Folklorist Angus Gillespie examines the development and daily life of the World Trade Center in New York. He covers how the engineers solved complex problems, and the contrast between the architectural community's disdain and the public acceptance of the towers as a symbol of New York.

This exhaustively documented sourcebook will be invaluable to professionals and students of architecture, interior design, interior de-corating, and furniture design. Information is provided on every aspect of the design process from the ground up—floor plans, materials, and specifications—on furniture and fixtures. The 30-plus illustrated case studies are of homes that are streamlined on the inside and out, and include full-color photographs, floor plans, and sketches. Also revealed are dozens of never-before-seen solutions in storage and an array of ingenious design solutions for furniture and fixtures that serve a variety of purposes.

Functionality and aesthetics come together beautifully in this volume featuring a wide-ranging selection of outstanding renovations and additions carried out by internationally renowned architects. The designing architects of the renovation projects share their expertise by contributing their own commentary on each project. Phase-by-phase breakdowns of each gorgeously illustrated project, concept sketches, floor plans, and thorough technical information on each, make this a highly informative guide to innovations in renovating.

In recent years building failures and the resulting lawsuits and awards for damages have frequently been in the news. The biggest headlines may have been reserved for structural failures and complete collapses. But we should not forget the less newsworthy failures such as leaky roofs, damp walls, dropped foundations and rotted timber.