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Whether you are looking for the perfect gift for an architecture lover or just for a new architecture book for yourself, one publication makes for great reading. Titled Dig It! Building Bound to the Ground, the book explores the inventive designs of architecture embedded in the earth. The work, published by Taschen, includes 1,390 pages of innovative projects dealing with the ground all around the world.
Dutch architect Bjarne Mastenbroek introduces readers to the technology behind unexpected architectural solutions to the ground plane. Supported by the images of photographer Iwan Baan, Mastenbroek celebrates the ingenuity of buildings chiseled out of stone or dug deep within the earth. The book is described as “part atlas, part encyclopedia” with fascinating imagery supported by analytical drawings and diagrams by architecture office SeARCH, which helps us understand why this architectural typology holds so much knowledge. The collection was designed by Mevis & Van Deursen.
When designers have to deal with the realities of the terrain, they often have to learn the character of the site on a much deeper level. Dig It! Building Bound to the Ground allows for a better understanding of the sustainable and structural logic of these designs and how they are used across many different sites and cultures. As we deal with the changing climate of our planet, Mastenbroek offers one way to potentially rethink the way we build. “Mankind destroys the skin of the earth at an unprecedented scale. The time has come for a fundamental reset,” he says.
If you “dig” this book, you can buy your copy on Bookshop. For more interesting books on architecture, structure, and the design of buildings, check out our article on our favorite architecture books and the architecture category on the My Modern Met Bookshop.
Dig It! Building Bound to the Ground explores the incredibly innovative logic of architecture embedded in the earth.
