The highly competitive world of retail branding and brand packaging is evident in the increasing demand for creating unique, eye-catching and recognisable clothing packaging designs. Designers continue to focus their talent by leveraging striking visual devices into an internal and external messaging system via the product’s packaging design, which acts as a portable and extendable marketing tool. This superbly designed book showcases innovative, custom-packaging designs across a range of products, including footwear, clothing and apparel, fashion products, and more. Fashion Packaging Now presents in highly illustrated, full-colour detail how the brand connects with the item and with the packaging itself, and offers unique insight on individual project design production strategies. The case studies are modern, contemporary examples, which also feature many well-known brands, such as Adidas, Nike, and Puma. This book will be a source of inspiration for design aficionados, advertising and merchandise managers, students, brand and retail managers, and educators in the product design and graphic design fields.

This is a richly illustrated monograph revealing William T. Baker’s masterful detailing and superior craftsmanship of magnificent family residences. Showcasing 14 classically inspired homes of grace and beauty, each property reflects an astute comprehension of life as it is lived in the 21st century, with deliberate nods to historical aesthetics that coexist harmoniously with the architectural language of natural light, passive design themes, voluminous space, and fabulous comfort. Inspired by the bounty of classical architecture found in the grand homes of the southern United States, particularly the state of Georgia, the hallmarks of William T. Baker’s architecture are extraordinary attention to details of craftsmanship and construction, and a keen eye for scale and proportion. His work clearly reflects the aspirations of the American Dream. This beautifully photographed monograph of William T. Baker’s work is the third volume in IMAGES’ successful New Classicist series, and showcases the exquisitely designed homes of the modern family, who entrusted Baker with their dreams and visions, and whose trust has been rewarded with classically inspired homes of grace and beauty. His work contributes greatly to some of the most aesthetically pleasing residences being built in the United States today.

Manuelle Gautrand Architecture is a Parisian-based architecture firm founded by Manuelle Gautrand in 1991, sited in the Bastille neighbourhood of this exquisite European city. The firm’s key aim is to ‘re-enchant the city’ of Paris by evoking emotion, reinventing spaces, and garnering renewal and innovation – to be bold and definitive. At the core of Gautrand’s creativity lies the approach to each new project through the spirit of a blank canvas, with no à priori. Yet, each of the project that this firm produces expresses a specific relationship to the site: a desire to revive it and enchant; a deep commitment to working on programs entrusted to the firm; ensure efficiency, flexibility and surprise. Each project is a unique and symbolic encounter. Fuelled by shared ideas and prominent for its breadth of practice, this book documents the comprehensive collection of Manuelle Gautrand Architecture’s design solutions. It celebrates the intuitive and stunning designs, and the firm’s commitment to beauty, revival, boldness and precision.

Minimalism is not all about simplicity. However, simplicity is at the heart of minimalism. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s well-known aphorism ‘Less is more’ clearly illuminated the essential theory of simplicity, of minimalism, and in the last fifty years of the minimalism movement, the definition of simplicity has shifted to a different time and space, and it now widely influences all design-related industries, including packaging. Starting with an overview of the concept of minimalism, this book goes on to showcase almost 70 interesting packaging design styles from around the world: from handmade decorative gifts to skincare products to stationery for women (yes, you read that correctly!). Each unique case study includes an in-depth analysis of its key design principles, including use of colour and negative space; brand management; sustainability themes materials and strategies; what works and doesn’t work; and other fundamental concepts to bear in mind for the product and consumer or target market. Lavishly illustrated throughout, this book is at the vanguard of design trends for a sophisticated clientele.

Focusing on the requirement for energy-efficient sustainable architecture with a small carbon footprint, this book explores the many ways in which containers can be renovated to create housing and more. With environmentally friendly design, low associated costs and ease of mobility, containers could be a great future contributor to the development of low-carbon architecture. This book features a detailed analysis of over 40 container projects, each with their own prominent features. These are presented alongside landscape plans, technical drawings and text explanations. In addition to the case studies, design guidelines are supplied alongside information regarding the relevant construction standards for container buildings, making this book both inspirational and a practical resource for designers and architects.

To understand the development of private gardens, one must accept that there is no classroom that can explain how approaching such a project is accomplished. It is a long journey that is ignited in those who begin to pursue a passion for garden design. Beginning with, first, the study of plants and the wonder of all their characteristics, this knowledge then needs to be combined with a solid understanding of the mathematics of geometry and the use of scale and the relationship of proportions. Landscape designers must progress on to developing a style that fits a designer’s personality while, at the same time, expanding the vision for each landscape. Garden design seems simple, but actually it is very complicated work.

This book covers nearly 40 beautiful private gardens from all over the world, including traditional European gardens, American gardens, Japanese gardens and a number of gardens from Southeast Asia, with a wealth of high-res photos, floor plans, sketches and plant details to show the beautiful view of gardens. This will undoubtedly provide design tips for designers who want to stand out in the field of private garden design.

After 10 years of austerity, the 1950s saw rationing draw to an end. Gathered together in this colourful creation of over 1,000 products and images, The 1950s Scrapbook conjures up the life and times of the Coronation of Elizabeth II to the abundance of toys and television programmes, everything memorable and evocative, illustrating an extraordinary period of British history, from rationing to rock ‘n’ roll, from Archie Andrews to the Mini Minor. Taking the best of the Robert Opie Collection (on display at the Museum of Advertising and Packaging, Gloucester), The 1950s Scrapbook adds to the different lifestyles portrayed in the companion volumes of The 1930s Scrapbook and The Wartime Scrapbook.

Over the past sixteen years, during Dr Li Zhenyu’s travels he has amassed a massive collection of aerial photographs of cities. They serve as an alternative way to read cities. This book contains 300+ of the photographs, showing a different way to read a city compared with what is experienced every day on the ground. There are 55 cities showcased, and these are organised into sections by continent.

Since the dawn of time, people have been fascinated by the idea of travelling to the stars, which is vividly illustrated by utopian and dystopian works of architecture, the visual arts, and cinematography. In many ways, the designs and symbols associated with space travel also found their way into popular culture in the former Soviet Union and its satellite states. Often spurned as propaganda by the West, they informed the design of mass-produced consumer goods and public art works in the USSR. While in our part of the world space travel largely turned into a political race as a result of the Cold War, its appeal found an aesthetic expression in everyday life in the East.

This book presents the results of in-depth research and extensive travels through a total of seven countries. Its prime focus is the impact of space exploration on everyday life in its pioneering age between the late 1950s and the 1980s and the persistence of related concepts and utopian ideas in today’s society. Told as a visual story, it combines artistic and documentary photography, portraits of contemporary witnesses, landscape snapshots, and historical documents. It is in part an historical investigation since many of the pioneers of the space age are no longer alive and many of the formerly ubiquitous items have disappeared.

Text in English and German.

Starting in Autumn 2017, Kunstmuseen Krefeld will take a fresh look at the legacy of the Bauhaus in the context of the former Eastern Bloc in the postwar period. With exhibitions in the two villas by Mies van der Rohe and a focus on ‘Ideology, Abstraction and Architecture’, Kunstmuseen Krefeld are carrying out pioneering work in reappraising a unique artistic movement and raising public awareness. In Haus Lange, an exhibition will be devoted to EXAT 51, an interdisciplinary association of artists and architects who aspired to synthesise the fine and applied arts, supporting non-representational art in socialist ’50s Yugoslavia. EXAT 51 was built upon the ideals of pre-war modernism: Bauhaus, Constructivism and De Stijl.

By presenting a selection of representative works and collaborative projects, the exhibition and book show the interdisciplinary outlook of the group and their attempt to position their ideals in everyday life under socialist rule. They designed pavilions for World’s Fairs as well as trade fairs, furniture, tapestries, magazines, objects, sculptures and animated films. In addition, this volume contains numerous essays, shedding light on the artistic statements in view of the socio-political context in Yugoslavia in the 1950s and 1960s, and many primary sources which are published in translation. For the first time, this movement and its positions have been scientifically researched and are now presented in Germany.

Exhibition Kunstmuseum Krefeld: October 1st, 2017 – January 14th, 2018

Text in English and German.

Since they first travelled to Japan together in 2005, this country has been the key focus of the joint work of Katja Stuke and Oliver Sieber. The two photographers have been tracing the excesses in the country’s subculture and pop scene and the pressures in Japanese society, while also seeking to explore urban structures and the interrelation between architectural and social barriers.

Their photography is not about capturing a single image. Stuke and Sieber work in series and sequences. They create layers and mix materials, they take pictures of computer screens and posters, they construct a whole set of images and constellations, depicting various motifs with different media and equipment.

The result has little to do with the traditional iconography of Japanese tea ceremonies and rock gardens. Stuke and Sieber are not interested in noble or nostalgic settings. In their photo series and compositions, Japan emerges as a country of tarmac roads and sidewalks, of power lines and garage doors, a country of flickering TV screens and virtual realities.

This publication provides insights into the current oeuvre of the photographers and – in keeping with the spirit of their work method – is a mixture between monograph, artist book, and fanzine.

Text in English and German.

“A clearly articulated manifesto for those trying to preserve Tokyo’s emergent properties, Emergent Tokyo helps distil lessons for other cities”

—Benjamin Bansal, Urban Studies Journal

This book examines the urban fabric of contemporary Tokyo as a valuable demonstration of permeable, inclusive, and adaptive urban patterns that required neither extensive master planning nor corporate urbanism to develop. These urban patterns are emergent: that is, they are the combined result of numerous modifications and appropriations of space by small agents interacting within a broader socio-economic ecosystem. Together, they create a degree of urban intensity and liveliness that is the envy of the world’s cities.

This book examines five of these patterns that appear conspicuously throughout Tokyo: yokocho alleyways, multi-tenant zakkyo buildings, undertrack infills, low-rise dense neighbourhoods, and the river-like ankyo streets. Unlike many of the discussions on Tokyo that emphasise cultural uniqueness, this book aims at transcultural validity, with a focus on empirical analysis of the spatial and social conditions that allow these patterns to emerge. The authors of Emergent Tokyo acknowledge the distinct character of Tokyo without essentialising or fetishising it, offering visitors, architects, and urban policy practitioners an unparalleled understanding of Tokyo’s urban landscape.

“It amazes me that after all these years and countless books, the scope of subject matter on The Beatles is so amazingly large that writers always find a new angle. This book does that in a very unique and clever way. It’s a must for every Beatles fan.” —Billy J. Kramer

“…It’s a magical mystery tour through the band’s life and times.”  —Yahoo Entertainment The It-List
“Part biography and part map to the stars, The Beatles: Fab Four Cities is your “Ticket to Ride” and walk in the footsteps of John, Paul, George and Ringo. It’s the next best thing to actually driving their car…”—Nina Violi, Capitol File. and Gotham magazine

“While the book can be used as a handy tour guide filled with addresses, maps and photos, it also makes for great reading.”  —Steve Matteo, The Vinyl District

“But now comes a “magic carpet volume” for Beatles fans that blends travel guide with historical reference in an expanded study of The Beatles’ homes, schools, pubs, venues, and important historic sites…”  —Jude Southerland Kessler, Culture Sonar

John Lennon said: “We were born in Liverpool, but we grew up in Hamburg.”

To paraphrase Lennon, we could say that: “The Beatles were born in Liverpool, grew up in Hamburg, reached maturity in London, and immortality in New York.”

Four cities. Four stars. The Fab Four – the Beatles – are revered the world over, but it is in these urban centres that their legacy shines brightest. Liverpool: where the band graduated from church halls, leaving their initial line-up as ‘The Quarrymen’ far behind. Hamburg: where their raucous stage act was honed; where arrests earned them a more notorious celebrity reputation, but they became a true emblem of rock ‘n’ roll. London: where The Beatles produced Sgt Pepper, and home to the iconic album cover for Abbey Road. And New York: the city that became John Lennon’s home, where their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show announced them to 73 million Americans.

The Beatles: Fab Four Cities invites the reader on a cosmopolitan trek across continents, tracing the Beatles’ rise to fame from one metropolis to the next. Flush with timelines, stories, trivia, the numerous links and connections between the cities and both pop cultural and local history, this is a travel guide like no other.

Architectural Ceramic Assemblies Workshop: Bioclimatic Ceramic Assemblies IV presents terra cotta design research, conducted under the auspices of the annual Architectural Ceramic Assemblies Workshop (ACAW), between architectural firms and terra cotta manufacturer Boston Valley Terra Cotta. It chronicles the work of architectural firms Kieran Timberlake, Kohn Pederson Fox (KPF), HKS, Payette, Pelli Clarke Pelli, SHoP Architects, Skidmore Owings and Merrill (SOM), Studios Architecture and two academic teams from Alfred University and the University at Buffalo. The book presents a unique model for exploring the state of the art in terra cotta design through the production of experimental prototypes. These include rain screen facade systems, urban sound devices, structures, massive wall systems and furniture. Now in its fifth year, this invitation-only workshop has teams collaborate with the manufacturer to develop a design that engages bioclimatic concerns and pushes material and manufacturing possibilities.

The genesis, development and life-long occupation of the McIntyre house, built in 1972 as part of a multiple-dwelling subdivision, provides possible answers to some very pressing contemporary design questions. How might one live near the city and be respectful of nature? How might efficiently built dwellings also be spacious and dense site occupation still allow for privacy? This history is recounted through text augmented by photographs and site diagrams, house sections and plans. They reveal a modern architecture on the west coast that resulted from an interplay of both the physicality of the land and a culturally imbued landscape.

Coinciding with the 75th anniversary of the signing of the United Nations charter, this visually driven book tells the story of the special relationship between the UN and New York City through the interrelated lenses of architecture, real estate, and urban planning. It is fully illustrated with rare archival photographs and architectural drawings, as well as newly commissioned photographs. The book also includes written contributions from UN-affiliated individuals of note, including current and former UN secretaries-general, ambassadors to the UN, mayors, governors, historians, architecture critics, and other luminaries.

The book begins by chronicling how New York came to be the permanent home of the UN, including the individuals, institutions, and other forces that helped the city secure the headquarters of the UN – among them the Rockefeller family, William Zeckendorf, and Robert Moses. The book then presents the architectural and urban design journey to create the iconic UN campus by a global team of architectural giants such as Wallace K. Harrison, Le Corbusier, and Oscar Niemeyer, with archival photos and architectural drawings and renderings. It also charts how the real estate needs of the UN evolved over time, leading to the creation of the United Nations Development Corporation (UNDC) and its commissioning of three architecturally significant buildings at UN Plaza that have helped keep the UN in New York City. Also included are sections on the $2 billion renovation and restoration of the UN campus and proposals past and present for additional architectural commissions. Additional sections document how New York City and the UN have helped shape each other over the years; and how both continue to change and evolve.

Unique for its architectural and urbanistic focus, A Home to the World: The United Nations and New York City celebrates this important global organisation’s many accomplishments past, present, and future.

In the South of France, sited on a hill of olive trees, pinus pinea, and a vineyard, a family retreat was designed with a key mission of maintaining the vitality of the site. A small agricultural plot, the site offered the possibility of amplification. With the introduction of a garden and many outdoor living spaces, the family had the intention of cultivating the landscape as part of their stewardship. In part a response to a programmatic brief, but moreover, a discursive response to architectural predicaments of geometry, typology, and anomaly, the house is also a response to Preston Scott Cohen’s pedagogies on architecture.

Richard Manion Architecture creates distinctive residences and estates with a respect for traditional forms and historic imagery adapted to modern living. The curated selection of rarely published projects in this second volume of RMA’s work, Streamlined, demonstrates the firm’s signature classicist style, which draws upon traditional and streamlined classical, regional, and contemporary influences to reflect authentic details, proportions, and a sophisticated sense of place for the 21st century.

In this book, the firm’s focus is on the integration of modernism within an overall framework of simplicity and restraint, discretion and harmony. Academic studies of European modernism, with its visionary approach and embodiment of the machine age, have come back to inspire, but with the understanding that many of its roots can be traced back to the heritage of classical design principles. This exquisite, fully illustrated volume showcases RMA’s goal to unite ideas about tradition, history, and modernity in a synergy and explores the meaning of shared architectural imagery and heritage for our time.