Paul Shepheard explains how every architectural move that man makes is set in a landscape. He draws on examples of fortified settlements in Norman England that reflect occupation and the New World's grid-layout cities reflecting reason.

Paul Shepheard's previous book, What is Architecture?, was about making real, material things in the world—landscapes, buildings, and machines. The Cultivated Wilderness is about those landscapes, and about the strategies that govern what we've done in shaping them.In the author's words, this book is about "seeing things that are too big to see." His emphasis on strategy makes landscape fundamental—he says that every architectural move is set in a landscape. Norman England, for example, was constructed as a network of strong points, in a strategy of occupation. The eighteenth-century grid cities of the New World reflect a strategy of reason. Our current strategy is the economic exploitation of the Earth, an intricately woven blanket of commerce that covers up a multitude of other possibilities, many other ways to treat the surface of the globe—some of which are the landscapes revealed in this book.In a series of first-person narratives, reminiscent of his last book, the author pairs six landscapes, in order of descending scale from global to local, from the seven wonders of the ancient world to the condensed destruction of World War I's Western Front. In an engaging style, Shepheard takes the reader on an odyssey through these landscapes, meeting people and seeing places. He states that now, at the end of a century in which the appropriate landscape was sought but never found, the strategy of turning the land to profit is under review—and offers this book as his contribution to that review. Important Notice: The digital edition of this book is missing some of the images found in the physical edition.

A long-awaited second book from the Miami-based landscape architect lauded by the Wall Street Journal for “dreaming up dense, thickly forested canopies that give way to modern high rises and million-dollar residences.” Color and texture burst forth at every turn in gardens by landscape architect Raymond Jungles. Sculptural bromeliads, swaying palms, delicate epiphytes, and vibrant orchids combine to immerse visitors in rich, lush environments that captivate the eye with layer upon layer of interest. Taking cues first from a site’s topography and conditions, Jungles combines tapestries of plants with unique water elements that enhance what nature has offered—swaths of grasses and succulents direct the eye toward unspeakably romantic Caribbean vistas, intriguingly pitted and mossy oolitic limestone monoliths create trickling waterfalls and hidden grottoes, and innovative combinations of native trees surround sinuous and calming infinity pools. The Cultivated Wild shows Jungles expanding to such diverse locales as Big Timber, Montana; Monterrey, Mexico; St. Kitts and Nevis in the West Indies; Abacos, Bahamas; and even the temporary Brazilian Modern Orchid Show for the New York Botanical Garden—as well as responding creatively to sites unique to his adopted hometown: rooftop gardens and pools including the penthouse Sky Garden atop the now-iconic Herzog & de Meuron–designed parking garage at 1111 Lincoln Road, along with its famous pedestrian promenade. Jungles presents 21 gardens here in glorious full color, many accompanied by highly personal hand-drawn plans, general and thumbnail plans, sections, sketches, and design details that reveal the creative process. Packed with inspiration for gardeners in warm zones and those interested in creating subtropical gardens of their own, The Cultivated Wild reveals a firm working at the height of its talents.

Johnson and Te Salle deliver a meditative, beautifully illustrated yet profoundly practical book that takes readers deep into the natural world and into a new understanding of the art of gardening.

British architect and critic Paul Shepheard is a fresh new voice in current postmodern debates about the history and meaning of architecture. In this wonderfully unorthodox quasi-novelistic essay, complete with characters and dialogue (but no plot), Shepheard draws a boundary around the subject of architecture, describing its place in art and technology, its place in history, and its place in our lives now. At a time when it is fashionable to say that architecture is everything—from philosophy to science to art to theory—Shepheard boldly and irreverently sets limits to the subject, so that we may talk about architecture for what it is. He takes strong positions, names the causes of the problems, and tells us how bad things are and how they can get better. Along the way he marshals some unlikely but plausible witnesses who testify about the current state of architecture. Instead of the usual claims or complaints by the usual suspects, these observations are of an altogether different order. Constructed as a series of fables, many of them politically incorrect, What is Architecture? is a refreshing meditation on the options, hopes, possibilities, and failures of shelter in society.

We live in times of quiet desperation. As our culture removes itself from the natural world, we have lost the truth of who we are. Could Wilderness be our only hope? Come along on a spiritual journey, away from a chaotic world of details, obligations, smartphones and noisy machines, to a place that is unspoiled, untamed, and free. Mostly solo, Stillman guides us into the heart of American Wilderness where we uncover timeless wisdom, ancient magic, and a Gateway to the Soul. Could our truth be hidden deep in the cracks and fissures of the Earth? You'll adore this love letter to Mother Earth because it captures the essence of what wilderness and solitude can offer to the human soul. It's hard to put down. Get it now.