Summary
Similar in format to Phaidon's Contemporary World Architecture , Contemporary World Interiors is a thorough survey of the current state of international interior design, presenting some 450 projects around the world completed within the past 25 years. Organized by category into 11 chapters, the book goes far beyond the traditional emphasis on residences and commercial spaces to include religious interiors, performance halls and cultural centers, civic spaces, restaurants, and hospitals and therapeutic spaces, among others. Each chapter is heavily illustrated with color photographs and plans reproduced at a generous size. In its variety and scope, the book depicts the expanding purview and impact of the interior designer, product designer, decorator and, of course, architect, as well as the public's growing fascination with, and investment in, the designed interior.
Susan Yelavich is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Art and Design Studies at Parsons The New School for Design in New York City, and a freelance writer and curator specializing in architecture and design. From 1994 to 2002, she was the Assistant Director for Public Programs at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York, where she produced 50 exhibitions and 16 publications. Yelavich is the author of numerous articles and books, including Design for Life , Pentagram/Profile (Phaidon, 2004), and The Edge of the Millennium: An International Critique of Architecture , for which she was awarded a 1997 Federal Design Achievement award.
