Outlines the practical realities faced by a design professional when trying to balance a client brief and environmental conditions with creative inspirationA practical guide to dealing with design challenges and a fascinating exploration of the creative mindIncludes floor plans, detailed hand-drawn sketches, full-color photography and accompanying text that describes each step of the design processWill be of particular interest to design professionals and architecture enthusiastsHow do our minds work when we design? How do we organize and assimilate information, create and evaluate options, and make decisions? These questions have fascinated and absorbed architect and sculptor Richard Bertman (FAIA) since his graduate school days. Now, after a 40-year career, Bertman has used the design of a vacation house as an experiment to explore these questions. The result, documented in The Design Process and the Art of the Single Family Home, is a fascinating and revealing insight into the creative process. With detailed notes and sketches, Bertman charts each stage of the design process, questioning and examining why certain decisions are made, how problems are solved, and generally exploring the processes involved in creative thinking.Of related interest: Houses for All Regions ISBN 9781864705171 - $49.95
Richard Bertman is a founding principal of CBT Architects, a 250-person architectural, interior architecture and urban design firm, located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. His firm, CBT/Childs Bertman Tseckares Architects, has received more than 200 design awards for is work. His education includes a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University, a Bachelor of Architecture from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.), and a Master of Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley. For several years, prior to teaching architectural design at the Rhode Island School of Design, Bertman taught at the Boston Architectural Center (now the Boston Architectural College), chairing the First Year Design Program. He has been a visiting critic in design at the University of California, Berkeley, the Rhode Island School of Design, Tuskegee Institute, M.I.T., and Harvard's Graduate School of Design. Named a fellow of the American Institute of Architects, Bertman was also a previous president of the Boston Society of Architects, which honored him with their highest individual award for lifetime achievement. He headed the Committee on Design, when he helped prepare the National Architectural Registration Examinations, for the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB). He has been a Trustee of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (now Historic New England). He chaired the Back Bay Architectural Commission, served on the South End Landmark District Commission, and was a board member of the Boston Landmarks Commission, chairing its Design Review Committee. He was one of the first architects to be inducted into the New England Design Hall of Fame and received a lifetime achievement award from the Boston Preservation Alliance. Bertman is also an award-winning sculptor, working in the mediums of welded steel and carved wood. His work continues to be exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the United States--in California, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.
