ABS Bouwteam is a high-end contractor of exclusive residential projects: villas, country houses and mansions in timeless and contemporary style. This first monograph highlights the most important projects by the company, with an overview of 30 years of exceptional architecture and interior design.

In his office Urbana, Bangladesh, Kashef Chowdhury designs architecture that is rooted in the history and nature of the location. Nature in this sense not only consists of vegetation, plants and forests, but also the spiritual and cultural context of a specific environment and landscape. The range of his works includes the transformation of ships, the development of housing and the construction of mosques, museums and corporate headquarters. All of his projects have the common feature that they are based on comprehensive research work, aimed at applying an awareness of a specific location and its nature to achieve a high degree of innovation and original expression. This combination of traditional building styles and contemporary architecture often has an inspirational effect.
Das Bewusstsein des Ortes/The Consciousness Of Place is Chowdhury’s philosophical engagement with his own understanding of architecture, based on his research and lectures. It focuses on the significance of architecture, which is able to connect us to nature and liberate us from hectic urban life. Buildings and workplaces should be transformed into oases of peace and relaxation in order to benefit from nature’s regenerative and relaxing qualities.
Chowdhury stresses the need to listen to nature and appreciate its beauty. Accordingly, he prefers natural materials in his projects, while also using the interplay of light and shadow as a key element to create spaces that inspire us to pause and think.
This publication is a manifesto of a form of architecture that harmonizes with the respective location, reflecting the identity of its culture and people. Chowdhury regards his task not so much as work and more as an activity stemming from his love of an art form that serves the people – which he believes is the nature of architecture.
In recent years, Chowdhury’s constructed works have attracted international attention and have been awarded prizes such as the 2022 RIBA International Prize and the 2016 Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

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An architect and a critic discuss what unites them, common reasoning that gives rise to a dialogue that establishes a link between buildings, built or just thought of, and images taken from the artistic tradition, mainly Italian. The result is a presentation of Peluffo & Partners’ architecture seen through the spaces, bodies and figures drawn from suggestions from the world of art, ancient and contemporary, cinema and architecture itself. 

The volume includes shots by Ernesta Caviola, who has consistently photographed the architecture of Peluffo & Partners and collaborated in the fine-tuning of the images.

Award-winning firm MDSzerbaty Associates Architecture (MDSA) reflects on past work to explore its use of materiality and the inherent qualities of texture, color, and light.

Architects design, build, and move on to the next project. How often do they reflect on their decisions and the evolution of their work over time, looking back at the choices they made?

MDSA carefully considers texture, color, and light, and explores these inherent qualities of materials in its architectural designs. At first sight, they may seem disparate with adjacent elements, but ultimately exhibit a refined and sophisticated appearance.

In Light, Color, Texture: The Work of MDSA MDSzerbaty Associates Architecture, principal Michael D. Szerbaty examines recent works by the firm to provide a reflective reassessment of the impact of light, color, and texture. Each project contains a discussion revealing how the materials were selected, the decision behind the use of color, and the deliberate window placement to allow natural lighting. Szerbaty’s review across the selected body of work provides evidence of the firm’s evolutionary approach, and an awareness of how buildings alter in place over time.

With full-color photography and insightful commentary, this monograph offers an unparalleled opportunity to gain clear and informative insights into the decision-making process of an award-winning architecture firm.

Inès Lamunière, Vincent Mas Durbec and Afonso Ponces de Serpa are head of dl-a, designlab-architecture, a leading Geneva-based architectural practice. Their designs convey a dedicated commitment to context and sustainability at all levels, transforming these concerns into distinctive and atmospheric buildings. Their unique control of architectural form and space, detail and materiality, is at the centre of their widely acclaimed projects.

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Kengo Kuma is an acclaimed Japanese architect whose work masterfully engages architectural experimentation, traditional Japanese design, and 21st-century technology. This results in highly advanced yet beautifully simple, gentle, human-scaled buildings.

Kengo Kuma: Substance, the follow up to Topography (2021), explores the work of Kengo Kuma and Associates through six materials: wood, fabric, metal, bamboo, stone, and paper. The beautifully illustrated volume presents more than 30 projects, from captivating wood pavilions, ethereal textile installations, and sculptural woven structures to abstract stone fountains, aluminum chain screens, and monumental wood-and-steel bridges.

The featured projects are from around the world and range in typology and scale. Highlights include the Taoist temple in Shinpu; Kusugibashi bridge in Yamaguchi; Ephemeral Tent in Shanghai; Namako pavilion for Design Canberra Festival; a bamboo tea house in China; and the Wakuni Shoten tobacco store in Tokyo; among many others. Each project is illustrated with exquisite imagery that showcases how Kuma’s architectural designs are conceived and crafted to reveal the inherent qualities of the materials. 

As Kuma continues to forge a new design language, he offers readers insight into how he has engaged with different materials to further progress his ideas and advance the world of architecture and design.

Inès Lamunière, Vincent Mas Durbec and Afonso Ponces de Serpa are head of dl-a, designlab-architecture, a leading Geneva-based architectural practice. Their designs convey a dedicated commitment to context and sustainability at all levels, transforming these concerns into distinctive and atmospheric buildings. Their unique control of architectural form and space, detail and materiality, is at the centre of their widely acclaimed projects.

Text in English and German.

London is a city of innovation. In its suburbs, green roofs grow on flats, homes are insulated with cork and light timber structures have been designed to be as beautiful as they are energy efficient; in the center, striking new offices are retro-fitted over preserved buildings, while communal hubs are creatively built from reclaimed materials. The original photographs and detailed design interrogations in this book look at the way the capital is responding to the ever-pressing need to build with the environment foremost in mind – talking to the London architects, designers and residents who are creating a city that lives, works, plays and produces sustainably.

This issue features the architecture in Taiwan, an island state in East Asia largely covered with rugged mountain ranges throughout its length, whilst densely populated along the perimeter.

Over the past 25 years, architecture in Taiwan has transited from a field exclusive to professionals, to one that is relatable and enjoyed by the masses. Even amidst volatile political and challenging economical situations, the administering of public works and commissioning of projects managed to maintain the country’s creativity and rationality. This is also where architects overseas found unprecedented design freedom, realizing one of their best works in the island.

The featured projects are borne out of their unique conditions, those that reflect the architects’ concerns with the environment, cultures and histories. Through them, we begin to understand and appreciate the island that was once named “IIha Formosa (beautiful island)”.

From its foundation in 1948, the state of Israel has felt isolated and under threat from enemies. This collective siege mentality manifests itself with over 1 million public and private shelters. The Israelis have integrated these ‘Doomsday spaces’ into their everyday life and transformed them into spaces that look like normal dance studios, bars or temples. For many people in Israel who live with a personal history of exile and persecution, these shelters are the architecture of an existential threat both real and perceived. Adam Reynolds shot the images in this book over the course of three years, from 2013 to 2015. The photographs offer a broad cultural and geographical typology of the shelter spaces by documenting them on either side of the Green Line, throughout Israel and the Occupied Territories, in an effort to offer the broadest survey possible. They straddle the distinct worlds of fine art and reportage. “Working in a country like Israel, it is difficult, if not impossible, to separate art from social reality,” says Adam Reynolds.

Academics, designers and managers in the nonprofit sector, provide valuable information to students of historic preservation and landscape history, and to a more general public that, as editor Charles Birnbaum says, must be educated about the value of modern landscape design.

The 1970s was a time when “architectural theory” was widely discussed and published. Leading historian of architectural theory, Professor Harry F. Mallgrave, writes an essay on the discourses that were particularly important and the architecture connected to them, while also taking into account aspects of the cultural and social background of that era. This entire issue is made up of relevant works of architecture and discourses laid out with reference to the three topics that Professor Mallgrave outlines in his essay – The Presumed Crisis of Meaning, The Real Crisis of Urban Theory, and The First Stirrings of the Ecology Movement, Both Natural and Human. Finally, the editorial team added examples related to the topic of The Vernacular and the Language of Modernism. The result is a cross-section of the 1970s: an era that was neither the “best” nor the “worst” of times.

Text in English and Japanese. 

This luxuriously presented monograph documents the life, work, architecture and design achievements, plus the art, jewelry and fashion collections of leading Australian cultural advocate Gene Sherman. Here she shares intimate accounts of her journey in her own words and is joined by many internationally renowned and influential art world commentators, curators, fashion designers, and educators who have contributed incisive essays — ich with personal anecdotes — on the impressive cultural trajectory of this world-renowned art advocate and academic, collector and philanthropist. Beautifully photographed throughout, The Spoken Object features many previously unseen pictures of Gene Sherman, along with photographs of her personal collections, iconic fashion items and jewelry, significant art and sculpture, designer furniture, significant architecture, including the beautifully designed interiors of the stunning home she lives in and shared with her late husband, Brian Sherman.

In this invaluable and thought-provoking book, Vladimir Belogolovsky reflects on nearly 20 years of conversations with leading creatives from around the world whose focus is on art, photography, architecture, design, critical theory, and more. His intimate dialogues are with prolific visionaries, the likes of Paul Andreu, Aaron Betsky, Tatiana Bilbao, Christo, Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid, Toyo Ito, Glenn Murcutt, Renzo Piano, Moshe Safdie, Ric Scofido, Richard Serra, Frank Stella, Michael Sorkin, Stanley Tigerman, Bernard Tschumi, Lin Utzon, Massimo Vignelli, Madelon Vriesendorp, and so many others. He exposes the complexity of their thought processes, while comparing and contrasting them to one another to distill more than 101 ideas. His engaging narrative captures the stories behind every project and every personality while exploring many important questions, including what makes a building architecture? How would a Futurist solve problems vs those whose focus is on nostalgia? The selection of interviews gathers many answers and intentions, but inevitably, also many more questions.

Imagine Buildings Floating Like Clouds represents a diverse group of multitalented, creative people who work in disparate places culturally and climatically and came of age in very different times—from the revolutionary 1960s to our own time, when the future, for many, is being more feared than desired.

Living Tradition: The Architecture and Urbanism of Hugh Petter celebrates the exceptional professional achievement of one of the world’s leading traditional architects. It showcases recent highlights from Hugh’s award-winning portfolio, including handsome new country houses; major alterations and refurbishment of historic buildings; a significant new building for Trinity College in Oxford; and commercial development at all scales with landed estates across the UK and beyond. His pioneering work as master-planner for the Duchy of Cornwall is regularly cited as an exemplar of a community that reflects local identity.

Written by Clive Aslet, with a foreword by The Former Prince of Wales, this book reveals how a series of iconic buildings came to be. Richly illustrated with newly commissioned photography by Dylan Thomas, one of Britain’s foremost photographers of architecture and interiors, this book reveals the working process of the architect.

Common to all the buildings in this book – whether a new or historic private house, a public building, or a masterwork of urban design – is a loving attention to detail and materials, and an architect who cares deeply for his craft.

Beginning with Habitat ’67, his seminal experimental housing project constructed for Montreal World’s Fair, Safdie has contributed meaningfully to the development of many building types – museums, libraries, performing arts centres, government facilities, airports and houses – and the realisation of entire cities. Volume Two of this new, two-volume monograph features an essay by Safdie presenting his current thoughts on the significant issues facing architecture today. Complementing it are texts by William Mitchell on the theme of a global practice responding to a wide range of varied local conditions, and by Thomas Fisher on Safdie’s books, which, like his buildings, continue to influence the international architecture community. Featured projects from around the world, include from the United States the Salt Lake City Main Public Library, the Peabody Essex Museum and the US Institute of Peace Headquarters; from Israel the Holocaust History Museum at Yad Vashem, the Yitzhak Rabin Center and the new city of Modi’in; from India, the Khalsa Heritage Memorial Complex; and from China, the Guangdong Science Center and the Guangzhou No. 2 Children’s Palace. Previously announced.

Zaha Hadid’s gift to the world was a creative genius that captured the collective imagination and influenced designers to challenge the perceived limits that were once imposed by both aesthetics and engineering. Her sudden death in 2016 shocked the global architecture community and the public alike, inspiring a commitment to maintain her passion to create built spaces and works that are as unique as they are endearing to a fascinated global following. Zaha Hadid Architects maintains its commitment to her ideals of fluidity, innovation, originality and organic progression. This practice is driven by the development of rigorous interfaces between natural topographies, human-made systems and innovative technologies that have resulted in almost 1000 landmark projects across the globe. With signature sophistication in the design, and superbly creative structures, Zaha Hadid led her firm to create transformative, cultural, corporate and residential spaces that entered into complete synchronicity with their surrounding environment. Inspired by the shared ideas and prominent for its breadth of practice, and beautifully packaged with detailed drawings, rich photography and insightful commentary, this exquisite book showcases and celebrates the intelligent design approach of the firm under the direction of one of the world’s most extraordinary and iconic leaders in the fields of architecture, design and urbanism.

Industrial archeologists study towns and landscapes created over the past several centuries that were planned to integrate home and work. This ground-breaking book features architectural case studies of company towns in 48 locations – workers’ villages, mill towns, mining towns, cité ouvrières, bruk städer, colonias industriales, villaggi operai – many of which are UNESCO World Heritage sites. Extensive illustrations and images document the ways in which architectural experiments responded to the entrepreneurial initiatives that were the basis of these communities. The authors, two esteemed professors whose work focuses on the conservation of industrial heritage, examine the role of architectural and urban culture in creating the identity of these unique towns, and the consequences of their abandonment.

The Classicist is an annual journal dedicated to the classical tradition in architecture and the allied arts. Focused on Northern California, the Classicist No. 21 explores the region’s rich architectural history; contemporary examples of classical design through professional and student portfolios; and academic articles authored by leaders within the field. Contributing authors include Daniel Gregory, architectural historian and editor; Laura Ackley, author of San Francisco’s Jewel City: The Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915; Lucia Howard, Partner at Ace Architects and Piraneseum; Therese Poletti, author of Art Deco San Francisco: The Architecture of Timothy Pflueger and journalist at MarketWatch; and Andrew Shanken, Professor of Architecture at UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design.

a+u’s March issue features the architecture, landscape, and cities of Colombia. A land of intoxicating natural beauty, Colombia has employed architecture as a key agent in rebuilding its cities and civil society as it recovers from decades of civil strife stemming from drug trafficking and guerrilla warfare. Photographic work by Camilo Echavarría illustrates how travels through the country cause one to feel a homogeneous, abstract passage of time. With no seasons, architecture is conditioned by various landscapes formed by the rich geographic diversity across regions. Medellín-based architect and guest editor Camilo Restrepo Ochoa takes us on a journey through his country, where architects create spaces as “types, elements, and instruments of architecture made to question limits, to build an inhabitable threshold that participates in the spatial experience of moving from outside to inside.” Works by 14 architectural practices across 3 generations are presented in this issue. Also featured is the city of Medellín’s remarkable achievement of reinvigorating its poorest neighborhoods through mobility and urban space.

Text in English and Japanese.

Since 1961, when Archigram emerged as a visionary force, Peter Cook’s drawings have projected radical possibilities for architecture; and through drawing he has pursued a fascination with what he calls ‘the puzzlement of the strange thing’ to create compelling forms. Peter Cook Drawings presents some 200 of his colored and line drawings, ranging from student projects at the Architectural Association, through the speculations of the Archigram years, to dazzling new work completed shortly before going to press. With an introduction by Andrew Holmes, commentaries by Peter Cook himself, and a timeline of all the built and drawn work, the book charts the course of a seven-decades long adventure in architecture. 

From Brooklyn brownstones to Bauhaus blocks, Art Deco icons to towering skyscrapers – New York’s ever-evolving skyline spans all architectural styles, tracing the history of this modern metropolis. From famous icons like the Flatiron Building to hidden architectural gems, the guide features more than 50 must-see buildings spanning all architectural styles. Whether you’re a seasoned New Yorker or a curious visitor, this is your boldly opinionated guide to the most arresting buildings in The Big Apple.