The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) today announces the long lists for the 2007 RIBA International Book Awards. Titles range from Palladio's Rome and Designing the Seaside in the architecture category to Building a Masterpiece: the Sydney Opera House and The Green Studio Handbook in the construction list.
 
The annual RIBA International Book Awards, aim to highlight the rising influence and standard of architectural writing and publishing. They celebrate the important contribution writing makes to the dynamic activity of creating buildings and transforming the landscape in which we live.
 
The awards are judged in two categories:
 
The Sir Nikolaus Pevsner International Book Award for Architecture recognises outstanding writing on architecture and architectural practice, the preservation of buildings, historic and theoretical research and analysis.
 
Supported by the British Architectural Library, part of the RIBA Trust, with media partner The Architectural Review.
 
The Sir Robert McAlpine International Book Award for Construction recognises exceptional writing on the construction and restoration of buildings, building design and building methods, and the use of new materials and technologies across the construction industry.
 
Supported by RIBA Bookshops with media partner Building magazine.
 
Irena Murray, Sir Banister Fletcher Director of the RIBA British Architectural Library said:
 
"Helping to sponsor two new international book awards is a wonderful opportunity for the RIBA British Architectural Library and RIBA Bookshops to recognise significant new scholarship in the field of design and construction. The continued importance of the book in promoting excellence and stimulating debate deserves everyone's support."
 
John Morgan, Executive Book Buyer, RIBA Bookshops, said:
 
"We have had a fantastic response to the awards, with over 250 books entered for the prizes. The range of topics of the books in the long lists reflect key developments in the construction industry - on sustainability, materials and the legal aspects of the industry. It will be interesting to see how the awards develop."
 
Long List for The Sir Nikolaus Pevsner RIBA International Book Award for Architecture:

• Designing the Seaside: Architecture, Society and Nature by Fred Gray. Reaktion Books
  
• Interpreting the Renaissance: Princes, Cities, Architects by Manfredo Tafuri. Yale University Press
  
• Palladio's Rome, by Ed/Trans: Vaughan Hart and Peter Hicks. Yale University Press
  
• Ten Shades of Green: Architecture and the Natural World, by Peter Buchanan. W.W.Norton
  
• Sir John Soane and London, by Ptolemy Dean. Ashgate Publishing
  
• The English House: 1000 Years of Domestic Architecture, by John Steel and Michael Wright. Antique Collectors' Club
  
• Capitalist Realism: New Architecture in Russia, by Bart Goldhoorn and Philipp Meuser. Dom Publishers
  
• Tracing Eisenman: Peter Eisenman Complete Works, by Ed: Cynthia Davidson. Thames & Hudson
  
• Visionary Architecture: Blueprints of the Modern Imagination, by Neill Spiller. Thames & Hudson
  
• Self-Sufficient Housing, by Ed: Vincent Guallart, Willy Müller and Lucas Capelli. Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catelona [IaaC]
  
• Villas and Saunas in Finland, by Harri Hautajärvi. Rakennustieto Oy
  
• The Act of Creation & the Spirit of Place: A Holistic-Phenomenological Approach to Architecture, by Nili Portugali. Axel Menges
  
• Oscar Niemeyer Houses, by Alan Weintraub and Alan Hess. Rizzoli International Publishers
  
• Formal Basis of Modern Architecture, by Peter Eisenman. Lars Müller Publishers
  
• Sauerbruch Hutton Archive, by Lars Müller Publishers
  
• The Green Studio Handbook: Environmental Strategies for Schematic Design, by Alison G. Kwok, Walter T. Grondzik. Elsevier
  
• Subtle Substances: the Architecture of Lina Bo Bardi, by Olivia de Oliveira. Editorial Gustavo Gili
  
• Immaterial Architecture, by Jonathan Hill. Taylor & Francis
  
• Integrated Strategies in Architecture, by Joan Zunde and Hocine Bougdah. Taylor & Francis
  
• Material Matters: Architecture and Material Practice, by Ed: Katie Lloyd Thomas. Taylor & Francis
  
• The Crisis of the Object: the Architecture of Theatricality, by Gevork Hartoonian. Taylor & Francis
  
• Rethinking Architectural Historiography, by Ed: Dana Arnold, Elvan Ergut and Bergin Turan Özkaya. Taylor & Francis
  
• The Homes of Giorgio Vasari, by Liana de Girolami Cheney. Peter Lang
  
• Inigo Jones and the Classical Tradition, by Christy Anderson. Cambridge University Press

Long List for The Sir Robert McAlpine International Book Award for Construction:
 

• Public Private Partnerships in Construction, by Duncan Cartlidge. Taylor and Francis
  
• Strategies for Sustainable Architecture, by Paola Sassi. Taylor and Francis
  
• Liquid Stone: New Architecture in Concrete, by Jean-Louis Cohen G. Martin Moeller Jr. Birkhäuser Verlag
  
• Smart Materials in Architecture, Interior Architecture and Design, by Axel Ritter. Birkhäuser Verlag
  
• Moulding, Assembling, Designing Ceramics in Architecture, by Ed: Armelle Tardiveau,Vicente Sarrablo and Javier Soriano. Spanish Ceramic Tile Manufacturers' Association [ASCER]
  
• Design-Tech: Building Science for Architects, by Jason Alread and Thomas Leslie. Elsevier
  
• Prefab Prototypes: Site-Specific Design for Offsite Construction, by Mark Anderson and Peter Anderson. Princeton Architectural Press
  
• Transmaterials: A Catalogue of Materials that Redefine Our Physical Environment, by Ed: Blaine Brownell. Princeton Architectural Press
  
• Building a Masterpiece: the Sydney Opera House, by Ed: Anne Watson. Ashgate Publishing
  
• Ecodesign: A Manual for Ecological Design, by Ken Yeang. John Wiley
  
• New Hospital Buildings in Germany [2 Volumes], by Philipp Meuser and Christoph Schirmer. Dom Publishers
  
• David Adjaye. Making Public Buildings: Specificity, Customization, Imbrication, by Ed: Peter Allison. Thames & Hudson
  
• UN Studio. Design Models: Architecture, Urbanism, Infrastructure, by Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos. Thames & Hudson
  
• The Green Building Bible Volume 1, by Ed: Richard Nichols, Keith Hall. Green Building Press
  
• The Green Building Bible Volume 2, by Keith Hall. Green Building Press
  
• Stone Conservation: Principles and Practice, by Ed: Alison Henry. Donhead Publishing
  
• Building with Reclaimed Components and Materials, by Bill Addis. Earthscan
  
• Environmental Design of Urban Buildings, by Ed: Mat Santamouris. Earthscan
  
• Infrastructure, by Brian Hayes. W.W.Norton
  
• Building Renaissance Venice: Patrons, Architects and Builders, by Richard J.Goy. Yale University Press
  
• Gustave Eiffel: La Tour de 300 Mètres, by Bertrand Lemoine. Taschen

 
Judges for The Sir Nikolaus Pevsner RIBA International Book Award for Architecture are:
 
David Dernie, Architect and Head of the Manchester School of Architecture; Adrian Forty, Architectural Historian and Professor at the Bartlett School of Architecture (Chair and representative of The Architectural Review); Eva Jiricna, architect and designer; Irena Murray, Architectural Historian and Sir Banister Fletcher Director, RIBA British Architectural Library; Diana Periton, Architectural Historian and Head of Architectural History and Theory at the Mackintosh School of Architecture, the Glasgow School of Art; and Dalibor Vesely, Architectural Historian and Director (Emeritus) of Graduate Studies, Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge.
 
Judges for The Sir Robert McAlpine International Book Award for Construction are:
 
Will Alsop, architect; Max Fordham, Principal of Max Fordam LLP, building services engineers (Chair); Alan Powers, author and lecturer; Jeremy Till, architect and Professor of Architecture and Director of Architectural Studies at the University of Sheffield; and Liz Walder, Communications Manager for RIBA London.
 
The short lists for both awards will be announced on 17 April 2007. Winners will be announced at an awards presentation on 23 May 2007 at the Naval and Military Club, London, SW1Y. Winning publishers will receive an RIBA International Book Award plaque and authors will be presented with a cheque for £1,000. 
 
The 2008 RIBA International Book Awards will be officially launched at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2007.