European House Now: Contemporary Architectural Directions

The design of a single-family house addresses the most fundamental and intimate issue of architecture: namely, defining a human place in the world. In European House Now, Susan Doubilet and Daralice Boles showcase current trends in domestic design as represented by extraordinary projects from across the European continent, where contemporary architecture is thriving. This book features some of the most remarkable examples of residential architecture completed within the last fifteen years, many of which have never been published in the United States.The twenty-nine houses in this volume share a common premise; they extend and enrich the established principles of European modernism. At the same time, they differ markedly from one another and in so doing demonstrate the diversity implicit in that style. Including examples from all the major European nations, the projects shown here represent a broad range and illustrate both international themes and specific regional characteristics. At one end of the spectrum are the pure, minimalist forms of Alberto Campo Baeza's Gaspar House in Cadiz, Spain; at the other is the complex layering of Rem Koolhaas's Villa dall'Ava in Paris. This collection presents the work of established European architects, such as Mario Botta and O.M. Ungers, and architects who have recently achieved international renown, like Herzog & de Meuron and Ben van Berkel.Beautiful exterior and interior photographs, plans, and sections of each house are accompanied by individual essays and captions. Together with the introduction they provide a meditation on the meaning of domestic space, as privacy and individuality become both more valued and more scarce.