Villages in the Sun: Mediterranean Community Architecture Book

Villages in the Sun is both an exceptional pictorial record of the glorious Mediterranean villages of Greece, Italy, Spain, Morocco, and Tunisia, and an exploration of the rationale behind their architectural and urban forms as well as the processes of their construction. While noting that differences in climate, site, materials, and traditions have resulted in local patterns of design, architect Myron Goldfinger also points out that most of these towns have certain common characteristics that make them highly successful as communities. The dramatic expression of details, textures, materials, and colors simultaneously reveals a building's function, construction, and the individuality of its creator. The towns featured include such well-known and well-loved places as Positano, Mykonos, Santorini, Alberobello, and Djerba. These extraordinary villages also present a viable model for contemporary housing. The author argues, in his comprehensive introduction, that Mediterranean towns impart a welcoming sense of community and the chance for individual expression that is all too often lacking in our "planned" housing developments of today. This book, originally published in 1969, is now revised, with a new preface, and issued in color for the first time. Goldfinger spent seven years studying, photographing, and living in Mediterranean villages while preparing the original work, which is now enriched by an additional twenty years of observation and experience.