Ronald Altoon, a global thought leader acknowledged for advancing the practice of architecture of mixed-use, sustainable development, is the author of seven books. Sharing his experience and expertise, these publications have and continue to serve as a model for best practices, meaningful public and private spaces, how to create a true sense of place while building community across the world.
Urban Transformation: Transit Oriented Development and the Sustainable City
Author: Ronald A. Altoon, with James C. Auld
Publisher: The Images Publishing Group Pty Ltd, Australia, 2011
Mobility in the urban setting is a great equalizer, making the collective resources of city dwelling accessible to all. Urban Transformation: Transit Oriented Development and the Sustainable City documents, through the rigor of case studies, the comparable and differential aspects of transit-oriented developments worldwide. From transit stations, to adjacent transit-oriented developments, and those within walking or biking distances, it is a compilation of projects, site plans, maps, and regional information.
Retail Rescue: Visions & Strategies for Repositioning Distressed Retail Properties
Author: Ronald A. Altoon
Publisher: The Images Publishing Group Pty Ltd, Australia, 2010
Demographic transitions, psychographic preferences, retailer reinvention, bricks and mortar competition, the Internet culture, and weather conditions are all forces that contributed to the demise of a significant number of formerly energetic organized retail centers. Retail Rescue | Visions + Strategies for Repositioning Distressed Retail Properties identifies the issues an investor, operator, or design professional will encounter in the process of repositioning tiring retail properties. Exploring the full range of capital investment options, this primer evaluates the range of available options, and the hidden forces that will inform the decision-making choices to determine an appropriate course of action.
21st Century Retail Centers: Context, Culture & Community
Author: Ronald A. Altoon
Publisher: International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), New York, 2006
The thesis of 21st Century Retail Centers: Context, Culture and Community is vested in the title of the book itself. That contextual forces have historically nurtured local culture, it, in turn has informed the design of villages, buildings and cities. In today’s world, they have become the primary drivers of successful shopping environments. The tables are turned: ever since the economic viability of the Gen-Y generation, desire trumps need every time. Building on the message of an earlier effort by the same author, this book addresses the language of shopping buildings, for both enclosed and open-air environments.
Altoon + Porter Architects: Selected + Current Works
Author: Ronald A. Altoon
Publisher: The Images Publishing Group Pty Ltd, Australia, 2006
A design monograph, Altoon + Porter Architects | Selected + Current Works records an architectural firm from its emergence as a start-up practice into a global player in the matter of a few short years. Organized not by product type, but by salient design issues—movement, materiality, climate and terrain, technology, community, civicism, culture, and legacy—it demonstrates the ways in which similar themes are woven effectively through dissimilar buildings.
Designing the World’s Best Retail Centers: Altoon + Porter Architects
Author: Ronald A. Altoon
Publisher: The Images Publishing Group Pty Ltd, Australia, 2004
Commissioned by the publisher, Altoon + Porter Architects | Designing the World’s Best Retail Centers documents several prototypes of retail buildings and environments created by the Altoon firm. As international experts in the transformation of the building type to better support community engagement it identifies differences and similarities of the retail offer while demonstrating the depth and breadth of design expression. The projects are structured by category—regional malls, repositioned retail, collections of destinations, mixed-use, urban retail, main street retail, retail precincts, transited related retail, resort retail, 21st Century prototypes, and sustainable design.
International Shopping Center Architecture
Author: Ronald A. Altoon
Publisher: International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), New York, 1996
One of the earliest books to document the contemporary retail center, International Shopping Center Architecture: Details, Concepts & Projects defines the language of shopping centers. While each is structured by its separate elements—entrances, handrails, stairways—the “nouns”, “adjectives”, and “verbs”—basic building parts of speech are common to every project, but expressed differently by every culture or circumstance. While some concepts are powerfully strong in one environment, they may not travel well to another country. But, the parts of speech are a common lingua Franca, and are the DNA upon which these buildings share a common heritage.