REVIEWS
BOOKS
Studies and Appendix. The section on External
Factors, for example, illustrates how indigenous
architecture has adapted to macroclimatic
variations. The authors demarcate the globe into
seven distinct zones: tundra, cold temperate,
temperate, desert, steppe, savannah and rainforest.
This in turn informs the design of the Arabian wind
tower, Mongolian yurt and Scottish Blackhouse but
the analysis is rather cursory and moves on to the
mesoclimate (regional) factors shaping the design
of dormer windows in the Alpine foothills of Lower
Saxony.
According to the Editors' afterword, “The title of
the series – SCALE – reflects its aim of showing the
reader how good, fully detailed plans depend on
different degrees of abstract representation and
differently scaled drawings. These are crucial to the
harmonious integration of design and construction.”
Editors: Alexander Reichel and
Kerstin Schulz
Published by:
Birkhauser (2012)
ISBN: 9783034605137
Price: £42
Unfortunately, this worthy ambition is often
suffocated by a plethora of diagrams, graphs, maps
and charts which are printed at a tiny scale. It is
obvious that ‘Heat/Cool’ is intended for the
German market (‘Wärmen und Kühlen:
Energiekonzepte, Prinzipien, Anlagen’) with numerous
references to DIN and Bauordnung (Building
Standards) but, having made the decision to
translate the book, the publisher should have
pushed to make the data more relevant to a wider
(UK) audience. Although Birkhauser might like to
promote this somewhat expensive book as ‘an
indispensable tool’ for every architect, the
abundance of guidance notes and technical
minutiae are habitually lost in translation.
Reviewed by: Mark Cousins
Review No. 2: Typologies – Hong Kong, Rome, New York,
Buenos Aires
The Basel-based practice Christ and Gantenbein
may appear quintessenti [ H