Sci-fi meets historical fact in this thrilling novel by ancient-language scholar Michael S. Heiser. Haunted by his parents' death and his career failures, Dr. Brian Scott has begun to settle for the life he's been given. Until he's kidnapped by military insiders known as The Group. Disappearances. Visitations. Murder. Brian and a team of world-class scholars are given a confidential mission: To prepare humanity for a new reality. They are here. But as the government's involvement with extraterrestrials is revealed, strange things begin to happen. Something isn't right. Unpeeling layer after layer of deception and counter-deception, Brian moves toward a shocking revelation that will forever alter how humanity sees itself. Every document cited in The Façade actually exists. Every ancient text discussed in The Façade is authentic. Every historical figure referred to or quoted in The Façade is real.
In this steamy romance from a New York Times bestseller, dark secrets threaten the passion and joy of a couple’s connection as the truth of their pasts slowly creeps up on them. "Phen-om-enal! Nyrae Dawn paints with words in a way that made me drink Facade down in one big gulp. This is one of those books you can read again and again." -- New York Times bestselling author, Courtney Cole on Facade. From bestselling author, Nyrae Dawn, comes Book 2 in her New Adult, Games Series! Can love save them? After her father commits a crime that shatters her family, eighteen-year-old Delaney Cross is tired of pretending everything is alright. Packing up her car, she sets out to find the people her father hurt. Her search leads her to places she's never been--and into the arms of Adrian Westfall. To the outside world, Adrian is a sexy, charming ladies man. But his playboy persona is just an act. Secretly his soul is tortured by a memory too painful to share. Only Delaney seems to see through his favßade to the real man underneath. And for the first time in his life, Adrian feels he can begin to open up about his past. Together, Adrian and Delaney share a passionate, carefree love they never expected to find. Yet both still harbor their own secrets. When the dark truth is finally revealed, will it bring them closer together, or tear them apart forever?
The Architecture of the Facade provides a comprehensive study of the facade as both a physical and cultural artifact, highlighting its significance as a critical component of the civic realm and arguing for the restoration of the art of the facade as both a subject of study within academia and an aspiration within the profession at large. As the principal surface of mediation, contextualization, and representation, the facade carries the lion’s share of responsibility for containing the internal environment and confronting the outer world. And yet, in recent decades, the very question of what exactly a facade is has been raised by the dramatic changes in building technology, advances of parametric design, and the ubiquity of autonomous buildings. The Architecture of the Facade addresses these and other related issues. The book is organized into 12 chapters, with each chapter focusing on a particular aspect of the phenomenon of the facade such as those of wall, the frame, transparency, and the role of the facade in civic space. Korman also discusses proportional systems, the language of composition, the role of precedent, the importance of context, and much more. Over 350 photos and diagrams provide readers with a variety of examples of artful facades throughout history. Online teaching resources that accompany this book include a course syllabus, a glossary, and a Pinterest tack board of facades. This book will be of great interest to students in architecture studios as well as instructors and professional architects interested in facade design.
Combined with ASTM Standard Practice for Periodic Inspection of Building Facades for Unsafe Conditions (E 2270), this new publication provides a rational guide for building owners and governing authorities to help ensure the safety of our aging building infrastructure. Twenty-four peer-reviewed papers, written by experts who bring first hand knowledge and experience to this work, cover faade ordinances; historic buildings; data collection techniques; and repair techniques."
"The facade is like the skin of a building, showing the exterior image and composition of the building. From the perspective of environmental protection, Eco-Friendly Building Facade provides readers with numerous building facade cases. Each case follows the eco-friendly principles, such as daylighting, shading, ventilation, low consumption, noise reduction, rainwater collection, prefabrication and high flexibility. All of them are accompanied by detailed graphic information to interpret the design details of the facade. Peter Luger, a professor of architecture from Germany, is invited to write the preface of this book and express his unique views on sustainable design. Professor Peter Luger, with over 20 years of experience, is a certified passive house designer. He's office has made outstanding contributions in the field of low energy consumption and sustainable building design, three of which have obtained the German national sustainable building certification. Environmental protection is the focus of future architectural design, and environmental protection facade will become the top priority. This book collects the detailed knowledge of eco-friendly building façade to introduce what the façade is, what features do eco-friendly façades have, and how to apply them in the projects. Each case is interpreted in depth from two aspects: project brief and key points which focus on the role and application of façade in environmental protection, such as the choice of building orientation, material composition, energy saving facilities and other points to be considered. It is a useful reference work for readers in the architectural field. Wide range of building types, from common building like office, performance centers, residential and commercial buildings to uncommon buildings like parking lots and memorials. The highly authoritative works are selected from famous architects and national public projects, such as Daiwa Ubiquitous Computing Research Building and Aix En Provence Conservatory of Music designed by Kengo Kuma, Helios Building (the head offices of the National Solar Energy Institute) supported by government. Most of projects were received the Gold Medal for World Green Design Award." -- artpower.com.cn.
This books comprises various themes around imaginary facades and building envelopes. Aspects such as function integration, networking of elements, new structures and materials, as well as the addition of functions to existing structures are investigated in around 85 examples.
This interdisciplinary study interprets the facade of Wells Cathedral as an integral part of thirteenth-century Church liturgy and politics. The facade promoted the aims of the church of Wells, the Fourth Lateran Council, and the English Church and State following Magna Carta.
The crucial need to substitute true leadership for bad management practices such as Management By Objectives (MBO) and the use of fear is now well known and was often championed by Dr. W. Edwards Deming. While significant progress has been made, many organizations (especially outside of manufacturing) are either just getting started with their improvement efforts or they are faking their way forward (going through the motions), trying to imitate what they have read in books or have seen at conferences. The executives of these organizations might give permission for the tools of Lean and Six Sigma to be taught but many of them still refuse to look in a mirror and change their own leadership style. They have built a "façade of excellence" that crumbles quickly whenever a bit of chaos is introduced. Not being able to sustain improvements over the long term is one of the top complaints from improvement professionals. What ingredient is missing that prohibits changes to occur throughout the leadership ranks that might create a culture that embraces teamwork, collaboration and improvement? To start, what exactly do we mean by leadership? The common mistake is to try and put all effective leaders into the same box. Leadership actually has many dimensions and several definitions. This book explores four different styles of leadership that includes "The Crisis Leader," "The Idea Gathering Leader," "The Team Forming Leader," and "The Empowerment Leader." Each of the four styles is appropriate when given a certain set of circumstances (an organization in trouble needs a "Crisis Leader" for example). The goal is to shift the organization, including the leaders and all of the employees at every level, toward collaboration and empowerment. Why go through the pains to rebuild an organization’s culture and leaders? In the annual "IndustryWeek Magazine - Best Plants" competition, the companies that have made the transition to high performance, fully empowered teams ("The Empowerment Leader"), in general, demonstrate far better results than all other applicants (and they tend to win "Best Place to Work" awards as well). So, what is keeping organizational leaders, especially those in the middle of the organization chart, from adopting the "The Empowerment" leadership style? This book defines and helps the reader understand what this new normal of leadership consists of and: Explains the four different styles of leaders and how these are different than a typical "old style" manager. Indicates which style is appropriate given a certain set of circumstances and how a leader knows when it is time to migrate from one style to another. Illustrates what it means for an organization to shift from a "dictator" culture to one of collaboration and what steps can be taken to help this transformation. Explores the current definition of a "promotable manager" and how this differs from a new normal definition of an outstanding, effective "Empowerment" leader. Defines Mission, Vision, Strategy, and Values and how these four cultural principles fit into the leadership progression model. Shows how the culture within the organization will be different after the adoption of empowered teams and introduces the concept of "Enthusiastic Productivity."
Façade design is a challenging task, in which multidisciplinary issues and aspects should be optimally considered and addressed. This is especially the case of building façades exposed to seismic events, impacts, or fire. Special attention and major efforts are required for the detection and application of new technologies in the generation of modern, adaptive façade systems. This book presents a selection of research contributions to provide a comprehensive overview of façade design. It discusses the experimental analysis and numerical investigation of existing or traditional façades, as well as the development and optimal application of new technologies for modern adaptive façades and building envelopes.
