Product Description

Very small buildings have a special appeal. The constraints of space and cost can actually liberate the imagination. Most of the projects in this book consist of no more than a few key spaces, in many cases just a single space. They are united only by their compact nature, the pleasure that they can provide, and the intelligence that they embody.

A brief introduction is followed by five thematic chapters: Public Realm, Community Spaces, On the Move, Compact Living, and Extra Space. The 53 case studies include a park bench that transforms into a shelter for the homeless in Australia, an inflatable treetop structure for rainforest observation, a portable house for victims of hurricane Katrina, a transportable church in Finland, and a suspended office in France.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #754961 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

About the Author
Ruth Slavid is Special Projects Editor for The Architects' Journal. She is the author of Wood Architecture (2005) and Wood Houses (2006), both published by Laurence King.

Customer Reviews

Definitely worth it...
I bought this book after I spied it at a local bookseller, then hopped on to Amazon.com to order it. It basically covers all formats of different compact spaces for use privately, public, accommodation and interactive. It's a great little book and with a lot of conceptual and cleaver ideas for small spaces. Some of them are way out there and others are practical, but I would definitely recommend this book if you are in to architecture, design, art, landspacing etc as it highlights and looks at humans and their interactions with their environment. It's divided in to section with a one page introduction for each structure accompanied by full page photographs.

one of the best books on small architecture
This book was an excellent read, packed with full color pictures, excellent descriptions of every building, and chapters broken down into useful categories of buildings. This is a book i will reference again and again. Chapters are broken into Public Realm, Community Spaces, On The Move, Compact Living and Extra Space. I had been looking for a good micro architecture book for ages, poring over the architecture books at SFMOMA and MOCA. This one is among the very best and demands a place on your shelf. Visionary, inspiring buildings. Highly recommended.