Building the Perfect Home

Name: Building the Perfect Home
ISBN: 9787522901459

马特·吉伯德 / 夏佩瑶 / 袁桦China Textile & Apparel Press · ChinaFeb 2023

3.9

Word count: 134K words
Chapters: 48
ISBN: 9787522901459

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Summary

Accompanied by a wealth of stunning photography, Matt tells the stories of living spaces with exceptional design and their equally remarkable owners, and offers a profound interpretation of how the five elements of space, light, material, nature, and decoration can be applied to home design and interior spaces. What does design mean for a home and its inhabitants? Through design, we can find the style we truly love and discover unique combinations of light, color, and material; only then will home design reveal lasting appeal and become a perfect home that is uniquely our own. Only in this way can we experience true spiritual pleasure at home.

Editor's review

This is a home design book in which photography plays a central role. Rather than cataloguing style labels, Matt Gibberd organizes the book around five elements—space, light, materials, nature, and decoration—and, through the life stories of specific homeowners, shows how design shapes the daily experience of those who live in a space. The many real-life photographs make abstract design principles tangible: readers can see directly how light changes the character of a room and how materials affect touch and temperature. The core question the book explores is the relationship between design and people: a home is not a showroom but a place where one can settle one's emotions and experience pleasure. It is therefore better suited as a book to inspire aesthetic judgment than as a construction guide. It is appropriate for those currently renovating or remodeling a home who want to clarify their real needs, and also for readers interested in interior design and lifestyle photography who wish to browse at leisure.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Homeowners renovating or remodeling a home who need to clarify their needs
General readers interested in interior design and home aesthetics
Readers who enjoy spatial photography and want to refine their sense of domestic taste
Lifestyle readers who want to understand the relationship between design and inhabitants

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking hard technical guidance such as construction techniques and material specifications
Readers on a tight budget who only want low-cost renovation checklists
Professional students expecting a systematic design theory textbook

Reading tips

Start by browsing the photographs to form an intuitive impression, then go back and read the corresponding text to understand the design intent.
Before renovating, take notes element by element across the five themes and write down the reasons for your choices given your own home's conditions.
Use the homeowners' stories as reference samples and consider which lifestyles resemble your own.
After reading, summarize on a single page the light, materials, and natural conditions of your own home before discussing style.

About the publisher

China Textile & Apparel Press China · Founded in 1953

China Textile & Apparel Press is a publisher traditionally known for its strengths in textiles and apparel, while also expanding into social science, psychology, and humanities reading for general audiences. Its library of about 211 titles covers categories such as essays and miscellaneous writings, applied psychology, inspirational growth, social psychology, social culture, and social science. Representative books include classic popular works such as the illustrated edition of Guwen Guanzhi, as well as psychology and social science titles such as Antonio Damasio's When Feeling Happens and Looking for Spinoza, Kathryn Mannix's When We Must Talk About Death and Separation, The Anxious Generation, Life Is No Big Deal, and The Intelligent Structure. Its authors include Wu Chucai, Wu Diaohou, Zhou Renlai, Yan Yan, and Zhang Xi. Public information is limited; based on the titles in its library, the press emphasizes a combination of classic texts with psychology and social-issues reading, balancing its professional identity with the needs of general readers.

版权信息
引言寻找完美之家
1 空间
瞭望与庇护
相伴的空间
加大空间体量
养息之所
隔断式设计
空间的视觉幻象
空间戏剧性
属于自己的空间
2 光
光与情绪
光与透明性
光与布局
触碰天空
玩儿转光线
无惧黑暗
夜晚的光亮
3 材料
与住宅握手
维持材料的“本真”
完美的缺陷
保留原始材料
材料与健康
材料与环境
玩儿转材料
4 自然
自然至上
都市里的自然
将自然请进门
我心在草原
现代荒野风
泛蓝调调
大自然的神奇功效
5 装饰
家的点睛之笔
增添色彩
图案和纹理的学问
新极简主义
新极繁主义
置身于有意义的物件
用得“好”最重要
如何摆设
如何收集
结语用心打造自己的家
致谢
推荐书单

FAQ

Can this book directly guide renovation construction?

No. The book focuses on design concepts and aesthetic inspiration, using cases and photography to show how space, light, materials, nature, and decoration work together, helping readers think clearly about what kind of living experience they want. It does not provide construction processes, material specifications, or budget estimates; for these, look for professional reference books or consult a designer.

Are the cases in the book suitable as references for ordinary homes?

Most of the cases are living spaces with distinctive design features, and their size and conditions may not match ordinary homes, but the five elements the author distills are universal. Readers need not copy specific approaches; instead, they should focus on how the cases handle light, materials, and nature, then adapt these to their own conditions—this makes the reference more valuable.

What role does photography play in the book?

Photography is an important means of expression in this book, not mere illustration. The many real-life photographs serve to展示 spatial atmosphere, changes in light, and material texture; many design intentions are hard to convey through words alone. When reading, do not skip the images: look first to feel, then read the text to verify your judgment—the experience will be more complete.

Can readers without a design background understand it?

Yes. The book is written for general readers and unfolds around lived experience, without relying on professional jargon. The division into five elements is itself a tool to help non-professional readers build an observational framework. As long as you have real feelings about your living environment, you can follow the cases to understand how design affects daily life; no prior study of design theory is required.

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About the author

马特·吉伯德 Author · British

Matt Gibb is a British author and co-founder of the Modern House agency. Publicly available information about him is limited, and his full biography and educational background cannot be confirmed at present. Judging from his writing, however, he has long been concerned with the relationship between living spaces and everyday lifestyles, and he is skilled at discussing architectural design, home making and quality of life within a single framework. His representative work, Creating the Perfect Home, focuses on residential design and is aimed at general readers rather than professional architects. Written in plain language with an emphasis on practicality, it seeks to help readers understand what kind of space better suits people's real needs. This approach, combining a professional perspective with popular readability, gives his work a down-to-earth quality among design books and offers practical reference for readers interested in housing issues.

夏佩瑶 Author

Xia Peiyao is an author for whom publicly available information remains limited; only one work by this name can currently be identified, namely Creating the Perfect Home. Judging from the title and its common classification, the book falls under design and centers on the shaping and refinement of domestic spaces, making it a practical design title aimed at general readers. Because basic details such as dates of birth and death, nationality, and English name are not clearly recorded, it is difficult to describe the author's personal history, professional background, or creative development, nor is it possible to confirm whether other works exist. Based on the available material, Xia Peiyao's writing is represented chiefly by this single work, which approaches home design with attention to the practicality and overall aesthetic of living environments and serves readers who wish to improve the quality of their daily surroundings. The output is small but focused, and the book may be of use to readers interested in home furnishing and spatial design. Further public information would be needed for a fuller picture of the author.

袁桦 Author

Yuan Hua is an author about whom little public information is available. To date, only one work by this author is known, titled Building a Perfect Home, which is commonly classified under design. Judging from the title and category, the book appears to focus on the planning and creation of living spaces, discussing how design can make a home more comfortable and complete, and likely touching on spatial layout, functional arrangement, and aesthetic choices. The word "building" in the title suggests that design is an active, step-by-step process of refinement rather than mere decoration, which makes the book read more like a practical design guide for general readers than a theoretical academic work. Because biographical details have not been disclosed, the author's professional background and experience cannot be confirmed, and readers may prefer to focus on the design ideas and presentation in the work itself. Overall, Yuan Hua enters the reader's view through design writing, offering a useful perspective for understanding home design.