The Architecture of Self-Help Communities by Michael Y. Seelig presents the awarded entries of the first International Competition for the Urban Environment of Developing Countries. The competition organiser was the International Architectural Foundation, the awarded designs were exhibited at Habitat Conference-Expositions on Human Settlements in 1976, and the book was published in 1978.
The competition aimed to find solutions to problems of squatters in developing countries. As described in the Introduction, architects were not searching for the answer to the traditional question of what defines a good building; rather, they struggled with the question of how to create a good place for living. The competition site was Dagat-Dagatan area near the Tondo foreshore in Manila, the Philippines.
The awardees were Ian Athfiled / Athfield Architects; Mikiro Takagi, Kunihiko Hayakawa and Keiichiro Takahashi / Takagi Design Team; Say Lai Chan; Hector Giron de la Pena, Mario Rebolledo, Raul Santana; Steven Holl, James Tanner, John Cropper / Holl, Tanner, Cropper; Jim Fong, Robert Lowell / Reid & Tarics Associates; and Akira Kuryu. The jury members were Moshe Safdie, William Whitfield, Yosizaka Takamasa, Balkrishna Doshi, Eric Lyons, Gaudencio Tobias, Mildred Schmertz, and Arthur Erickson.
The copy in stock is in good condition. There is some minor shelf wear on the covers, but the pages and the binding are fine. The previous owner has inscribed the book on the front flyleaf.