WA presents 10 New Architecture BOOKS!

SITUATIONAL URBANISM 
Directing Post-War Urbanity: an Adaptive Methodology for Urban Transformation 

Author: Otto Paans, Ralf Pasel
256 Pages
with num. col. Images
Softcover
Dimensions: 21 x 23 cm
Euro 35.00  sFr 45.00
ISBN 978-3-86859-258-0

Date of publication: January 2014

*Transforming modernistic urban areas to fit contemporary needs is one of the predominant challenges that postwar European cities face today. Although these transformation processes are highly complex they generate a wide variety of chances to take advantage of existing micro-economies, cultural diversity and spatial structures. Situational Urbanism is an adaptive methodology that identifies new ways of dealing with modernistic urban areas. In order to synthesize the lived experience on the street with the need for long-term planning, this design approach addresses simultaneously spatial, socio-economic, and cultural issues. This results in a variety of innovative and versatile design strategies that deal with post-war urbanism. The volume combines applicable spatial theory, innovative analytical methods and a comprehensive toolkit of flexible design methods for transforming modernist urban areas, ranging over the full array of scales, from the individual house, via the block to the neighbourhood. 

Series Urban Development and Conservation, Volume 17

CITY SELLING /The robustness of the Municipal

Editor: Jürg Sulzer (ed.) in cooperation with Benno Brandstetter and Christian Schneider 
GERMAN 
224 Pages 
with num. Images 
Softcover 
Dimensions: 17 x 22 cm 
EUR 29.80 SFr 38.80 
ISBN 978-3-86859-237-5 Date of publication: January 2014

*CITY SELLING asks from different perspectives according to the robustness of the City and is looking for ways to strengthen sustainable cities. In view of increasing uncertainty and rapid social change is to pay attention to a creative interplay of individual aspects and the whole of the city. Instead of well-known paths to tread, is to think in terms of alternatives and act. In Volume 17 of the series "Urban Development and Denkmalpfl ege" the strengths of the city are illuminated to see the special qualities of life and living within the cities. The key to strengthening the European cities is the promotion of their urbanity and density. Economical use of resources and re-urbanization are future tasks, which require careful urban planning design.
International experts discuss in this volume new ideas to use diversity in a tiny space and discuss how governance strengthened and productive uncertainties can be generated, leading to new alliances. You outline solution approaches to city building design, the quality of urban life and urban energies to promote the city and to preserve their beauty in the future.

ENTFESSELUNG DER ARCHITEKTUR 
Der Architekt: Baumeister oder Designer? 

Author: Helmut C. Schulitz
256 Pages
with numerous Images
Hardcover
Dimensions: 20,5 x 25 cm
Euro 29.00  sFr 38.80
ISBN 978-3-86859-322-8

Date of publication: January 2014

*Architectural fantasy seems to have no boundaries anymore: fantastical forms, houses that defy physics and gravity…Innovations in design and building methods have liberated architecture, and technology has enabled what was previously deemed impossible. The question is, however, as to what extent this has benefitted architecture and its standards. In this book the renowned architect Helmut C. Schulitz traces the development of architectural forms from antiquity to the present day and questions digital design methods. For him the bottom line is that architecture is not just design and also has to meet other requirements. For it is only when design remains linked to building, when construction and procedural requirements are once again taken into consideration, that innovative architectural forms can fulfil the current criteria of efficiency, ecology, and resource and cost efficiency.

Make_Shift City
Renegotiating the Urban Commons 

Editor: Francesca Ferguson, Urban Drift Projects (eds.) In cooperation with the Berlin Senate for Urban Development
ENGLISH/GERMAN
256 Pages
with approx. 250 col. Images
Softcover with flaps
Dimensions: 21 x 26 cm
Euro 32.00  sFr 42.00
ISBN 978-3-86859-223-8

Date of publication: January 2014

*Makeshift implies a temporary or expedient substitute for something else, something missing. Make-Shift City extends the term to embrace urban design strategies. “Make-Shift City” implies a condition of insecurity: the inconstant, the imperfect and the indeterminate. It also implies the designing act of shifting or reinterpretation as a form of urban détournement. Austerity urbanism and the increasing scarcity of resources among the cities and boroughs of Europe in particular has far-reaching consequences for civic space. Where there is a lack of regular planning processes, gaps arise as open spaces that enable an ad-hoc informal urban design. What often results is a process of urban commoning: the renegotiation of shared spaces and shared resources. This urbanism of small acts is an emancipatory practice; a re-imagining of the city space and its potentialities. 

Stadtdenker
Ein Spielraum für urbane Entwicklungen

Editor: Turit Fröbe (ed.)
GERMAN
192 Pages
with num. Images
Softcover
Dimensions: 17 x 24 cm
Euro 28.00  sFr 36.80
ISBN 978-3-86859-323-5

Date of publication: March 2014

*Tell me what you see! How can one create a wide platform for communicating with citizens who may never have thought about topics such as architecture, the city, or building culture before? How can one get them to adopt the viewpoint of a traveler towards their own city and to embark on a journey of discovery with a completely open mind? Is it at all possible to come to a city as an outsider and to bring new outside perspectives to its residents? How does one achieve this objective without appearing presumptuous? This book documents the model project “Du siehst was, was ich nicht sehe – als Stadtdenker in Paderborn”, which was carried out as part of the ExWoSt research field “Baukultur in der Praxis”. It offers cities, groups, and interested citizens a wealth of suggestions, instructions, and guidelines for surprising journeys of discovery within their supposedly familiar everyday city, with its unnoticed sights by the wayside, its hidden urban qualities, and its allegedly ugly aspects, which suddenly reveal a charm of their own upon closer observation. 

ARCHITECTURE: 
A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Author: Pavlos Lefas
ENGLISH
224 Pages
with approx. 130 plans and b&w Images
Softcover
Dimensions: 16,5 x 24 cm
Euro 25.00  sFr 32.00
ISBN 978-3-86859-315-0

Date of publication: March 2014

*This history-by-theory and theory-by-history book helps its reader make sense of the chaotic multitude of world architecture through time. In contrast to other history books this book is brief but to the point, perceiving architecture as part of human civilisation. Its’ focus on issues such as: “is concept and form or matter the most important ‘component’ of architecture?”, “how close is architecture to spectacle?”, “is less really more?” makes it a good reading for both freshmen students of architecture and the reader who wants to get a grasp of what architecture is–and has been–really about. 

Das Urbane 
Wohnen. Leben. Produzieren. 

Author: Christopher Dell
GERMAN
288 Pages
Softcover
Dimensions: 14,8 x 21 cm
Euro 19.80  sFr 26.80
ISBN 978-3-86859-239-9

Date of publication: March 2014

*Past eras thought they knew what a city was. The planning systems that resulted from this belief were even based on the assumption of knowing what constituted a truly great city. Nowadays, however, we have lost this certainty. This loss could prove to have certain advantages though. By no longer delineating the city as an external object, we can ask ourselves anew what the city represents for us, in the light of our own concrete, contemporary experiences of urban residence, life and activities. What this means is that the city is the sum of all of us and that through our daily lives we contribute to shaping it and its way of life. We are not separate from the urban space. We create it. This opens up the possibility of trying out new forms of effective action in cooperation with others within the city. Consequently the city as an object can be understood today as an urban process.

The City as a Resource
Concepts and Methods for Urban Design 

Editor: Tim Rieniets/
Nicolas Kretschmann/Mark Michaeli/
Christian Salewski (Eds.) ETH Zürich, Professur Kees Christiaanse
ENGLISH/GERMAN
288 Pages
with approx. 250 col. and b/w Images
Flexocover
Dimensions: 18 x 27 cm
Euro 48.00  sFr 65.00
ISBN 978-3-86859-144-6

Date of publication: approx. April 2014

*Resources are what the future will be made from. And the city is a resource too, one that opens up a wealth of whole new possibilities to every individual and to society as a whole. However, the city is not an inexhaustible resource. It will only be able to meet the needs of future generations if it is handled sustainably and not with an eye to short-term, partisan interests. Hence the greatest challenge will surely be to conceive the city as a regenerative circuit, that is not only the design of spatial and aesthetic qualities, but also its development over time.
This book uses texts, projects and typical examples to present urban planning methods and strategies for handling cities as a resource. In doing so, it gives the idea of sustainable urban design a new meaning. 

FUTURE MEGACITIES 3

CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT 
Approaches for Future Megacities

Editor: Bernd Mahrin
224 Pages
with num. col. Images
Softcover
Dimensions: 17 X 24 cm
Euro 28.00  sFr 36.80
ISBN 978-3-86859-275-7

Date of publication: May 2014

*The projects in the Future Megacities programme gain valuable experiences in developing energy efficient standards and urban structures with adequate conditions to treat resources with care and avoid unnecessary emissions. To achieve the ambitious objectives, it is essential to convince and enable people to take an active part in sustainable development. This requires qualification and education efforts at different levels, with different target groups and for different topics. This volume presents several proven and evaluated capacity building measures. Proper workmanship, individual responsibility and the ability for personal professional progress are presented in the categories Training Practice and Enabling Local Communities. The authors share their experience and inspire people to set up own comparable projects.

In the sky build 
high-rise projects of Otto Kohtz (1880-1956)

Author: Brigitte Jacob / Wolfgang Schäche 
GERMAN 
320 Pages 
with approx. 200 b / w images 
Hardcover 
Dimensions: 18 x 29.7 cm 
EUR 49.80 SFr 82.50 
ISBN 978-3-939633-67-9 Date of publication: April 2014

*The 20th Century architectural history is focused mainly on the development of modernity. Other major ideas of the time you could barely meet the interest, especially when they were only drawing utopia. The architect Otto Kohtz (1880-1956), the time of his life and developed in parallel with his experience on the monumental high-rise and urban visions experienced this fate. Kohtz consistently pursued his skyscraper fantasies, leaving behind a wealth of drawings, which are compiled and commented on in this book for the first time. In the context of his completed buildings (UFA Babelsberg, Scherl-Haus Berlin) succeeds, a new view on the urban planning concepts and architectural intentions of Otto Kohtz that a re-evaluation of its importance to the architectural history of the 20th Century makes possible.

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