Finnish architect Alvar Aalto (1898-1976) was not only influenced by the landscape of his native country, but by the political struggle over Finland's place within European culture. After early neoclassical buildings, he turned to ideas based on Functionalism, moving toward organic structures, with brick and wood replacing plaster and steel.

This full colour beautifully illustrated book details the challenges presented by the brief and the site, and Reiach and Hall have rationalised their design philosophy and architectural ambitions for presentation to a wider audience.

The building is located on heavily contaminated ground with institutional and residential neighbours, and open views, making it highly visible from the Links and the Coast Road. A further challenge was to address the huge spaces and spans required to accommodate a full sized indoor football pitch, running lanes, long and triple jump, high jump and pole vault, fitness studios and multi-purpose games halls. Observing that the sports industry has generally pioneered uses of new materials in clothing, shoes etc. Reiach and Hall Architects advocate similar enthusiasm for new materials in sports buildings.

Architecture for Healthcare continues Images' commitment to presenting the very latest trends in architecture for health, from the best architects around the world. New and renovated hospitals, day centers, rehabilitation centers, research facilities, respite and aged care facilities, are presented in beautiful colour photographs with descriptions. This book demonstrates today's architectural responses to the complex demands for healthcare facilities that contribute to the patient's sense of well-being. It is a valuable resource that will keep designers and related industries ahead of the challenging trends transforming today's healthcare facilities and practices.

Star architects from Zaha Hadid to Herzog & de Meuron have shaken up the formerly staid world of museum architecture, bringing bravura to new buildings and extensions. But the trend for new museums to opt for bold contemporary architecture goes well beyond the stunning work of Renzo Piano or Tadao Ando. Many less well-known architects have also designed remarkable places to exhibit art and artifacts.

Some have provoked controversy, like Mexican architect Teodoro González de León's University Museum of Contemporary Art on the sprawling UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico) campus. Others have been warmly welcomed, like the sweeping, light-filled Art Gallery of Ontario Extension by Toronto-born Frank O. Here then are more than 50 projects by the major talents pushing the limits of contemporary museum design, from established masters to the latest generation of brilliant architects.

The typical country homes of mountainous regions, chalets, are gaining in popularity around the world. Implemented in contemporary styles, they offer a refuge in nature from the hustle and bustle of daily urban life and the sometimes spectacular natural settings offer design challenges and opportunities at the same time.

Designing the Sustainable School is a compendium of ideas illustrating how some very talented architects and committed facility planners are meeting the challenge of creating better schools for the 21st century.

Living in the New Millennium looks at the best residential houses built internationally since the turn of the millennium. This book offers an accessible overview of houses that have been built around the world by both established architects and new, emerging talents.

Designed for a general readership, each project is given two double page spreads with a comprehensive selection of images of the exterior and interior, and an informative text about the building and its context. Projects featured include Lotus House in Japan by Kengo Kuma, Villa NM in New York by UNStudio, Dragspel Huset in Sweden by 24 H-Architecture, and Slice House in Brazil by Procter-Rihl. 

This beautiful book of colour photographs documents and celebrates the red sandstone buildings of Edinburgh, Leith and Portobello. Much of this legacy was constructed from the 1880s to the early 1900s when the availability of this quarried stone from the Dumfries and Annan regions inspired the architecture of our capital city and other conurbations in Scotland.

Eero Saarinen was one of the 20th century's great visionaries, both in the fields of furniture design and in architecture. Marrying curves and dynamic forms with a Modernist aesthetic, he brought a whole new dimension to architecture.

School buildings need re-inventing on each new occasion, particularly given current developments in education which are shifting away from the tradition al apprach to one more targeted at the individual. this clearly necessitates a trade-off between education, educational systems and architecture. Space and Learning brings together Hertzberger's knowledge and ideas in a theoretical study of the spatial condition of learning, lavishly illustrated throughout with the architect's own work and that of others.