Stafford Cliff was formerly Creative Director of the Green Design Group in London. He is the author of many books, including The Way We Live, The Way We Live Alfresco, The English Archive of Design and Decoration and The French Archive of Design and Decoration. Gilles de Chabaneix was one of France's most prominent photographers of design and lifestyle.

Seaside Architecture surveys many types of building specifically associated with the sea: holiday villas in France; sturdy stone cottages in Scottish fishing villages; beach huts in Mexico; cabins in the Caribbean; new apartment developments in California; The Extended Aspect is a richly illustrated account of how seaside and seafront dwellers have approached the problem of linking habitations with the sea itself: terraces, decking, jetties, platforms and private beaches; Seaside Colours and Materials looks in close detail and in a wide variety of contexts (including some inland) at the creative use of the colours, materials and textures we traditionally associate with the sea: whites, blues, greens, bleached wood, pebbled effects, dappled glass; Washed Up features the accidental aspects of a seaside life: opportunities to use the rich pickings of the seashore and coastal waters to practical and decorative effect - the flotsam and the fruits of the sea; Life Afloat, the final chapter, is a sequence of images of the ultimate experiences of living by the sea: from houses actually built out over the water to life aboard private boats.