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This volume explores the interconnected social, sustainable and spatial principles that underpin the design of more environmentally conscientious buildings and places, illustrated through models, drawings and images of selected key projects by the award-nominated London-based architecture practice Mæ. Each project outlines beneficial strategies for creating more sustainable designs, achieving social equity and working within our planet’s limits to elevate the human spirit in the long-term.

This book posits strategies to design buildings and places that enrich culture and society, offering insight from researchers and practitioners, as well as richly illustrated documentation of key architectural schemes that put these principles into practice. It is a call to arms for ways to create more environmentally regenerative architecture, applying its ideas to architectural practice worldwide.

This one-of-a-kind guide takes you to New York’s best-kept secrets, like vintage shops packed with unique collector’s items, opulent spots for high tea, the best places to grab a drink before or after the theatre, the best stretches for running, and the coolest sneaker stores. This guide reveals hundreds of addresses, as well as good-to-know facts and interesting information, like the best ways to mingle with New Yorkers, the sports that you absolutely have to see, and 5 things that New Yorkers just know. The 500 Hidden Secrets of New York is the perfect book for those who want to discover the city, but avoid all the usual tourist haunts, as well as for residents who are keen to track down the city’s best-kept secrets.

Discover the series at the500hiddensecrets.com

Where to go for the best pints of Guinness in Dublin? Or when you’re craving the ultimate sandwich? And what are the 5 shops you absolutely have to visit on Grafton Street? Shane O’Reilly knows! With lots of love and enthusiasm, he shares hundreds of his favourite places in his hometown of Dublin, like the wood-panelled and plush club serving as a multi-purpose arts centre, Ireland’s oldest reggae shop, or the stunning and family-run delicatessen serving up delicious seafood straight from the ocean half a mile away. The 500 Hidden Secrets of Dublin is the perfect book for those who wish to discover the city, but avoid all the usual tourist haunts, as well as for residents who are keen to track down the city’s best-kept secrets.

Discover the series at the500hiddensecrets.com

This is the ultimate bible to Paris unknown.

If you want to see Paris like it is in the movies, Nessy will show you the director’s cut. If you seek the unusual and the underground, she’ll take you down the rabbit hole and park you at the mad hatter’s doorstep. If you think you know Paris, let Nessy challenge you.

This book will encourage the wanderer within. It is a true traveller’s companion as much as a beautifully-designed collectable for your bookshelf. You are about to acquire this curious local’s key to the city that will unlock a precious vault of addresses. Within the pages of this beautifully bound hardback, you will find…

20 Secret Restaurants; 70 Time Traveller’s Bars and Cafés; 50 Romantic Hideaways and Unique Date Ideas; 60 Unexpected Cultural Alternatives to major museums; 50 Movie-worthy Walks & Eye-opening Neighbourhood Discoveries; 35 Cabinets of Curiosity and Aladdin’s Caves; 50 Hip Parisian Hangouts; 50 Places to Inspire & Use Your Creativity; 35 Booklover Havens; 60 Local Food Gems; 40 Places Parisian Families actually take their Kids; 65 Urban Retreats; 30 Obscure/ Underground Adventures; 50 Budget-friendly life-savers; Endless good-to-know Paris tips.

Chinese architect Pu Miao has long explored the development of modern Chinese architecture from a localised perspective. As he has learned from his practice, the integration of architecture and landscape promises to be one of the main directions for localisation. This volume selects 15 architectural designs from Miao’s practice since the 1990s; 12 of them have been constructed and written about in international and Chinese professional journals and books. The building types include restaurant, retail, exhibition, worship, residence, education, and public facilities. The projects illustrate four modes of integrating buildings and landscape: using outdoor spaces as alternatives for indoor activities; architecture and landscape each playing a unique role in a functional pair; architecture partially taking the form of landscape; and gardens as urban public spaces in a building. Through detailed analyses of design concepts, a large number of building photos and drawings (including wall sections for some projects), this book acts not only as a virtual tour of these places, but also provides meticulous design documentation. Today, it is very rare for an architect to practice by him/herself. Pu Miao has proved that such a traditional craftsman’s mode of practice is still possible; more than that, he inspires us to see that the modes of architectural practice need not to be as uniform as many believe. There are actually many possibilities, as long as you dare to imagine and to try. Perhaps Pu Miao’s initial objective was to control the building detailing as much as possible, which he has accomplished, but meanwhile he has also become a special banner of independent practice in China. 

Text in English and Chinese.

In The 500 Hidden Secrets of Madrid, Anna-Carin Nordin presents 500 must-know addresses in the Spanish capital, such as the 5 trendiest but affordable restaurants, 5 shops with the coolest sunglasses, 5 places that are decorated by the new generation of Madrid’s designers, 5 buzzing after-work bars or the 5 most curious street names… Madrid has so much to offer, and this guide helps you to choose where to start discovering this beautiful city. It is the perfect book for those who wish to discover the city, but avoid all the usual tourist haunts, as well as for residents who are keen to track down the city’s best-kept secrets.

The 500 Hidden Secrets of Rome helps you set out to discover the most attractive, fun and unique places in Italy’s capital. Luisa Grigoletto and Christopher Livesay share 500 addresses and facts that many tourists don’t know, sometimes off the beaten track, but always loved by the locals and worth a visit.

This book lists, among other things, the 5 best gelaterías, the 5 most beautiful historic shops, 5 breathtaking palazzi which played an important role in art history and 5 sites where major Italian films were shot. It is the perfect book for those who wish to discover the city, but avoid all the usual tourist haunts, as well as for residents who are keen to track down the city’s best-kept secrets.