Grand Designs Handbook

Book excerpt: In Grand Designs Handbook , British TV's architecture and design guru Kevin McCloud arms the aspiring self-builder with the tools to ensure that your vision becomes reality. Via three main sections—Thinking, Dreaming, and Doing—he guides you through each stage of the process of building a home, from working out what you really want to implementing the build itself. Structured around fundamental locations—urban, suburban, and rural—the author presents his own compendium of houses that he finds exciting and exemplary. For anyone who cares about design or has thought about building their own home, this illustrated guide is inspiring reading.