Modern Shoestring: Contemporary Architecture on a Budget (Hardcover)

by Susanna Sirefman (Author)
Key Phrases: New York, Mayer Sattler-Smith, Big Dig House (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Residential design provides a rich testing ground for architectural innovation. Intimate scales and specific programs inspire distinctive homes, and comparatively small budgets are catalysts for exploring nontraditional materials. Modern Shoestring proves that building a contemporary house can be affordable and shows how constraints actually stimulate the most creative design solutions.

Eighteen residential projects are presented, with emphasis on the goals of the owners, the site, and the cost in the design process. Collections determine floor plans, observatories are built for starry rural nights, and found and industrial materials such as highway construction remnants, laboratory counters, plastic water bottles, and discarded chalkboards keep costs low while imbuing structures with character. These ingenious designs range in cost from $50 to $220 per square foot and represent geographical settings from Los Angeles to Anchorage to East Hampton.

About the Author
Susanna Sirefman is an architect and educator. She is also the founder of Dovetail Design Strategists. Her award-winning design work has been featured in Abitare and Interior Design. She is the author of several books including Whereabouts: New Architecture with Local Identities and has contributed to Architecture, Architectural Record, and Metropolis, among other publications.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Monacelli (May 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580932029
• ISBN-13: 978-1580932028
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #110,272 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Missed Opportunity, March 16, 2009

By	Peter H. Burge (Reno, NV United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

My greatest disappointment with this book is one of a lack of value. After reading the book several times I searched for each architect online. With few exceptions, most of the information presented on each architect's Web site was repeated in the book. The photographs looked much better online - many of them in the book were muddy in tone, much darker than online (yes, a monitor has a distinct advantage, but not to the point where this book came up short), and several of the images reproduced in the book were enlarged way past an acceptable size for their resolution. The text accompanying could have been far more descriptive of the theme of the book - how these homes were built on a budget. And, how the reader might design and spec a building themselves. Although I have never authored a book, it seems like there was little effort in compiling the information presented here.

To its credit, this book does include a complete floorplan for each house.

I think that the point of this book could have been accomplished by a Web site. In fact, the author should have included Web site addresses for each of the architects, and the architects could have provided additional information on what is a commodity in short supply - value-oriented design.

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