Böcker utgivna av Birkhauser Verlag AG

Accounting for approximately 10 % of the land mass of Planet Earth, the Antarctic is a Global Commons we collectively neglect. Far from being a pristine natural landscape, the continent is a contested territory which conceals resources that might prove irresistible in a world with ever increasing population growth. The 26 quadrillion tons of ice accumulated on its bedrock, equivalent to around 70 % of the fresh water on our planet, represent at once the most significant repository of scientific data available, providing crucial information for future environmental policies, and the greatest menace to global coastal settlements threatened by the rise in sea levels induced by anthropogenic global warming. ΓÇ£Antarctic ResolutionΓÇ¥ advocates the rejection of the pixelated view of Antarctica offered to us by Big Data companies and urges the construction of a high-resolution image focusing on the continentΓÇÖs unique geography, unparalleled scientific potential, contemporary geopolitical significance, experimental governance system, and extreme inhabitation model. Only the concerted determination of a transnational network of multidisciplinary polar experts ΓÇô represented here in the form of authored texts, photographic essays, and data-based visual portfolios ΓÇô could construct such an image and reveal the intricate web of growing economic and strategic interests, tensions, and international rivalries, which are enveloped in darkness, as is the continent for six months of the year.

Michel Desvigne is the most renowned French landscape architect in the world. Based in Paris, he has held guest professorships at such distinguished institutions as the Architectural Association in London and Harvard University. DesvigneΓÇÖs projects have a strong strategic and conceptual component. Urban infrastructure projects play a major role, and emphasize the urban planning and design expertise evident in his landscape architecture. The book documents ten of DevigneΓÇÖs major projects from France, the US, Spain and Qatar, in which he is responsible not only for the landscape architecture, but for coordination of the entire project. How can such highly complex projects be realized? What does the intellectual thought process look like? What specific problems arise in their realization?

From a practical tool to status symbol, the walking stick is a universal object that has been imbued with symbolism, craftsmanship, and innovation throughout its history. Across different cultures and eras it has taken on different uses and meanings, whether agricultural, religious, ceremonial, orthopaedic or sartorial. Eighteen designers ranging from Jasper Morrison to Julie Richoz were invited to reimagine the walking stick for an exhibition at the Triennale Milano curated by the Milan-based Japanese designer Keiji Takeuchi. This elegant book showcases their designs and demonstrates how a humble object can be a source of pleasure and pride. Presented in a slim vertical format suited to its subject matter, "Walking Sticks" is introduced by Keiji Takeuchi and includes photographs by Miro Zagnoli as well as an essay by the design curator and critic Marco Sammichel, which explores the cultural significance of this understated object.

The Anatomy of the Architectural Book examines approaches to structuring, constructing and designing architectural books and traces how they have changed over time. The discipline has been exposed to debates, just as building construction has been exposed to the charms of book making. Examining the crossovers between book culture and building culture makes the axes visible along which architectural knowledge circulates through books into buildings and back - from the celebration of specific architectural practices to the production of unique books, using pages and print to convey architectural ideas.Dissecting a wealth of books through five conceptual tools - texture, surface, rhythm, structure and scale - André Tavares analyzes the material qualities of books in order to assess their crossovers with architectural knowledge. The detailed history of Sigfried Giedion's Befreites Wohnen and the two incarnations of the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park and Sydenham provide a background that confront us not only with the rise of the industrialized book but also with the configuration of the book as a unique visual device.Richly illustrated with samples from the library of the Canadian Centre for Architecture, the volume discusses a wide range of authors, including Vitruvius, William Morris, Gottfried Semper, El Lissitzky, Le Corbusier, Jacques-Ignace Hittorff, Owen Jones, A. W. N. Pugin, Humphrey Repton, Sebastiano Serlio, Andrea Palladio, John Tallis, Raphael, Viollet-le-Duc, Jean-Rodolphe Perronet, Jean-Nicolas-Louis Durand and Frank Lloyd Wright.

Dafi Kühne is one of Switzerland's foremost poster designers whose diverse, bold work embraces both traditional production tools and modern design processes. Although his posters are printed on presses from the 1960s, they do not look like typical letterpress prints. Instead, they connect with the history of letterpress production while pushing the boundaries of long-established graphic and typographic techniques. Using analog printing presses, computer software applications, laser cutters, and freshly cast hot-metal-type, he creates wildly creative, large-format posters. Working from his vast letterpress studio in the Swiss Alps, Dafi Kühne simultaneously drives poster culture and upholds the cult of the poster.Kühne's first monograph with Lars Müller Publishers, True Print, served as an introduction to Dafi's work from the years 2009 to 2016. "Poster Cult" focuses on the processes, background and context that inform his more recent poster work.

Licht ist ein physikalisches Phänomen und ein soziales Bindeglied, dessen Bedeutung über das Sichtbare hinausgeht. Um diese Bedeutung zu erfassen, versammelt Windows of Light Symbole, Mythen, Innovationen und beschreibt wie Licht unsere biologische, astronomische und architektonische Umwelt grundlegend prägt. Die vielen Darstellungen von Licht werden durch ein fotografisches Narrativ untermauert, das uns daran erinnert, dass der Zugang zu elektrischem Licht in vielen Regionen der Welt nach wie vor ein Privileg und nicht ein Recht ist.

This textbook gives an introduction to optimization tools which arise around the Weierstrass theorem about the minimum of a lower semicontinuous function. Starting from a Euclidean space, it moves further into the infinite dimensional setting towards the direct variational method, going through differentiation and introducing relevant background information on the way.Exercises accompany the text and include observations, remarks, and examples that help understand the presented material. Although some basic knowledge of functional analysis is assumed, covering Hilbert and Banach spaces and the Lebesgue integration, the required background material is covered throughout the text, and literature suggestions are provided. For less experienced readers, a summary of some optimization techniques is also included.The book will appeal to both students and instructors in specialized courses on optimization, wishing to learn more about variational methods.