Non-fiction
EUR78,–
Residential Towers
English, Annette Gigon, Annette Guyer Gigon, Felix Jerusalem, Mike Guyer, 2016
Best selling Non-fiction from GTA
On this page you'll find a ranking of the best GTA products in this category. To give you a quick overview, we've already ranked the most important information about the products for you.
1. GTA Residential Towers
With the increasing densification of cities, living in high-rise buildings is gaining relevance. Climatic, constructive, and social challenges have often led to highly innovative solutions in the young, constantly evolving building type of residential high-rise. A selection of 80 architecturally exemplary high-rises from five continents allows for a comparative examination of the different approaches. The buildings, which have been constructed from the 1930s to the present, are presented with plans, photographs, and brief texts, supplemented by biographical information about the architects. The introduction and three essays address various aspects of the development and significance of residential high-rises in an international context.
2. GTA Peter Thomann
Roofs made of air cushions, bathrooms in blue steel tanks, greenhouses as winter gardens – the world of Swiss architect Peter Thomann is eclectic, colorful, and full of experiments. Buildings of almost overwhelming complexity create their own inspiring living landscapes. The complicated simplicity of the architectural solutions, the model of the architect-builder, as well as the focus on a single project and the years of engagement with it characterize his work. Born in 1935 in Winterthur, Thomann still lives and works today in Adliswil near Zurich, where most of his fascinating buildings are located along a single street.
Thomann's designs are as unexpected as they are striking within the Swiss context, yet his work has largely remained undiscovered. In this book, Alexandre Theriot and Stéphanie Bru, known for their independent architectural approach as Bruther, together with Blanka Major, shed light on the multifaceted cosmos of the architect. The focus is on the visual: extensive professional and private archival materials are complemented by current photographs from three different perspectives. An introduction and four conversations with Peter Thomann deepen the insight into his thinking and his unique architectural stance.
Non-fiction
EUR49,–
Peter Thomann
English, German, Alexandre Theriot, Arnaud Bostelmann, Blanka Major, Johannes Schwartz, Maxime Delvaux, Oliver Burch, Peter Thomann, Stéphanie Bru, 2025
3. GTA System & Serie
Buildings made from industrially prefabricated elements that are assembled on-site have shaped architecture across Europe since the post-war period. In Switzerland, systematic constructions were also created on a large scale: schools, community centers, clinics, industrial or residential buildings. Contractors like Ernst Göhner developed affordable housing in innovative large-scale settlements, radically changing the landscape. Architectural and planning firms developed independent building systems. Advanced methods of prefabrication, transportation, and assembly ensured location independence and quick, cost-effective realization. Modular building block systems guaranteed future expansions. It was not until the oil crisis of 1973 and its economic consequences that the construction boom came to an end. Concrete and serially produced large buildings became symbols of a monotonous speculative architecture focused solely on profit. After "the slab" fell into disrepute in the 1990s, it is now gradually regaining appreciation. This book aims to counteract the lingering disdain for serially produced buildings from the 1940s to the 1970s, which make up the majority of Switzerland's building stock. The scientifically grounded study offers an unbiased assessment of the building systems and structures, along with a comprehensive inventory. It highlights the opportunities and challenges of long-term preservation and use, providing fundamental insights into repairability and energy efficiency improvements. ICOMOS Suisse, working group System & Series, consists of experts from the fields of social history, architectural history, architecture, building physics, civil engineering, and heritage conservation.
4. GTA Cooking Up Dinner Speeches
In May 1954, Ise Gropius (1897–1983) embarked on a three-month journey to Japan alongside the renowned architect Walter Gropius. The tightly scheduled itinerary of their tour, organized by the International House of Japan and funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, brought them into contact with architects, artisans, artists, journalists, and university professors. Ise Gropius proved to be a gifted chronicler in addition to her role as her husband’s promoter and speechwriter. In detailed reports—her only known cohesive texts from the post-war period—she vividly describes the land and its people. She comments on lectures, discussions about reconstruction, evening gatherings, and the Bauhaus exhibition in Tokyo with as much humor and insight as she does on the role of Japanese women, Zen Buddhism, or the local cuisine. Extensively commented on by the editor and supplemented by contributions from Anne Hultzsch and Shuntaro Nozawa, this volume makes Ise Gropius’ travel reports available for the first time as a facsimile.
Non-fiction
EUR32,–
Cooking Up Dinner Speeches
English, Almut Grunewald, Anne Hultzsch, Irina Davidovici, Shuntaro Nozawa, 2025
5. GTA Asnago and Vender and the Construction of Modern Milan
This is the first book in English about the Italian architects Mario Asnago (1896-1981) and Claudio Vender (1904-1986). Their city was the transforming Milan of the mid-20th century, and the extraordinary architectural scene of that time is revealed in their works and through the writings of their contemporaries. Cino Zucchi and Adam Caruso provide in-depth analyses of the conceptual and material qualities of the buildings, illustrated through plans and photographs of a selection of Asnago Vender's urban projects. The book is the second in a series about the boundaries of modernity - a forgotten generation of European architects.
6. GTA Karl Egender
With his first major project, the vocational school and today's Museum of Design Zurich, Karl Egender (1897–1969) entered the stage of New Building in Zurich alongside his office partner Adolf Steger. Their emblematic building, opened in 1933, sparked intense debates. A place among the top ranks of young modern Swiss architecture seemed assured for them. However, the pathos of the avant-garde was foreign to Egender; he did not commit to a programmatic or stylistic line. Open and undogmatic, he focused on accurately capturing the task at hand and on artistically conveying his vision of architecture that was both appropriate and original: exhibition and fair buildings, community centers and neighborhood casinos, theaters and cinemas, commercial and department stores, cooperative housing developments. Sports and political cabaret, fashion and stage art, worker culture and popular education were the environments in which the architect felt comfortable and for whose concerns he engaged with solid craftsmanship and a spirit of experimentation.
Non-fiction
EUR62,–
Karl Egender
German, Bruno Maurer, Claude Lichtenstein, Daniel Short, Dorothee Huber, Leza Dosch, Melchior Fischli, 2024
7. GTA Architecture of Counterrevolution
After more than 120 years of French colonial rule, the growing independence movements led to the Algerian Revolution in 1954, which lasted until 1962. To combat the uprisings, the French civil and military authorities reorganized the entire territory, rapidly established new infrastructures, and pursued a construction policy aimed at ultimately stabilizing French dominance in Algeria. The study describes the architectural measures taken during this protracted and bloody armed conflict. It analyzes their origins, developments, and objectives, identifies the actors involved, and highlights the underlying design methods.
8. GTA Urban Design in the 20th Century
We live in the age of the urban. More people than ever before are living in cities, which are growing larger and denser than ever, and urbanity has reached an unprecedented level of complexity. This urbanization boom, observed globally today, began at the turn of the 20th century when technological advancements and the promotion of seemingly unlimited natural resources propelled urban development. With the steady increase in city populations, architects and planners had to address not only the design of living spaces and public areas but also respond to new societal challenges such as geopolitical tensions, post-war reconstruction after two world wars, decolonization, economic crises, growing climate issues, and cultural changes. Through the analysis of more than one hundred richly illustrated projects and urban initiatives, this book provides the first comprehensive history of how these challenges have continuously generated new attitudes and approaches in the field of urban planning since the early 20th century.
9. GTA Lessons from the Social Condensers
Coined by Constructivist architects of the Soviet Union in the 1920s, the term 'social condenser' signifies the agency of architecture not only in shaping individual behaviors but also in reforming society at large. The buildings and projects conceived as structures for public assembly according to these ideas are some of the earliest radical architectural experiments of the modern movement. Despite their indisputable impact on the canonized history of modernism, there remains little insight into this considerable body of architectural work.
The 101 case studies presented here reflect the wide reach of early Soviet social condensers, from agitation installations to workers' clubs, palaces of culture, and mass act theatres spread through the vast state territory from Ukraine to the Urals. These projects serve as precedents for how architecture can activate social function but also as cautionary tales of using architecture as an instrument of state propaganda, social engineering, and territorial control.
10. GTA Upscaling Earth
Adobe construction is not only one of the oldest but also one of the most modern building methods of our time. What economic, ecological, and social opportunities lie in the increased use of earth as a building material? Cement, a key component of concrete, will, like other scarce resources, only be available in limited quantities in the future and will continue to rise in price. It is necessary to pay more attention to alternative building materials. This volume presents a wide range of built and unbuilt projects as well as new strategies for realizing adobe architecture—a construction method that can be adapted to any culture and context. The authors showcase groundbreaking technological innovations through impressive examples, illustrating the advantages of this material: from global availability to the possibility of complete recyclability, from climate-neutral production to socially compatible use, especially in developing countries. This book highlights the remarkable potentials of adobe architecture—for people and for the entire planet.
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