Volume two in the Brandlife series profiles the world’s best conceived and realized brand identities for hotels and hostels. Beginning with interviews of some of the leading hoteliers profiled, Hip Hotels and Hostels reveals the challenges as well as rewards of building a distinctive brand in today’s climate. Some are stand-alone, such as the wonderfully eclectic Oddsson in Reykjavik, while others such as the Ace Hotel or Generator Hostels have developed into highly successful chains that offer regional variations. But whether premium or budget, all have something unique to offer travelers in their brand experience. Features graphic identities, interiors and architecture as well as expert talks with designers and creative directors.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 288

Dimensions: 190 x 255 mm

Publication Date: 01-07-2017

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

The previously untold story of New Zealand’s iconic railway houses, of which more than 3,700 are dotted around the New Zealand landscape. As New Zealand Railways pushed the rail network about New Zealand, opening new country for development, a challenge presented itself to house railwaymen in country areas where infrastructure didn’t exist or was newly formed. Railways only alternative was to construct houses for their employees. Initially part of the Public Works Department responsibilities, eventually an Architectural Branch within New Zealand Railways was formed under George Troup. This development lead to new designs of railway houses, a design that was to become symbolic in the New Zealand landscape. To manufacture these houses, Railways set up a sawmill and special factory in Frankton, kit-setting houses, delivering them by rail as parts packs and ultimately erecting them about the country. As well as far-flung reaches of the railway system, Railways ended up developing “model” railway settlements at places as diverse as Otahuhu, Newmarket, Frankton, TeKuiti, Taumarunui, Ohakune, Taihape, Palmerston North, Napier, Eastown, Kaiwharawhara, Christchurch, Arthur’s Pass, Otira, Dunedin and other places around the country. These houses were supplemented in later years by newer designs. This book covers the housing scheme, sawmill and house factory, the railway settlements, the maintenance programme, the house numbering system, and as a railwayman and his family, what it was like living in a railway house, and how railway families interacted socially, often located in distant isolation from towns and cities. The book closes with Government’s exit from railway house ownership in the 1990s and a chapter on the railway house survivors that have been lovingly restored by current owners. Complementing the text is a lavish selection of black and white and colour images from the era and current day. Railway houses and the nearby railway environment where they were located are extensively featured.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 142

Dimensions: 273 x 213 x 20 mm

Publication Date: 04-09-2017

In 2010, photographer Cemal Emden set out to document every building designed by the master architect Le Corbusier. Traveling through three continents, Emden photographed all the 52 buildings that remain standing. Each of these buildings is featured in the book and captured from multiple angles, with images revealing their exterior and interior details. Interspersed throughout the book are texts by leading architects and scholars, whose commentaries are as fascinating and varied as the buildings themselves. The book closes with an illustrated, annotated index. From the early Villa Vallet, built in Switzerland in 1905, to his groundbreaking Unité d'Habitation in Marseille, completed in 1947, this ambitious project presents the entirety and diversity of Le Corbusier’s architectural output. Visually arresting and endlessly engaging, it will appeal to the architect’s many fans, as well as anyone interested in the foundation of modern architecture.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 232

Dimensions: 216 x 324 mm

Publication Date: 14-09-2017

Designers have shaped our modern age, whether it’s the chair we’re sitting in, the computer we’re reading on, or the house we’re living in. Design is everywhere, and this volume profiles fifty of the most influential figures over the past one hundred years. From the first bentwood chairs by Thonet to the holistically designed worlds of Bauhaus and Le Corbusier, and from the signature styles of designers such as Charles and Ray Eames, Eileen Gray, and Philippe Starck to internationally known brands like Swatch, Muji, and Apple, the designers presented here are profiled in double-page spreads packed with fascinating background information, photographs, and illustrations. As inspiring as it is informative, this far-reaching book celebrates the impact that design has on our daily life.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 160

Dimensions: 193 x 240 mm

Publication Date: 14-09-2017

Smaller homes are growing in popularity as more people decide to live simpler yet fuller lives with less square footage, less responsibility and fewer possessions. Smaller homes can provide substantial savings in tax, building, heating, maintenance and repair costs, with reduced ecological impact. Build the small home of your dreams by doing all or part of the work yourself. This practical do-it-yourself guide will help you make your dreams a reality. Whether you’re looking to build the ideal cabin, cottage, small home or tiny house, you’re sure to find it here. Select from a catalogue of more than 360 expertly prepared plans for building a variety of small homes under 1,200 square feet. Easy-to-follow construction blueprints and materials lists are available for each project to ensure success. Big Book of Small Home Plans is also packed with advice for rightsizing your house while maximizing your living space, with useful tips on small home organizing, decorating and smart storage.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 288

Dimensions: 216 x 279 mm

Publication Date: 20-09-2017

In the projects presented in this book, besides being ingenious and capable, planners make creative use of construction techniques, often artisanal, to create flexible-use living environments that optimize the use of space. Some recurring elements in this type planning are enclosures that integrate and conceal furnishings, new lofts that take advantage of underutilized interior height, furniture that can be moved to differentiate areas, and independent volumes that focus functional areas.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 144

Dimensions: 180 x 230 mm

Publication Date: 15-09-2017

Household organization is complicated, and the basic steps to attaining rooms which are uncluttered yet have everything within arm’s reach usually lie in choosing good storage options. All resources come into play when conceiving and designing functional and versatile rooms that adapt to their inhabitants and lend a coherent decor to the whole, all to one’s personal taste. This book explores various storage solutions for apartments of different sizes. It is structured from the lowest to the highest available surface, and they all have aspects in common: the style of each house, the space available, the entrance of light and how to take advantage of it, and finally the color.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 144

Dimensions: 180 x 230 mm

Publication Date: 10-10-2017

From Bjarke Ingels Group’s VIA West 57 to SHoP Architects’ Barclays Center, and from Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s High Line to SOM’s One World Trade Center, New York City has been home to some of this century’s most exciting new architecture. Profiling more than fifty projects that are shaping the city’s streets and skylines, this book features color photographs of each building and a brief, informative text about its significance. Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Ateliers Jean Nouvel, Foster + Partners, Selldorf Architects, Gehry Partners, and Adjaye Associates are just some of the firms that have recently completed projects in New York City. Visitors to the city as well as its denizens will find this book an exhilarating guide, while fans of architecture will gain an even greater appreciation of the city’s unprecedented development in the past fifteen years by the world’s best architects. PAVEL BENDOV is an architectural photographer.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 216

Dimensions: 235 x 280 mm

Publication Date: 13-10-2017

For decades, anyone who cared about product design looked to the Braun label when choosing their appliances, radios, and other consumer items. Now Dieter Rams, the guiding force behind the Braun look, breaks down his design principles and processes in this elegant book. Enumerating each of his ten principles such as good design is innovative; good design is aesthetic; good design is useful, etc., this book presents one hundred items that embody these guidelines. Readers will find items that are familiar such as the ubiquitous coffee grinder but also those that are more unusual such as shelving systems and cigarette lighters. A fascinating essay places Dieter Rams in the context of modern design, from Bauhaus to Philip Johnson. Archival materials include photos of Rams’ design team and excerpts from his publications and speeches. The book closes with a chronological overview of design icons, categorized by function, that show the enormous breadth of Rams’ vision. Taken together, these images and texts offer the most comprehensive overview of Dieter Rams’ work to date and will serve as both a reference and an inspiration for anyone interested in how and why good design matters.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 416

Dimensions: 210 x 297 mm

Publication Date: 13-10-2017