The past five years have seen a revolution in Chinese architecture - the emergence of independent designers, and a number of new stars - and above all new and interesting buildings that are not the product of direct Western influence. These developments have laid the groundwork for an indigenous modernity that differentiates itself from outside schools as well as eschewing the temptation to put a "Chinese-style" roof on ordinary office blocks. The fact that Beijing has been chosen to host the 2008 Summer Olympic Games has been more than a catalyst for the development of high-quality contemporary architecture in China. Major foreign firms like OMA/Rem Koolhaas or Herzog & de Meuron are participating in the design of buildings that will have functions during the Games, but Chinese architects, too, have been mobilized in this massive effort to prepare the country for an unprecedented level of world-wide attention.

TASCHEN's new architecture series brings a unique perspective to world architecture, highlighting architectural trends by country. Each book features 15 to 20 architects—from the firmly established to the up-and-coming—with the focus on how they have contributed to very recent architecture in the chosen nation. Entries include contact information and short biographies in addition to copiously illustrated descriptions of the architects' or firms' most significant recent projects. Crossing the globe from country to country, this new series celebrates the richly hued architectural personality of each nation featured.

TASCHEN’s new architecture series brings a unique perspective to world architecture, highlighting architectural trends by country. Each book features 15 to 20 architects—from the firmly established to the up-and-coming—with the focus on how they have contributed to very recent architecture in the chosen nation. Entries include contact information and short biographies in addition to copiously illustrated descriptions of the architects’ or firms’ most significant recent projects. Crossing the globe from country to country, this new series celebrates the richly hued architectural personality of each nation featured.

It might surprise some to hear that Spain has a vibrant culture of contemporary architecture. Delayed by the Spanish Civil War and the ensuing dictatorship under Franco, the emergence of modernity in Spain may have been late in coming, but today’s young architects are making up for lost time in a spectacular way. Original personalities like César Manrique Cabrera marked a move toward the modern in the 1960s, while Richard Bofill’s innovative work in the ’70s helped bring Spanish architecture to the world stage. In the 1990s, architects such as Rafael Moneo and Santiago Calatrava began to create the look of contemporary architecture in Spain as we know it today. From a modern interpretation of a bullring to cutting-edge green architecture, the book covers a dizzying variety of architectural innovation.

TASCHEN’s new architecture series brings a unique perspective to world architecture, highlighting architectural trends by country. Each book features 15 to 20 architects—from the firmly established to the up-and-coming—with the focus on how they have contributed to very recent architecture in the chosen nation. Entries include contact information and short biographies in addition to copiously illustrated descriptions of the architects’ or firms’ most significant recent projects. Crossing the globe from country to country, this new series celebrates the richly hued architectural personality of each nation featured.

The small emirates and states located on the Gulf, at the eastern edge of the Saudi Arabian peninsula, are building new cities in the desert at an astonishing rate, from Bahrain to Doha, and south to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Comprised of Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm al-Quwain, the UAE is an oil-and-gas-rich region that has experienced an unparalleled architectural boom in recent years. With a dizzying array of ultra-modern towers popping up throughout the area, it's no surprise that the Gulf region has attracted many of the world's most prominent architects, including Tadao Ando, Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, and Jean Nouvel, who are all designing groundbreaking projects for the ambitious Cultural District project on Saadiyat Island off the coast of Abu Dhabi. With these and many more remarkable, large-scale projects recently built or in progress, the Gulf emirates are perhaps today's top architectural hotspot.

TASCHEN’s new architecture series brings a unique perspective to world architecture, highlighting architectural trends by country. Each book features 15 to 20 architects—from the firmly established to the up-and-coming—with the focus on how they have contributed to very recent architecture in the chosen nation. Entries include contact information and short biographies in addition to copiously illustrated descriptions of the architects’ or firms’ most significant recent projects. Crossing the globe from country to country, this new series celebrates the richly hued architectural personality of each nation featured.

TASCHEN’s new architecture series brings a unique perspective to worldarchitecture, highlighting architectural trends by country. Each book features 15 to 20 architects—fromthe firmly established to the up-and-coming—with the focus on how theyhave contributed to very recent architecture in the chosen nation.Entries include contact information and short biographies in additionto copiously illustrated descriptions of the architects’ or firms’ mostsignificant recent projects. Crossing the globe from country tocountry, this new series celebrates the richly hued architecturalpersonality of each nation featured.

TASCHEN's new architecture series brings a unique perspective to world architecture, highlighting architectural trends by country. Each book features 15 to 20 architects—from the firmly established to the up-and-coming—with the focus on how they have contributed to very recent architecture in the chosen nation. Entries include contact information and short biographies in addition to copiously illustrated descriptions of the architects' or firms' most significant recent projects. Crossing the globe from country to country, this new series celebrates the richly hued architectural personality of each nation featured.

Concrete is the most widely-used building material in the world today. Some seven billion cubic meters of concrete are used in construction each year, more than one cubic meter per person. Concrete is stone created by human hands in which the human creative spirit is reflected together with the timelessness and serene appeal of an 'everlasting' material. This volume presents 25 contemporary buildings from all over the world in more than 300 illustrations and architectural drawings: particularly interesting examples of the interior and exterior use of concrete in construction.

The use of glass as a building material was encouraged in particular by garden design, as the protection of exotic plants required the construction of greenhouses and orangeries. In a record time of just five months, Joseph Paxton, himself a garden designer, put up the Crystal Palace in London's Hyde Park for the Great Exhibition of 1851.

Architects at the cutting edge 

 

Architecture Now! Volume 3 was the winner of the prestigious Saint-Etienne Prize for the Best Architecture and Design Book of 2004. Volume 4 proves that the best keeps getting better, with new names from all over the world and the most exciting and unique buildings and designs. As always, easy-to-navigate illustrated A-Z entries include current and recent projects, biographies, contact information, and website addresses.

Now in its fifth installment, the Architecture Now! series is an ongoing project documenting the work of the most innovative and influential architects across the globe. Volume 5 features famous names and newcomers alike, and this time around a number of designers are also included, reflecting the new ways in which design and architecture are coming together. Since architecture also extends beyond walls, landscape architecture makes its appearance as well. Easy-to-navigate illustrated A-Z entries include current and recent projects, biographies, contact information, and web sites.

This sixth installment of Architecture Now!, featuring buildings ranging in size from Terunobu Fujimori’s tiny (6.07 square meters) Teahouse Tetsu to Norman Foster’s gigantic Crystal Island project in Moscow (1.1 million square meters), provides an overview of what is happening right now in architecture, be it of traditional inspiration, or at the very edge of current thinking. What is the spirit of this moment, and how does architecture reflect the creativity as the first decade of the 21st century draws to a close? Architecture Now! 6 is THE reference for what is happening and what is to come. Easy-to-navigate illustrated A–Z entries include current and recent projects, biographies, contact information, and websites.

"ArCon. Дизайн интерьеров и архитектурное моделирование" рассказывает об известной немецкой разработке — приложении ArCon, предназначенном для быстрого моделирования жилых зданий и оформления их интерьера и экстерьера. Программа достаточно проста в использовании, не требует практически никаких навыков трехмерного моделирования, однако позволяет создавать дизайнерские проекты, которые почти ничем не уступают разработанным в 3ds Max или Maya.

В книге подробно и обстоятельно описан функционал последней версии программы ArCon, приведено большое количество практических примеров, размещено полное описание библиотеки стандартных элементов, которые используются при проектировании в ArCon. Но главное преимущество издания — прилагаемый компакт-диск с видеокурсом, демонстрирующим различные этапы работы с программой.

Книга "ArCon. Дизайн интерьеров и архитектурное моделирование" предназначена для архитекторов и дизайнеров, а также для обычных пользователей, которые хотят быстро выполнять проекты различной сложности в сравнительно простом и недорогом графическом редакторе.

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Введение

behind his easel, at his piano, sitting smoking on his throne-like chair: the photographs of Arnold Newman (1918-2006) are classics of portraiture. His subtle arrangements constituted the foundations of "environmental portraiture." His photographs integrate the respective artist`s characteristic equipment and surroundings, thus indicating his or her field of activity. The enormous fame of Newman`s portraits can be ascribed to their daring compositions and sometimes astounding spatial structures.

Here the reform movement of the turn of the century is not only dealt with as an artistic event, but those economic and political interests which inspired, supported, and handicapped it are also taken into account. In the chapters "Movement," "Unrest", and "Equilibrium," the historical phenomenon as a whole is characterised and is also presented with its own distinct local features. The centres of Brussels, Nancy, Barcelona, Glasgow, Helsinki and Chicago are dealt with in subchapters as are Munich, Darmstadt and Weimar. Finally, Vienna, that city in which the synthesis achieved its culmination, is described separately. The outstanding artists are examined in detail in connection with the respective cities of their greatest activity. The result is a complex picture of the symbiosis of architecture, furniture design, and craftsmanship with their corresponding approaches to artistic revitalization.

This Art Now 25th anniversary special edition brings together recent work and biographical information for over 80 of today's most influential artists, forming a broad and vibrant spectrum of the work that has shaped the art world in recent years.

Featured artists include: Matthew Barney, Maurizio Cattelan, John Currin, Tacita Dean, Thomas Demand, Rineke Dijkstra, Douglas Gordon, Andreas Gursky, Thomas Hirschhorn, Damien Hirst, Mike Kelley, Martin Kippenberger, Jeff Koons, Sharon Lockhart, Won Ju Lim, Paul McCarthy, Mariko Mori, Sarah Morris, Vik Muniz, Takashi Murakami, Shirin Neshat, Albert Oehlen, Chris Ofili, Gabriel Orozco, Jorge Pardo, Elizabeth Peyton, Thomas Ruff, Cindy Sherman, Thomas Struth, Wolfgang Tillmans, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Luc Tuymans, Jeff Wall, and Andrea Zittel.

TASCHEN's 25th anniversary - Special edition!

 

Who could possibly have forecast on New Year's Eve 1899 that, one hundred years later, painting and sculpture would be only options, not prerequisites? The term "art" has been defined and redefined so many times over the last 100 years that it has gained entirely new social, political, and technological meanings.

Nowadays there is hardly an interior design publication which does not contain at least one article on Feng Shui, the one-thousand-year-old Chinese tradition of the harmonious arrangement of sacred buildings, graves, palaces and streets.