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Cob building uses a simple mixture of clay subsoil, aggregate, straw, and water to create solid structural walls, built without shuttering or forms, on a stone plinth. This ancient practice has been used throughout Britain for centuries—in fact, the material is so strong and durable that it is currently in use for forty-five thousand houses in Cornwall, a county in southern England. Building with Cob covers everything from design, planning, and siting to roofs, insulation, and floors. It is lavishly illustrated with more than three hundred inspirational color photographs. The authors have recently been commissioned to build a thirty-classroom school in England in 2006; it will be the largest new cob construction project in the Western hemisphere.
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Built like a piece of fine furniture, the traditional Japanese house is universally admired for its clean lines, intricate joinery, and unparalleled woodworking. Focusing primarily on a new guesthouse in California, this elegant volume shows how a classic Japanese house can be built to offer the warmth and comfort that modern homemakers require.
Len Brackett, rigorously trained as a temple carpenter in Kyoto, has spent decades adapting the ancient Japanese design aesthetic to Western needs. Here he demonstrates step-by-step how both the traditional live-on-the-floor house, as well as models that accommodate furniture, can be constructed to provide such modern essentials as central heating, insulation, computerized lighting systems, and the latest electronics. This practical and inspiring guide-with gorgeous, clear photos and diagrams-is an indispensable resource for those who'd like to live in a Japanese home, for professionals who want to build them, and for any reader who delights in Japan's age-old aesthetic traditions.
200 illustrations, 155 in full color, 20 technical drawings
(1)In 1994, when Chelsea Green published The Straw Bale House , the response from many people was a loud, "Huh?!" Those days are gone. With more than 100,000 copies sold, and straw bale projects underway in most regions of North America, we've entered a new era. Even building-code officials and insurance companies now look favorably upon straw bale buildings, with their extraordinary energy efficiency and wise use of agricultural waste for construction materials. Bergeron and Lacinski's new book is the first to look carefully at the specific design considerations critical to success with a straw bale building in more extreme climates-where seasonal changes in temperature, precipitation, and humidity create special stresses that builders must understand and address. The authors draw upon years of experience with natural materials and experimental techniques, and present a compelling rationale for building with straw-one of nature's most resilient, available, and affordable byproducts. For skeptics and true believers, this book will prove to be the latest word. Thorough explanations of how moisture and temperature affect buildings in seasonal climates, with descriptions of the unique capacities of straw and other natural materials to provide warmth, quiet, and comfort year-round. Comprehensive comparison of the two main approaches to straw bale construction: "Nebraska-style," where bales bear the weight of the roof, and framed structures, where bales provide insulation. Detailed advice-including many well-considered cautions-for contractors, owner-builders, and designers, following each stage of a bale-building process. This is a second-generation straw bale book, for those seeking serious information to meet serious challenges while adventuring in the most fun form of construction to come along in several centuries.
Presents a selection of ecologically remodelled kitchens and bathrooms that show the process of transforming what were previously poorly insulated and ventilated spaces to become workshops for the senses, governed by functional and aesthetic principles. These designs show how these utility spaces become part of, not separate to, the rest of the house. Illustrated throughout with full colour photographs and floor plans of dream kitchens and bathrooms which conform to 21st environmental requirements.
Cob building uses a simple mixture of clay subsoil, aggregate, straw, and water to create solid structural walls, built without shuttering or forms, on a stone plinth. This ancient practice has been used throughout Britain for centuries—in fact, the material is so strong and durable that it is currently in use for forty-five thousand houses in Cornwall, a county in southern England. Building with Cob covers everything from design, planning, and siting to roofs, insulation, and floors. It is lavishly illustrated with more than three hundred inspirational color photographs. The authors have recently been commissioned to build a thirty-classroom school in England in 2006; it will be the largest new cob construction project in the Western hemisphere.
(2)Celebrated for its soft palette, clean and spare look, and neoclassical European style underscored by rustic Scandinavian charm, the Swedish interior has been an endless source of imitation. The Swedish Room guides the reader through more than two hundred breathtaking images and an authoritative accompanying text which focus on those special features of the traditional Swedish room that have made it one of the major influences in decorating today.Whether in a royal guest room or a farmer's kitchen, the traditional details -- wide-board, unpolished wooden floors, simple checked or striped fabrics, the elegant outlines of a Gustavian chair, and the gleaming tiles of a ceramic stove -- all work to delight the eye.Ursula and Lars Sjoberg trace the development of the quintessential Swedish room from the seventeenth century through its heyday in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries to its reinterpretations today. With glorious photographs by Ingalill Snitt, The Swedish Room is both a source of practical decorating ideas and an irresistible voyage of discovery through some of the world's most appealing interiors.Praise for The Swedish Room"The Swedes have long been some of the cleverest colorists around, as Lars and Ursula Sjoberg reveal in their new book."-- Town and Country"[Here are] inspiring images of rough-edged but strangely regal eighteenth-century farms, Country houses, and city mansions. Poetic, accessible juxtapositions abound. Homespun gingham checks upholster Versailles-style chairs. Town houses display humble whitewashed walls, while artful stenciling decorates their country cousins."-- Mitchell Owens, New York Times
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The simple beauty of Japanese architecture and design has inspired many of the world's top architects and designers, such as Bruno Taut, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Terence Conran, to name just a few. The grace and elegance of the Japanese sensibility is reflected in both modern and traditional Japanese homes, from their fluid floor plans to their use of natural materials. In The Japanese House, renowned Japanese photographer Noboru Murata has captured this Eastern spirit with hundreds of vivid color photographs of 15 Japanese homes. As we step behind the lens with Murata, we're witness to the unique Japanese aesthetic, to the simple proportions modeled after the square of the tatami mat; to refined, rustic decor; to earthy materials like wood, paper, straw, ceramics, and textiles. This is a glorious house-tour readers can return to again and again, for ideas, inspiration, or simply admiration.
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