Discovery: Architecture: Books

Introduces children from around the world and discusses where they live, how they play, and what their schools are like.

What is a school? Is it a building with classrooms? Or can it be any place where children learn?" The fascinating stories that follow will expand how young readers think of school, as they learn about the experiences of real children in thirteen different countries around the world.

A roof, a door, some windows, a floor. All houses have them, but not all houses are alike. Some have wings (airplane homes), some have wheels (Romany vardoes), some float; some are made of straw, some of snow and ice. Some are enormous, some are tiny; some are permanent and some are temporary. But all are home. Take Shelterexplores the way people live all over the world and beyond--from the Arctic to the Antarctic, from an underground house in Las Vegas to the International Space Station. Everywhere people live, they adapt to their surroundings and create unique environments, using innovative techniques to provide that most basic of needs: shelter.

How do you land a car-sized rover on the surface of Mars, resolve a five-hour traffic jam or save a herd of caribou from near extinction? Ask an engineer! Engineers are problem solvers. They use their math, science and technology skills to find creative solutions to problems that need fixing. In Engineered! bestselling author Shannon Hunt explores nine feats of engineering and the step-by-step process that engineers followed to get to a winning solution. The book opens with an illustrated flow chart that explains the engineering design process in seven easy-to-follow steps (e.g., define the problem, identify requirements, build and test a prototype, etc.). Then, these steps are applied to nine real-life engineering stories - each from a different field, such as civil, mechanical or environmental engineering. By following a step-by-step process, engineers are able to come up with some ingenious (and sometimes crazy!) ideas that really work, like building a bridge taller than the Eiffel Tower to fix that five-hour long traffic jam.

Presents a portrait of a Santa Fe community garden, revealing how students and other citizens work together to select and grow annual plants, create compost, release butterflies, harvest edibles, and protect garden beds for the winter.

We spend most of our lives in buildings. We make our homes in them. We go to school in them. We work in them. But why and how did people start making buildings? How did they learn to make them stronger, bigger, and more comfortable? Why did they start to decorate them in different ways? From the pyramid erected so that an Egyptian pharaoh would last forever to the dramatic, machine-like Pompidou Center designed by two young architects, Patrick Dillon's stories of remarkable buildings--and the remarkable people who made them--celebrates the ingenuity of human creation. Stephen Biesty's extraordinarily detailed illustrations take us inside famous buildings throughout history and demonstrate just how these marvelous structures fit together.

Many architects today are looking to plants and animals to help solve their design challenges. Inspired by how nature already works, these architects are coming up with innovative ways to cool buildings, withstand earthquakes and save energy. In Wild Buildings and Bridges, bestselling author Etta Kaner explores these wild and wonderful feats of architecture. Kids will discover buildings and bridges inspired by cactuses, beetles, termite towers, trees, grass - and more! In some cases, nature has thought of it first, like a flood-proof house that floats like a water lily leaf. Nature's beauty has also inspired buildings that look like a lotus flower, a bird's nest and even an armadillo. Filled with kid-friendly examples, interactive activities and eye-catching illustrations, this book will fascinate budding architects and makers who love to build and know how things work.

Get to know Zaha Hadid in this nonfiction picture book about the famed architect's life and her triumph over adversity from celebrated author-illustrator Jeanette Winter.     Zaha Hadid grew up in Baghdad, Iraq, and dreamed of designing her own cities. After studying architecture in London, she opened her own studio and started designing buildings. But as a Muslim woman, Hadid faced many obstacles. Determined to succeed, she worked hard for many years, and achieved her goals--and now you can see the buildings Hadid has designed all over the world.

In the tradition of DELICIOUS, WIDENESS & WONDER, and EVERYBODY PAINTS!, this is Susan Goldman Rubin's extensively researched and very accessible biography of civic activist Maya Lin, most famous for her design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., is one of the most famous pieces of civic architecture in the world. But most people are not as familiar with the reserved college student who entered and won the design competition to build it. This accessible biography tells the story of Maya Lin, from her struggle to stick with her vision of the memorial to the wide variety of works she has created since then. Illustrated extensively with photos and drawings, the carefully researched text crosses multiple interests--American history, civic activism, art history, and cultural diversity--and offers a timely celebration of the memorial's 35th anniversary, as well as contributing to the current, important discussion of the role of women and minorities in American society.