The Smart House

Rating:
Summary: pretty pictures, low executable value
Review: I am in the process, prolonged process, of building a house and wanted some pointers, some good ideas. I got them in pictures but not in details. For instance one of my favorite houses, Sund Olsen's Courtyard House is here in page after page of photos. Great but not one detail about what the specs are on all that glazing, what the R value is of the roof. The books also really slants to West Coast environments and doesn't bring a lot of relevance to the South (not that the South necessarily has a lot of relevance).

Rating:
Summary: Belongs on a coffee table
Review: I bought this book to get insight into the Smart home concept and implementation.
This book has very little of hard knowledge, as far as smart homes are concerned. It does have a lot of picture, I agree with the other critics, IT MAKES A GOOD COFFEE TABLE BOOK.
I wouldn't recommend it for anyone that actually wants to know about the smart home concept.

Rating:
Summary: Not for copying
Review: this book is a great display of "smart" housing in the contemporary scene. if you are an architect or an architecture student who is looking to rip off other peoples designs and details this book is not for you!!

Rating:
Summary: Not for copying
Review: this book is a great display of "smart" housing in the contemporary scene. if you are an architect or an architecture student who is looking to rip off other peoples designs and details this book is not for you!!

Rating:
Summary: Hmmm...I am not sure
Review: This book started out on a great premise, to talk about smart technology, smart materials and smart design in residential house. Examples illustrated in this book are not bad, either. Layouts are there, pictures are there. Descriptions are quite well-written. Still, this book is lacking of that wow factor that manages to captivate our interest, or perhaps, to keep us reading from beginning till end. Perhaps, it is the quality or the presentation of this book. It is printed in Hong Kong and compared with books done by Taschen and Phaidon, this book is definitely of a more inferior quality. My conclusion is simply, hmmm...I'm not sure. Keep up the good work, though.

Rating:
Summary: Hmmm...I am not sure
Review: This book started out on a great premise, to talk about smart technology, smart materials and smart design in residential house. Examples illustrated in this book are not bad, either. Layouts are there, pictures are there. Descriptions are quite well-written. Still, this book is lacking of that wow factor that manages to captivate our interest, or perhaps, to keep us reading from beginning till end. Perhaps, it is the quality or the presentation of this book. It is printed in Hong Kong and compared with books done by Taschen and Phaidon, this book is definitely of a more inferior quality. My conclusion is simply, hmmm...I'm not sure. Keep up the good work, though.

Rating:
Summary: Poor Execution
Review: When I bought this book I was looking for a source of "options" that I could apply to the design of my own Smart House. This is more of a coffee table book, not a useful reference. For some unknown reason the editor chose to print the text as white print on a black background, which I find almost as annoying as reading text that is entirely bold-face. On top of that the author chose to showcase several houses that are starkly contemporary and amazingly ugly in my opinion. In sum: this book has nothing much to offer the prospective home builder.

Rating:
Summary: Poor Execution
Review: When I bought this book I was looking for a source of "options" that I could apply to the design of my own Smart House. This is more of a coffee table book, not a useful reference. For some unknown reason the editor chose to print the text as white print on a black background, which I find almost as annoying as reading text that is entirely bold-face. On top of that the author chose to showcase several houses that are starkly contemporary and amazingly ugly in my opinion. In sum: this book has nothing much to offer the prospective home builder.

Rating:
Summary: Poor Execution
Review: When I bought this book I was looking for a source of "options" that I could apply to the design of my own Smart House. This is more of a coffee table book, not a useful reference. For some unknown reason the editor chose to print the text as white print on a black background, which I find almost as annoying as reading text that is entirely bold-face. On top of that the author chose to showcase several houses that are starkly contemporary and amazingly ugly in my opinion. In sum: this book has nothing much to offer the prospective home builder.