The leitmotif of this book about housing is typology. Intended as a manual, it aims to assemble all the available knowledge of the subject in a single volume by reference to examples and the structure of the house. Indeed, Housing Design has itself become an edifice, constantly displaying its own skeleton through clear pictograms and graphics and its use of a silvery green.

The two great themes in its architecture are spatial and material typology, divided into sub-themes such as zone, storey, corridor, staircase; block, detached house, high-rise; mass, roof, skin etc. Each of these is given its own pictogram, endowing the book with its own rhythm by being printed in green alongside the example to which it refers. Black is used for the project descriptions, and a final distinction is made between different kinds of text by printing them in two different fonts.

The book’s design is entirely subservient to facilitating the process of navigating through it. The panel commended the book’s uncluttered didactic approach coupled with an abundance of knowledge, the only critical note being the comment that the reproductions were on the grey side.