New Public Buildings

Author: Jeremy Melson
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2002-04-01
Features: In the mid-1990s, people rediscovered interest in public buildings, and investment recovered. Municipalities, after experiencing the economic downturn of the early 1990s, faced the challenge of how to revitalize rundown cities and regions while attracting investment and employment to their areas. These conditions inspired a new generation of "magnetic" buildings and interior designs. The New Public Architecture examines over 50 outstanding individual projects, including libraries, museums, town halls, and facilities for regional government, arts, media, and conference centers, schools and universities, theaters and concert halls, a synagogue, swimming pools, an aquarium, and an embassy. Jeremy Melson chronicles the process of the new spirit in the design of public spaces and architectural arts in a chronological manner, revealing how traditional forms of such buildings are being cleverly and astonishingly reused by designers and architects worldwide. The New Public Architecture is fully illustrated with rich color photographs, design drawings, and sketches, inspiring and motivating interior designers, architects, and anyone interested in the architecture that shapes and reveals urban life.