Grange and Tomas Maier from the Italian luxury label Bottega Veneta, demonstrate the exceptional standard upheld by this historic company. All structures are designed by renowned, highly sought--after architectural firms. “Only value endures” is the guiding principle of the Schmitz family, the real estate developers for subdued luxury. This is precisely what the founder of the company mandated in 1864. Today, the company embodies the same values: developing and building high-quality residential estates on exclusive properties on the basis of a building culture that stands for architectural perfection.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 176

Dimensions: 250 x 320 mm

Publication Date: 28-02-2018

An architecture book for all those excited by contemporary, innovative building design and development Richly illustrated with a broad spectrum of architectural photography, drawings, and sketches A look behind the scenes with one of the world’s leading architects In many regards, architecture of the 21st century has to fit a square peg into a round hole. It should be energetic and meaningful and yet be as sustainable as possible in all details. It should offer ample and proportioned space for its inhabitants, but also fit harmoniously into its environment. Architect Jean-Francois Koenig has been meeting these requirements for four decades. With the goal of improving the life quality of the inhabitants and users of his buildings, he sets out elaborate aesthetic designs that also include infrastructure and transport connections. The projects in Jean-Francois Koenig’s portfolio—including offices, private houses, hotels, public buildings, and schools—reflect his enhancement and integration of the many facets of urban life. When he won the third prize in a RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) competition in 1979, with Norman Foster as judge, Koenig was the only architecture student among the winners. Even at that stage, his sketch for a pedestrian link between Trafalgar Square and Leicester Square demonstrated his sense for the city environment, not to mention his outstanding graphic talent. One of Koenig’s many esteemed projects is the Commercial Bank on the island of Mauritius, Koenig’s native home, where he continues to reside. JEAN-FRANCOIS KOENIG was elected one of the “100 Architects 2012,” a competition organized by the Interna­tional Union of Architects (UIA) and the Korean Institute of Architects (KIA). In the 1980s, he worked with the RIBA Gold Medal Award architect, Sir Philip Dowson. At the 2011 UIA World Congress in Tokyo, under the heading “Sustainable by Design 2050,” his Mauritius Commercial Bank was amongst the best of the archi­tecture of Africa. Koenig has worked in England, South Africa, India, Madagascar, the Seychelles, La Réunion, and Mauritius for the last 30 years.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 320

Dimensions: 250 x 320 mm

Publication Date: 31-01-2018

Since the medium began, artists have used architectural drawings to document the urban and rural past and to envision the future. Covering a period that runs from the 16th-century to today, this collection of 140 architectural drawings presents a panoply of styles and perspectives from some of the leading artists of their day, including Dürer, Bernini, Hansen, Loos, and others. From delicately colored Baroque vedute and magnificent Renaissance buildings to Habsburg palaces and Art Deco structures, these works both document and reflect upon the architects and the artists’ visions and hopes for our built environments. With detailed sketches and painters’ compositions, this book will fascinate architectural enthusiasts and art lovers alike.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 320

Dimensions: 290 x 250 mm

Publication Date: 30-01-2018

Green products and initiatives have become a key aspect of virtually all areas of our lives, and our interior surroundings are no exception to this. This book presents cutting-edge lighting and lamp designs that through their use of recycling techniques, natural materials and new technologies are both exceptionally environmentally friendly and highly stylish. This book gathers a comprehensive showcase of the most innovative ecological lighting designs by leading designers from around the world.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 160

Dimensions: 225 x 265 mm

Publication Date: 15-12-2017

At once a reference work and a personal exploration of modernist architecture, this fascinating collection of Nicolas Grospierre’s photography covers structures built between 1920 and 1989 in Europe, North and South America, the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia. These images range from iconic buildings, such as the Gateway Arch in Saint Louis and the Ukrainian Institute of Scientific Research and Development in Kiev, to little-known structures such as the Balneological Hospital in Druskininkai, Lithuania or Oscar Niemeyer’s unfinished International Fair Grounds in Tripoli. Derived from his popular blog, A Subjective Atlas of Modern Architecture, and organized by architectural form, this book reveals how modernist architecture is the embodiment of political and social ideologies, especially in public institutions such as banks, churches, libraries, and government buildings. Following the series of full-page images, an index details the location, date, architect and purpose of each building. While many of the buildings in this archive often go unrecognized, their forms are prominent in the landscape of modern civilization. Grospierre’s keen eye and enthusiasm for the mundane as well as the sublime will motivate readers to look at the buildings around them in new and exciting ways.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 224

Dimensions: 180 x 210 mm

Publication Date: 20-02-2018

This guide explores ways in which graphic designers can successfully collaborate with other creative professionals and sectors, whether it be a more sophisticated logo for a product, a better-designed lookbook for a fashion brand, or a more intuitive wayfinding system for a museum. The book features exceptionally conceived design solutions across a variety of industries—from architecture and product design to art, fashion, and film. Through dynamic spreads, readers will discover the Berlin-based studio Hort's transformative campaign for Nike; Base's responsive, flexible logo for Munich’s Haus der Kunst museum; how design agency Bond worked with ArtRabbit, a website and app that catalogs contemporary art exhibitions, on a clever identity rollout; and how John Haslam, managing director of bespoke paper company G.F Smith, feels about the process of working with designers. Each example illustrates the significance of the graphic designer’s role in making a campaign marketable and successful. Insights from clients and the designers themselves reveal the inner workings of the design process. An indispensable reference for the graphic design industry, this visually arresting and informative volume shows how excellence can be achieved when creative minds work together.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 240

Dimensions: 193 x 240 mm

Publication Date: 20-02-2018

Cabins in the woods and rural environments have evolved to such a degree that they have become nothing short of a benchmark in the latest trends in sustainable architecture. They are original, alternative, artistic, creative, etc. We could go on and still fall short of describing this new half-urban half-rural housing concept. In this book we feature a selection of innovative and comfortable cabins, mountain lodges, cosy countryside and seaside homes designed by prestigious architects around the world.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 144

Dimensions: 170 x 230 mm

Publication Date: 05-02-2018