2022 has been a busy year so far – shortly after Modern Apartment Design was published, with Routledge, I had the good fortune to publish another book, named Medium. The Medium book has been published via EBOSS, a New Zealand company, and it is the first book they have published, with a large print run and a lot of collaboration from the NZ construction industry.
Medium is focused on the technical aspects of designing Medium Density Housing in the New Zealand market, and includes considerable industry input from contractors, consultants and suppliers alike. You can purchase Medium direct from EBOSS website at eboss.co.nz
So here’s something that’s with the publisher: my second book! Quite excited by this – been working on it for the last year or so – the book you write while you’re locked up in Covid quarantine. Delighted to have six great Case Study chapters written with the architects of six great Apartment buildings around the world. Today, so far, we’ve got a gorgeous cover, with a photo by Simon Devitt, one of New Zealand’s wonderful architectural photographers.
The building is by Architectus, being one of the really interesting new apartment buildings at the Wynyard Quarter in Auckland. The book should be out around Christmas…
It seems like it was only yesterday, but the book Tall: the Design and Construction of High-Rise Architecture has now been published for one year. The good news is that it is selling well, especially in New Zealand, and of course selling really well at Victoria University of Wellington, where I am based. Sales figures are generally great throughout New Zealand and good in Australia, with some decent sales also in the UK. So far though, it has not been selling at all well in the USA and in Asia, both of which I was hoping there would be a good market for. So, time for a sales push.
I’m keen therefore to hear from students or architects who have read the book, to see if they can leave a comment about what they found useful about the book – what they liked, or what they didn’t. It’s only by constructive feedback that we can all learn and improve and move on – that goes for the authors as well as the students. Who knows if there will be a revised edition one day – it has sold out from its first printing i think, but more copies are being printed so it will be available for some years to come.
So if you have any comments you would like to leave, please do so here!
We’re really delighted to reveal that Tall: the Design and Construction of High-Rise Architecture has been granted one of the 2020 Awards from the Textbook and Academic Authors Association (TAA). This is a huge win for the book – from first time textbook authors – and it has us all very much excited for the future of the book, continuing to boost its spread.
The TAA is a very supportive Association of like-minded people, keen to promote the use of easily-understandable texts for use by students. They have a number of seminars where members share advice and writing techniques, and the Awards will be held in June. Hopefully this win from the American-based TAA will help the success of the book in the USA and Canada market.
Last night, 9th October 2019, we launched the book with a small party – very short speech – a hundred or more guests and students, hungry for more! In my humble opinion – a really good launch party. Many thanks to my publishers Routledge Taylor and Francis, the book sellers Vic Books Ruby and Sarah, my Taylor and Francis agent Vicki, and of course the Students and Staff at Victoria University of Wellington – and my great students from my 3rd year class especially!
Huge thanks also to my co-authors as well: the great John Sutherland ONZM, my PhD protege Ged Finch, the enigmatic Nabil Jose Allaf, and of course, the fantastic illustrator Lauren Hayes to whom so much of this book owes its (hoped for) success.
We’re having a small occasion to launch the book. If you’re in Wellington, New Zealand, on Wednesday 9 October at 5.30pm, come along to the School of Architecture for the official launch.
The publishers (Routledge – Taylor & Francis) have just informed me that the book has now been published, about a week ahead of schedule. Hooray! Now the fun begins. Not sure how long it takes to reach the shelves (or indeed if there are any shelves any more for text books – or is it all just waiting for on-line recognition?) but I’m going to see if we can get this book available around the world. The aim is, of course, to get better understanding of tall building construction. Wish me luck!
In the mean time, as soon as I get my hands on some copies, we’re going to have a launch party, probably in Wellington, New Zealand. You going to come and join in?
This is the website for the new book Tall: the Design and Construction of High-Rise Architecture. Edited (and mostly written) by Guy Marriage, the book does what it says on the cover; namely it is all about the reasons why we design like we do, and the way that we put together large multi-storey buildings. It has been written by 4 experienced practitioners and has been illustrated with clear, simple, black and white line drawings, easy to read and easy to understand – perfect for learning and comprehending the major principles going on in your design and construction process.
We’re hoping to be able to use this website if you have any questions, or comments, or corrections – or criticism! Hopefully not too much of the latter two categories… This book will be a major new publication, aimed squarely at young architecture (and engineering) students, and early practitioners looking at their first taller commercial project. It is due out at the end of this year – October 2019 – and will be in time for you to order from Routledge for your class next semester if you are a lecturer, or for you to buy if you are an interested student.
You can order it direct from Routledge (offices worldwide including the UK and the USA) by clicking here. If you want, you can also order it via Amazon, which is also everywhere, and is available by clicking here. If you want to just go and buy this book from your local bookstore, drop a message in the comments section below and we’ll try and get that to happen as well. If you’ve still got a good local bookstore, congratulations! They’re few and far between these days.
I’m also going to be tracking the progress of the book here, and I’m hopeful it will continue to track upwards. Keeping in mind the book has not launched yet, and I’m the only person who has seen it yet, Tall ranked at position 3,871,621 on Amazon’s list of best-sellers in July – which must be pretty much at the bottom. The only way is Up ! That was ranked the same day at #886 in Architectural Study and Teaching.
I’m not sure if I can believe their algorithm, but Amazon now list it at 234,998th on their best sellers list – and at #50 in Architectural Study and Teaching, so up 836 places in a month, without actually being on sale yet. Hmmm. Too good to be true? We’ll see. We’re going for the top ten!
