Julio Fajardo

Living in a box - and what a box it is! Working with restructured space conditions, contemporary architecture and modern design have accepted the challenge of creating exciting living environments, at the same time windows on the world and places for rest and leisure. Elegance meets diversity; pragmatic solutions seamlessly integrate with aesthetics in these remarkable symbioses or urban living spaces and exclusive design.From mini-studios to attics and luxury one-roomed lofts, this volume compr ises a vast catalogue of the finest architectural designs for apartments all over the world, created by renowned architects and designers. With plentiful high-quality illustrations, which portray the highlights of modern living culture, this book is a true source of inspiration for all fans of urban architecture and original design.

This title features 55 outstanding lofts from all over the world. Lofts are apartments that are generally built into former industrial buildings. They have their origins in the New York of the 1950s. At that time, artists and bohemians in search of cheap places to live and work began to move into abandoned late-nineteenth-century industrial buildings that once had been sweatshops, furniture companies, printmaker shops, warehouses, depositories, and factories. They seized to create a new American version of the Parisian artist's atelier. Nowadays, the tendency to convert warehouses and factories into homes has extended everywhere. Once low-cost living spaces for artists, often occupied illegally by students, they have grown into elegant, luxurious residences reserved for a wealthy elite. This book provides 55 lofts from all over the world, from huge industrial to small business spaces. It is rounded off with more than 600 illustrations, architectural plans and computer graphics.

"Starchitects" is a complete catalogue of the most impressive architects and architectural firms working today, along with lavish full-color illustrations, drawings, floor and aerial plans, and photographs of the defining projects of these architects' careers thus far. More than 75 architects and firms are represented here by architecture and design expert Julio Fajardo, who has traveled the world to capture the best and the brightest in "Starchitects".

Its strategic geographical position, its historical record as the primary doorway ope to the New World, its rapid economic growth and its role as a meeting point and gathering place for the the cultures of the world make it a city that never stops re-inventing itself.