Architecture and Design

From the Sydney Opera House and the National Gallery of Victoria to sought-after homes across the country, the pervasive presence of modernism is inescapable in Australia. Led by the likes of Robin Boyd, Harry Seidler and Walter Burley Griffin, modernist architects and designers set out to rebuild at all scales, from vast infrastructure projects, to public health and education institutions, to new centres of culture, consumption and leisure.

Australia Modern vividly captures this architectural legacy with a survey of 100 significant modern sites, richly illustrated with archival images and newly commissioned photographs. Contextual essays by leading voices in architecture and conservation explore modernism’s influence on every facet of life in Australia and the ongoing challenges facing preservation. Showcasing projects from the iconic and the urban to the everyday, the regional and the lesser known, Australia Modern cultivates an appreciation for the modern architects and buildings that will increasingly constitute the heritage of tomorrow.

Imprint: Thames & Hudson Publishing
RRP: $80.00

The lure of a home by the ocean resonates with us all, bring to mind the beauty and changing moods of the water, the intoxicating salty scent and the sound of waves against the shore. But what makes a beach house, and how does the idea of a home by the coast differ across the world? This stunning edition showcases a global snapshot of beautifully designed coastal homes, with a diverse mix of types, from Hamptons style to more minimalist residences, reflecting the different landscapes and locations. Lavishly illustrated with full-colour images of award-winning architecture combined with spectacular views, this curated list brings together the most recent designs from highly regarded architects to produce the best examples of contemporary beach house residential design. This book is a captivating glimpse into the irresistible world of modern and stylish contemporary living in homes that take full advantage of their beachside settings. SELLING POINT: Superb guide to the best contemporary beach house designs from around the world, including stunning examples from Australia, South Africa, United States, Spain, Portugal, and Greece Adorned throughout with full-colour photographs of dreamy inspiring houses set in gorgeous coastal settings Includes more than 30 beach houses by award-winning and high-profile architects

Imprint: IMAGES PUBLISHERS
RRP: $65.00

A visual delight and inspiration for every bibliophile with a growing home library.

'A room without books is like a body without soul.’ – Cicero

In Bibliostyle, interior designer Nina Freudenberger teams up with New Yorker writer Sadie Stein, and Architectural Digest photographer Shade Degges to celebrate the beauty of books and the personal touch they bring to the homes they live in.

Though books are beautiful objects in their own right, our connection to them goes beyond the physical. In every home featured in Bibliostyle, the library is the undisputed heart of the home, a place that holds the homeowner’s passions, values and stories in its books.

With its gorgeous photography, Bibliostyle offers a peek into the private libraries of passionate readers from all over the world and all walks of life, including Karle Ove Knausgaard, Art Spiegelman and Françoise Mouly, Silvia Whitman and Phillip Lim. Featuring an abundance of rare collections, floor-to-ceiling shelves and stacks upon stacks of books, Bibliostyle is a visual feast and inspiration for every bibliophile.

Imprint: Hardie Grant Books
RRP: $50.00

Would you still call me a diva if I were a man?' asked Zaha Hadid, challenging as she did so, more than 100 years of stereotypes about female architects. A century in which women were refused entry to architecture schools, were denied degrees when they had completed courses, a century in which even now, women occupy just ten per cent of the highest-ranking jobs in architecture firms. In contrast, BREAKING GROUND is a pioneering, even essential, celebration of incredible architecture designed by women. Featuring more than 150 architects and buildings, and spanning the last 100 years, BREAKING GROUND is both a glorious visual manifesto and a timely record of the extraordinary contribution female architects have made to the profession.

Imprint: PHAIDON
RRP: $59.95

For anyone interested in interiors, there is so much inspiration available online and in magazines these days of carefully curated spaces and contemporary homes. But what sort of spaces do interior designers themselves live in? British Designers at Home is for anyone curious to find out more about designers, and glean ideas and practical information for their own homes. This engaging and visually enticing book profiles over 20 of the most important names in British design and decoration in their own personal spaces.

Names include: Alidad; Edward Bulmer; Emma Burns; Nina Campbell; Jane Churchill; Octavia Dickinson; Mike Fisher; Veere Grenney; Beata Heuman; Gavin Houghton; Roger Jones; Kit Kemp; Robert Kime; Rita Konig; Penny Morrison; Paolo Moschino; Wendy Nicholls; Guy Oliver; Colin Orchard; Carlos Sanchez-Garcia; Daniel Slowik; Justin van Breda; Sarah Vanrenen and, Philip Vergeylen.

Each designer has been profiled and photographed at home - alongside details of their working life and the story of how they became interested in design, they talk at length about the house itself and the thinking behind its design and decoration. From the unexpected to that classic British look, this is an exciting look at modern British interiors.

Imprint: Hardie Grant Books
RRP: $60.00

The third in a series of three books about the ways in which we can reform society by reconnecting with different forms of self-expression.

In this sweeping study, one of the world's leading thinkers about the urban environment traces the anguished relation between how cities are built and how people live in them, from ancient Athens to twenty-first-century Shanghai. Richard Sennett shows how Paris, Barcelona and New York City assumed their modern forms; rethinks the reputations of Jane Jacobs, Lewis Mumford and others; and takes us on a tour of emblematic contemporary locations, from the backstreets of MedellYn, Colombia, to the Google headquarters in Manhattan. Through it all, he shows how the 'closed city' - segregated, regimented, and controlled - has spread from the global North to the exploding urban agglomerations of the global South. As an alternative, he argues for the 'open city,' where citizens actively hash out their differences and planners experiment with urban forms that make it easier for residents to cope.

Rich with arguments that speak directly to our moment - a time when more humans live in urban spaces than ever before - Building and Dwelling draws on Sennett's deep learning and intimate engagement with city life to form a bold and original vision for the future of cities.

Imprint: Penguin Books
RRP: $22.99

A survey that explores contemporary apartments not as raw canvases for interior decoration but as a building type of growing significance. It features 38 recent and ongoing projects, designed by leading international studios and rising talents. Each project is considered for the way in which it enriches the lives of residents and the city.

Imprint: THAMES & HUDSON
RRP: $80.00

Marwa al Sabouni was a little-known architect, living in battle-ravaged Homs, unable to practice her profession as the buildings and the lives around her and across Syria were reduced to rubble. Rather than flee her country, like so many of her compatriots, she remained, committed to the belief that the multilayered and multifaceted society she grew up in was worth rebuilding. She turned her fierce intelligence to chronicling how her city and country were undone through decades of architectural mismanagement and mistakes.

The result was The Battle for Home. Published in 2016, the book and her story attracted the attention of international news media and received critical acclaim around the world. She became a TED fellow; some suggested she be nominated for architecture’s highest honour, the Pritzker Prize.

Until the book was published, al Sabouni had rarely travelled outside of her native country, but The Battle for Home gained her invitations to speak to audiences, institutes and experts across the world. Her travels, combined with her deep understanding of the Middle Eastern heritage and values, provided al Sabouni with insights into a wide range of cities, which informed her views on how cities best work, how they might fail, and what can be done to enrich and harmonize the lives of all their inhabitants. This is a rich journey, drawing together several narratives: her personal observations of some of the world’s most fascinating cities, from Detroit to Helsinki, from Bristol to Amsterdam; the lessons that Western societies might learn from Islamic culture; and philosophical reflections, drawing on a range of thinkers, on how our personal and communal spaces can provide the basic foundations for happiness. Through this rich tapestry of personal experience, unblinking perspective, and unsettling insight, al Sabouni offers the reader real-world solutions – and hope – for how the conditions for enduring peace might be created in an increasingly polarizing world.

Imprint: Thames & Hudson Publishing
RRP: $39.99

Created by a group of friends who preserve 55 acres of hidden forest in Upstate New York, Cabin Porn began as a scrapbook to collect inspiration for their building projects. It has since grown into a collection of photos of the most remarkable handmade homes in breath-taking landscapes from all over the world, and has attracted a dedicated, obsessive following. In this book the creators of Cabin Porn go further into its most alluring images, with more interior photography and the stories behind some of these unusual and inspiring homes. With their idyllic settings, unique architecture and cozy interiors, the Cabin Porn photographs, are an invitation to step away from our online lives, slow down, take a deep breath, and feel the beauty and serenity that nature and simplicity can create.

Imprint: PARTICULAR BOOKS
RRP: $24.99

Situated in a dress circle position on the slopes of the village of Les Avants, overlooking Lake Geneva in Switzerland, Chalet Monet is the magnificent home of Dame Joan Sutherland OM AC DBE and her husband, Maestro Richard Bonynge AC CBE.

In his charming, eloquent, conversational style, Richard Bonynge takes us inside the home and life he has shared with Dame Joan, and in so doing provides rare insight into two of the greatest international cultural icons in opera of all time.

The Chalet was introduced to Dame Joan and Richard by their close friend Noel Coward who resided in the neighbouring property. The opulence of each of the distinctive rooms over the four floors and vistas from the Chalet is artfully captured in stunning photography. Paintings and objets d'art line the walls and fill the cabinets, each with their own provenance; presented by royalty or celebrities, embroided by Dame Joan or collected by Richard. Through the stories of these artefacts, told by Richard in eloquent conversational style, we learn about the life and times of two of the most formidable figures associated with opera in the 20th Century.

For those fortunate enough to have discovered and experienced the thrill of opera and all the larger than life characters associated with it, to enter Chalet Monet is somewhat of a fairy tale experience that could be taken right out of a Cinderella story ...

Chalet Monet is a house with a thousand stories. It is living history, theatrical, a beautiful home with enormous spirit like its owners. It radiates grandeur yet intimacy with places to sit and contemplate, views to linger over, books to be read, paintings to admire and music to listen to. It is a treasure trove for the senses where many a story has been told or begun. Only its walls and its owners remember the decades of music making here and possibly the odd neighbour and the cows on the grassy slopes ...

Thank you, Richard for allowing us to enter your private and colourful world.

From the Preface by Fiona Janes Artistic Director | General Manager Joan Sutherland & Richard Bonynge Foundation

Imprint: Melbourne Books
RRP: $95.00

As our cities become more and more dense, the competition for space grows increasingly heated, leading to higher real estate costs and greater financial challenges for new buyers. Amid these pressures, however, builders are still finding room for a wide range of design opportunities, continually updating the parameters and experience of urban living. Architects and developers are designing houses around the principles of density, efficiency and flexibility to meet the needs of the modern city's inhabitants. They address environmental, physical, social and economic issues through creative solutions that promote the integration not only of new architectural work into an existing urban fabric, but also the integration of people into a community. The results combine the benefits of city life with the privacy of suburban life. AUTHOR: Lola Gomez is an architect working in Spain. She has worked for the City Council in urban planning and is editorial coordinator of the Architects Foundation in Barcelona. 450 colour photographs, 125 b/w drawings

Imprint: LOFT PUBLICATIONS
RRP: $59.99