George Baird

George Baird probes into the conceptual lineage and current expressions of postmodernism and the critique of postmodern architecture over the past four decades.

The Space of Appearance

The Architectural Expression of Environmental Control Systems examines the way project teams can approach the design and expression of both active and passive environmental control systems in a more creative way. Using seminal case studies from around the world and interviews with the architects and environmental engineers involved, the book illustrates innovative responses to client, site and user requirements, focusing upon elegant design solutions to a perennial problem. This book will inspire architects, building scientists and building services engineers to take a more creative approach to the design and expression of environmental control systems - whether active or passive, whether they influence overall building form or design detail.

The Architectural Expression of Environmental Control Systems

Mark Kingwell

Rachel Gotlieb

Michael Propokow

"True Nordic" presents a comprehensive look at more than nine decades of Nordic and Scandinavian aesthetic influence in Canadian craft, design and industrial production. The book offers a broad historical survey of Canadian-made ceramics, furniture, textiles and metalware inspired by the aesthetics of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Estonia. The design culture and movements of the Nordic countries have been the most significant in the development of Canadian design sensibility since 1920. Scandinavian design resonated with Canadians and was viewed as appropriate for the realities of domesticity and modernizing life. Praised for its material sensitivity and regarded as both modern and humble, progressive but quiet, Scandinavian and Nordic design resonated with Canada's ongoing efforts to find a fitting stylistic and culturally appropriate language. "True Nordic" includes essays from George Baird, Rachel Gotlieb, Mark Kingwell and Michael Prokopow.

How Scandinavia Influenced Design in Canada

True Nordic

Charles Jencks

Meaning in Architecture

Current assessment methods of sustainable buildings do not adequately account for the users’ needs. Given that over the life of a building, total salary costs far outweigh both operating costs and combined capital and rental costs, the occupants’ needs are not something which should be sensibly ignored. This book presents an unbiased evaluation of thirty of the most cutting-edge, sustainable buildings in the world, in terms of the users’ perceived comfort, health and productivity. The author has visited the buildings, interviewed the design teams and examined the findings of a sixty-question standardized user questionnaire. The book provides: thirty case studies covering mixed-mode, passive and environmentally sustainable commercial and institutional buildings detailed insights into the principles underlying the design of sustainable buildings worldwide, over several climatic zones and eleven countries, together with clear explanations and illustrations of innovative design practice a discussion of common issues and the lessons that may be learnt from a study of the performance of sustainable buildings in practice, from the point of view of the people who use them. This important book will be of great benefit to architects and engineers, facility managers of commercial and institutional buildings, as well as developers and researchers, academics and students in these fields.

George Baird

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