'We were told we would never get planning consent and we did. We were told we would never be able to fund it and we did. Then we were told we would never be able to build it and we did.' Irvine Sellar
In 2000, Irvine Sellar, a former market trader famous for helping to create the look of the Swinging Sixties on Carnaby Street, stood on a rooftop in Southwark, London, and decided to build the tallest building in western Europe. He had virtually no experience, and he wanted to build at the wrong height, in the wrong place, on the wrong side of the river and at the wrong time.
Twelve years later, the Shard, a 'vertical city' designed by one of the world's leading architects, Renzo Piano, changed the skyline of London. It immediately became one of the most instantly recognizable and admired contemporary buildings in the world.
This is the story of one man's vision for London and his determination to redefine an ancient but maligned part of the city despite seemingly insurmountable challenges including mass opposition, a huge planning inquiry, the financial crash, and major construction issues that required radical improvisation at every turn. At every twist in the tale, Sellar refused to give up.
The Shard is a tale of extreme ambition, innovation and a relentless desire to recast the skyscraper as a force for good.

The Shard: The Vision of Irvine Sellar

Biographies & Memoirs

Watson, Howard

Professionals & Academics

Constable

Bar Style charts the glamorous design renaissance of hotel bars and members' clubs and the way their cutting-edge interiors have helped forge a new social culture. Until recently dominated by sexless corporate design and traditional stuffiness, hotel and members? bars have responded to a backlash against homogeneity and are now the playground for innovative designers, sophisticated celebrities, and ultra-cool urbanites. The revolution in 'exclusive' bars began with the birth of the Groucho and Ian Schrager's boutique hotels. There is now a stunning range of intimate, ground-breaking bars -- even within traditional hotels -- that offer the fashion-savvy, post-club generation somewhere to see and be seen. The designs of Starck, Collins, Jiricna, Conran and Chipperfield rise above the zeitgeist, providing interiors of great beauty, style, and wit. Join author Howard Watson in an examination of bars from the UK, USA, Australia, Europe, and Asia and of the designs of Starck, Collins, Jiricna, Conran, and Chipperfield. Each bar study is accompanied by high quality images and a full description, summing up the design, ambience, and clientele. Bar Style is a great source of information and inspiration for your own projects. Order your copy today.

Bar Style: Hotels and Members' Clubs (Interior Angles)

Arts & Photography

Architecture

Academy Press

For the first time, Hotel Revolution draws together the new concepts of luxury that are central to 21st-century life, highlighting radical, exciting and exquisite designs that leave the now diluted concept of the boutique hotel in their wake. Hotel design has reached a new peak of innovation in recent years, providing a prism for our understanding of culture, style and desire. Using beautiful photographs, Howard Watson reassesses the diversity of hotel design in the wake of the rise of the boutique hotel, exploring new projects from many of the world’s greatest designers and architects. 
The cultural importance of hotel design has never been greater, becoming the mirror to our aspirations and the fulcrum for innovation in architecture and design. With a blossoming interest in eco-resorts, spas and retreats, we now see hotels as both the leaders of style and as the antidote to the negative aspects of modern life. Karim Rashid, Marcel Wanders, Antonio Citterio, Philippe Starck, Matteo Thun, Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid, David Chipperfield, GRAFT and many other inspirational designers have taken on the challenge. They have created gorgeous hotels that shock and delight. From converted boulangeries and convents to micro hotels to country retreats and eastern spas, the designers have delivered…with style. Featured hotels include: Hotel Puerta América, Madrid Hotel on Rivington, New York Semiramis, Athens Virgilius Mountain Resort, South Tyrol Zetter, London Lute Suites, Ouderkerk North Island, Seychelles Bulgari Hotel, Milan Faena Hotel + Universe, Buenos Aires Hôtel du Petit Moulin, Paris Uma Paro, Bhutan YOtel, prototype

Hotel Revolution: 21st Century Hotel Design (Interior Angles)

Cocktails evoke glamour – whether it is James Bond ordering a Martini ‘shaken not stirred’ or Sarah Jessica Parker and her friends in ‘Sex in the City’ sensuously sipping Cosmopolitans. The Design Mix – Bars, Cocktails &amp; Style brilliantly captures the sophisticated, alluring world of today’s international bar scene. As well as profiling over 25 of the top bar and restaurant interiors, this lavishly illustrated book sheds light on the inspiration behind their cutting-edge designs. Alluding to the cocktail’s wider cultural connotations with the inclusion of film stills and posters, it also features many classic recipes as well as new creations by renowned mixologist Jamie Walker. With over 200 photos, this richly atmospheric book offers readers fascinating insights into the exclusive world of cocktail culture.

The Design Mix: Bars, Cocktails and Style

With over 200 sumptuous photographs, Fashion Retail reveals how the world’s top labels (including Prada, Hèrmes, Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney and Louis Vuitton) have revolutionised fashion-retail design. Since the late 1990s, designers have realised that the perfect showcase for their cutting-edge clothes are inspirational, innovative stores, created by like-minded architects and interior designers. From London, Paris and Milan to New York and Tokyo, shops are being refitted in a whole range of styles from fantastical 1970s-inspired futurism to pure minimalism. Like the clothes, the emphasis is on the ingenious use of both new and classic materials, with surprising angles and unexpected inspirations. 
With a new preface and 28 of the latest, beautiful, fashion-retail stores designed by architects such as Rem Koolhaas, Thomas Heatherwick, Renzo Piano, Marc Newson, Future Systems and Herzog &amp; de Meuron, this new edition of the highly acclaimed Fashion Retail shows how the top labels in the world are continuing to match radical couture with radical architecture and interiors. The new edition also highlights how accessory brands such as Longchamp have come to the fore with adventurous interiors, while department stores worldwide are being redesigned to compete at the highest level. As Fashion Retail reveals, the labels and architects are embracing the challenges of the internet by ensuring that the stores are the ultimate, experiential destinations for the customers, whose expectations of stylish shopping environments are higher than ever. Leading international designers are also responding to the blurring of the boundaries between fashion, art and entertainment, while the high-profile success of fashion-retail interiors has led brands to cross over into other areas of cutting-edge design such as hotels.

Fashion Retail (Interior Angles)

Curtis, Eleanor

wiley

Atlas of History's Greatest Heroes & Villains : The 50 Most Significant People Explored in Words and Maps

Metro_Books

The incredible story of 25 of the world's most secretive &amp; deadly fighting units, from the Spartans of Ancient Greece to modern-day SAS &amp; Navy Seals who dare to perform raids in the heart of enemy territory whatever the odds. The covert operations, methods, &amp; dark secrets of the units, are exposed, revealing what makes a supreme military unit. The gripping stories of battles &amp; special operations through historical sources &amp; personal narratives. Details of the special skills behind a top unit's method. Illustrations, photographs, &amp; fact boxes giving the lowdown on each unit.

Secrets & Lies: Elite Fighting Units

Metro

Twisted History brings to life the incredible stories of 32 historical figures -- murderers, assassins and traitors who embraced the dark side, and martyrs and innocents who paid with their lives in the pursuit of good. All changed world history. 
 The book is lavishly illustrated with stunning illustrations and period photographs. Accessible text and fact boxes describe evil and angelic acts across the centuries, like Judas, whose name would come to define betrayal, Joan of Arc, victorious virgin soldier and patron saint of France, and René Goupil, tortured and martyred by Native Americans, who became the first American saint. 
 Twisted History puts readers face to face with vile villains and true heroes. They include: 
<ul>
<li> William Wallace, the Scottish hero who was hanged, drawn and quartered by the English for high treason (c.1270-1305)</li> <li> Vlad the Impaler, who enjoyed torturing and impaling his victims (1431-76)</li> <li> Bernie Madoff (1938- ), architect of the biggest financial scam in history, a $65-billion Ponzi scheme that shattered banks, insurance companies and private investors</li> <li> Kazuo Taoka, boss of the most powerful and merciless Japanese yakuza gang (1913-81).</li>
</ul>
 Twisted History is an engaging, informative and gripping read for all teen and adult readers.

Twisted History: 32 True Stories of Torture, Traitors, Sadists, and Psychos... Plus the Most Celebrated Saints in History

History

Historical Study & Educational Resources

Firefly Books

Secrets and Lies: Military Intelligence Operations.

Secrets & Lies: Military Intelligence Operations

Apple Press

Collecting Clarice Cliff

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Antiques & Collectibles

Kevin Francis Pub Ltd

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Books by Watson, Howard