In Detail : Single Family Housing

Rating:
Summary: Expand Yourself
Review: In itself this is a beautiful book. The book contains sixteen, excellently crafted homes with superb photography. The houses are organized into 4 categories: Timber, Steel, Concrete, and Masonry. The drawings (building/wall sections, plan details) are very clear and reveal some hidden truths. The book also contains three short essays (Single family house: Myth and Reality; A Small House with a Garden; The Image of the House) that are equally as inspiring.

Yes, these are high-end, avant-garde, mostly European homes as the previous reviewer has pointed out. But, Isn't this the type of book us more conventional architects should be getting our inspiration from? Perhaps some of these elegant details and constructs could trickle down into conventional residential practice, even speculative housing. If every residential architect were to study these types of details and enlighten their clients, I'm sure the quality of the built environment would improve. Let's broaden our horizons.

Rating:
Summary: The essence of art and science...
Review: the Detail family has never let us down. the Single Family Houses book continues the tremendous effort put forth in researching the practical design and detailing of both simple and sophisticated buildings, that Detail magazine has done for years. this book is an essential component of my library as it balances the technical with the artistic. i'm eagerly awaiting the next book: Building Skins.

Rating:
Summary: Avant garde European houses
Review: The drawings are exactly like the ones in Detail magazine, which means Americans might have occasional trouble translating some of the terminology, but the presentation is top quality. Features cutting-edge designs that are the stuff of architectural journalism: shed roofs, floor-to-ceiling windows, natural wood slat siding, and, my favorite, a house built with two-foot-thick sand-lime brick cavity walls. Not your average homes; then again, no reason to compile them into a book if they were.