American houses - Hardcover

Langdon, Philip

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0941434966 ISBN 13: 9780941434966

Publisher: Distributed by Workman Pub, 1987

Synopsis

With over 200 full-color illustrations, as well as architects' floor plans and renderings.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly

Townhouses designed especially for single-parent families, with a "tot lot" and a common laundry, are proliferating. For residents of the Sun City retirement community in Arizona, houses arranged in giant concentric circles impose a framework of interrelatedness. Housing aimed at well-defined segments of the population is one trend in the American housing industry explored in this survey. Based on his travels across the country, Langdon's report celebrates, in words and photography, the diversity of contemporary housesfrom mobile homes to modular Colonials, from superinsulated and passive-solar designs to mixed-use urban complexes. His upbeat style tilts toward journalese ("In the past few years, the front porch . . . has made a surprising comeback"), but Langdon, who developed this book from his article the Atlantic, skillfully covers the growing popularity of restoration projects, architects' and planners' battles with government regulations and the conversion of schools and factories into apartments. Architects Book Club and Interior Design Book Club selections.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Here's a book on American domestic architecture that approaches the subject from a practical standpoint. Langdon treats the houses for what they are: residences, places to be lived in. He doesn't simply tell the "what" about them, he tells the "why," which often is more interesting: why that townhouse development was based on a zero-lot-line concept, why that particular floor plan is "live-able," why certain building materials were favored in another residence. The photos are striking, the book as a whole is very attractive. Home owners and buyers, architects, and developers will be interested in the variety of dwellings covered: from row houses and tract homes to one-of-a-kind houses and high-rise condos. Recommended for special libraries, and for public libraries with large architectural collections. Carol Spielman Lezak, Genral Learning Corp, Northbrook, Ill.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Distributed by Workman Pub
• Publication date: 1987
• ISBN 10: 0941434966
• ISBN 13: 9780941434966
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 255