Monograph questioning What if research, science and architecture were merged? LAVA is an architecture studio founded by Tobias Wallisser, Chris Bosse, and Alexander Rieck with offices in Germany, Vietnam, and Australia. The German Pavilion for Expo 20 is an example of the eloquence with which LAVA responds to issues of the day. The three core themes of the book – Cities of the Future, Biodiversity, as well as Energy and Sustainability – are complemented by the subjects “Connecting Minds,” meaning social and political architecture, “Digital Processes and Technologies,” and “New Work” and explored together throughout the six chapters of this book. In addition to projects and their derivation, architectural and sociological thinkers elaborate on their ideas on these topics – creatively, speculatively, and thoughtfully. Themes: City – Energy – Biodiversity – Connecting – Work – Digital Processes Selected projects as case studies With contributions by Amy Frearson, Georg Vrachliotis, Giovanna Carnevali, Maria Aiolova, Gilles Retsin, André Wilkens, Marjan Colletti, and Raoul Bunschoten

LAVA Architects (Laboratory for Visionary Architecture) was founded in 2007 by Chris Bosse, Alexander Rieck and Tobias Wallisser in Stuttgart (Germany) and Sydney (Australia). True to the motto "Green is the new black", the internationally active office designs resource-saving, sustainable architecture and is involved in a lead capacity in innovative projects such as the Masdar eco-city (near Abu-Dhabi). This book accompanies an exhibition at the Wechselraum Gallery in Stuttgart, Germany. Richly illustrated with colour images and plans, it offers an insight into a variety of current projects by LAVA.

This book discusses the way that a nature-driven approach to urbanism can be applied at each of the urban scales; architectural design, urban design of neighborhoods, city planning and landscape architecture, and at the city and regional scales. At all levels nature-driven approaches to design and planning add to the quality of the built structure and furthermore to the quality of life experienced by people living in these environments. To include nature and greening to built structures is a good starting point and can add much value. The chapter authors have fiducia in giving nature a fundamental role as an integrated network in city design, or to make nature the entrance point of the design process, and base the design on the needs and qualities of nature itself. The highest existence of nature is a permanent ecosystem which endures stressors and circumstances for a prolonged period. In an urban context this is not always possible and temporality is an interesting concept explored when nature is not a permanent feature. The ecological contribution to the environment, and indirect dispersion of species, from a temporary location will, overall add biodiversity to the entire system.

This book can be first considered as a complete synthesis of the EcCoGen ANR project (2011-2012), involving researchers from different French labs (including MAP) and domains, breaking major difficulties of the real-time generative design in the early stages of a pre-architectural project. Then the scope becomes larger, and the authors introduce major prospects following recent advances on natural and artificial evolution.

Digital technology and architecture have become inseparable, with new approaches and methodologies not just affecting the workflows and practice of architects but shaping the very character of architecture. This compendious work offers a wide-ranging orientation to the new landscape with its opportunities, its challenges, and its vast potential. Contributing Editors: Ludger Hovestadt, Urs Hirschberg, Oliver Fritz Contributors: Diana Alvarez-Marin, Jakob Beetz, André Borrmann, Petra von Both, Harald Gatermann, Marco Hemmerling, Ursula Kirschner, Reinhard König, Dominik Lengyel, Bob Martens, Frank Petzold, Sven Pfeiffer, Miro Roman, Kay Römer, Hans Sachs, Philipp Schaerer, Sven Schneider, Odilo Schoch, Milena Stavric, Peter Zeile, Nikolaus Zieske Writer: Sebastian Michael atlasofdigitalarchitecture.com

Designing interior spaces is a task that is equally relevant as architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design for those working professionally in the built environment. In this comprehensive work, an international and interdisciplinary team of authors presents the essential aspects of the various fields of contemporary interior architecture and design. The project examples are illustrated with brilliant photographs and plans. They have been selected according to consistent criteria for all chapters of the book and represent the essential building types, including exhibition stand design, as well as a broad range of today’s design approaches. The authors place the collaboration between the various design disciplines at the center of focus. The appendix contains information for further research. All in all, Designing Interior Architecture is a fundamental reference work for all those professionally engaged with the design.

A shift in the architecture industry’s focus in the last 20 years toward ecological concerns, long-term value, and user comfort has coincided with significant new developments in digital controls, actuators, shading typologies, building physics simulation capability, and material performance. This collision has afforded architects an expanded set of opportunities to create architecture that can respond directly to environmental conditions, resulting in innovative façade designs that quickly become landmarks for their cities. Authors Russell Fortmeyer and Charles Linn trace the historical development of active façades in modern architecture, and reveal how contemporary architects and consultants design and test these systems.