5 stars (An Excellent and very useful book - don't believe the negative reviews) - After reading the negative reviews, I got the book from the library instead of buying it. The negative reviews are really unfounded. It is worth buying. I was able to easily see all of the pictures, even the smallest ones, so the reviewer who complained about the small pictures needs glasses. I get more information from five small pictures on a page than one picture filling the entire page, so I appreciate the denser content. While many of the houses are luxury houses, the design principles can definitely be adapted to more modest houses. One of the houses used granite bathroom tile on the counter - clearly they had budgetary constraints. Many of the unique design features could be added to a modest house with considerable impact. The design principles are simplified into 27 types and illustrated better than any architecture book I have ever seen. In many cases, a second photo is modifed to remove the one isolated design feature being illustrated and it is easy to see the effect that the feature creates when it is missing. Regarding the lack of scale in the floor plans: I am glad there *are* floor plans - most books don't have them at all. It is very easy to create a scale knowing that a kitchen or bathroom counter is 2 feet wide, or that a entry door is 3 feet wide and go from there. A trained designer does this automatically in their head. Many projects are profusely illustrated from multiple angles and each one demonstrates several design principles. This is a very useful resource and an excellent primer on basic design principles. Although the principles explained are very basic, the examples shown are very sophisticated. This book is useful to the novice, and even more so to a trained designer who will see much more than what the text explains. The best design cannot be contained by mere words. All of the projects illustrated are top-notch designs. If you want this kind o... Taunton :: House & Home & General :: United States :: Residential Interior Design :: Residential Buildings Architecture :: House & Home :: Home Improvement & Construction :: :: Home by Design- Transforming Your House Into Home
5 stars (should cherish the style as Japanese too) - I am a man that lives in Tokyo, the metropolitan of Japan. Recently in about thirty years, Japanese living styles have changed extremely, that is, the styles are getting to be foreign styles, the windows: not Syouji, tables: not Tyabudai, floorings: not tatami and so on. Especially in big city like Tokyo, Oosaka and Nagoya the tendency is plain. Though there will be the many reasons that recent Japan have gotten to be such situations, recent Japanese especially young men may wish such cool design like European style, for instance, a data was reported a few years ago, the length of foots per over-all body height of Japanese students have gotten to be long, some specialists of the genre say that the cause will be that young men use chairs of styles that stretch their legs, not the Seiza style that have existed from long ago. Off course the cause may be by other aspects like abundant foods. But I approve about the opinion of specialists too. Certainly though the old Japanese living styles are disappearing in big cities, if we go to local towns or villages, there will be many traditional style house. Now, some people (especially the adults over 40 years old) who are living in big cities like Tokyo lived and sent in such traditional house style of local towns for their boys or girls age. After all when they got to be about 20 years old, they went out from the towns and went to Tokyo etc because they yearned for the fashions or convenience of Tokyo. They become businessmen, when they take long vacations of summer or new-year some of them go back to their towns or villages of their home countries. And they say then "the most comfortable place is my hometown and house after all". Off course the their saying may be because they are released from daily stress like hard working, but I think that another reason exists, that is, Japanese traditional house styles may give the influences to such feeling. For instance, when th... Periplus Editions :: Residential Interior Design :: International Architecture - Asian :: Interior Design - General :: Design & Construction :: Decoration & Ornament :: Architecture :: The Japanese House- Architecture and Interiors
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