The Future of Architecture in 100 Buildings (TED Books)

This is a delightful little book featuring a wide variety of innovative ideas in architecture. Most of the buildings actually exist, a few are concept drawings. A wide range of styles and scales and functions are represented. If you enjoy fresh ideas in architecture then you can spend an afternoon very pleasantly by sitting outside on a sunny day savoring these pictures and ideas (or inside by a warm fire if you purchase in winter).The buildings are organized by theme:Extreme Locations (the arctic, mountain tops, very remote places, etc)Reinvention (buildings or building materials creatively repurposed)Get Better (buildings that can impact health and spirit)Pop-Up (tents and pillars)Shape-Shifters (buildings with unusual shapes)Drive (buildings related to cars)Nature Building (buildings which blend with nature or intertwine with nature)Shelter From the Storm (buildings related to climate change adaptation)Shrink (very small buildings)Social Catalysts (community and public spaces)Fast Forward (futuristic demos and concepts)There is a thumbnail index which can help you quickly find a particular building. Each building is clearly identified, in case you want to research it further, and a short description is given together with a question which the author thinks the building raises and/or answers. Very nicely done.

Gave this to my 14-year-old son for Chanukah. He chooses to open all his gifts at once (rather than one per night), and this was one of the first he unwrapped. He was so absorbed in it, he had to be prompted to put it down and open the rest of his presents. And after he’d finished, he picked it back up and spent over an hour looking through it. As other reviewers noted, it would be great to have more than one photo per building, but my son dealt with that by looking for additional photos online. The buildings are grouped thematically, so it’s interesting to see how buildings that can seem very different draw on a similar concept or address the same social need. Highly recommended for those interested in the ideas shaping our built environment.

This is a wonderful collection of a wide range of unusual architectural ideas, from simple metal pods in South Africa to an extravagant wave hotel in Chicago. It includes buildings made from conventional materials that were used in unusual ways to dwellings created by silkworms that could inspire future architecture. The book is meant to spark interest, not to provide detail about the buildings and their construction. As such I like it very much.

very nicely done ... gift for grandson with an interest in architecture ... photos and descriptions are not too much for 11 year old to appreciate This is a nice adult coffee table book or an inspiration for future architects.

This little book gives examples of many aspects of contemporary architecture in a concise fashion. It lacks depth of coverage but it's appeal rests in the charm of the selections. A great gift for a novice architectural enthusiast.

Despite the spectacular architecture showcased I found the book dull and a bit tedious, it could be because I am architect and I require design processes and also I am familiar with those examples of architecture as I am subscribed to the web paged of the author of the book. If you are not architect then probably you could find the selection amazing.Architecture is about the space and the book is a catalogue of 100 facades with very few interiors. There are descriptions that explain the importance of each selected building separated around different interesting questions but when you see the photograph you mostly see the present in mostly expensive buildings. In the case of Svalbard Global Seed Vault even you can see it has not passed very well the test of future (because warmer days the ice melted and threatened the seeds, showing a vulnerability in the design)I think architecture is mostly spaces focused to cover the needs of humans, so an architecture of the future I think first should focus in what type of human being is coming ahead and then what kind of spaces respond to the requirement of those humans,otherwise we only are exploring constructive systems.

My friend said the book is great to learn the history and see different pictures of architecture. He loves the book !

A fantastic update of photos AND info. Re current trends in architecture.

Love the pictures!

Got it as a present to my friend who's into architecture. He was very happy.

Buen libro, llego ligeramente maltratado en un par de paginas, recomendaría otros libros antes que este.

Got it for my friend. She is an architecture, she told me it's an amazing read - can be finished in a day or two so the capacity and the informativeness of the same is not so much. But it's an enriching book, gives you good reading experience with proper printing on glazed sheets. Includes a lot of pictures and deatiled description of every building and their importance. Great read, perfect hard cover.

This book is a niche small book full of existing and conceptual designs of buildings. As a year 1 architecture student this book helps with inspiration and has many amazing photos. So far only minor problem is the book cover and the actually pages separate when you open the book wide open but just a little glue helps keep it together.