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Traditional Japanese architecture is characterized by the working of natural materials such as wood, earth, and rock into remarkable structures. This precious cultural heritage has been preserved over the years in the form not only of the buildings themselves, but also of scale models created during repairs and other occasions. This book turns to those astoundingly(...)
Japanese architecture: traditional skills and natural materials
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Traditional Japanese architecture is characterized by the working of natural materials such as wood, earth, and rock into remarkable structures. This precious cultural heritage has been preserved over the years in the form not only of the buildings themselves, but also of scale models created during repairs and other occasions. This book turns to those astoundingly precise models to give a historical overview of the artistry and craftsmanship handed down through the generations in buildings of wide-ranging styles and techniques, from the seventh-century five-storied pagoda at Horyuji temple in Nara to the 1933 Nihombashi Takashimaya department store in Tokyo. Also included is a chapter on architectural plans, tools, and other materials illustrating the “traditional skills, techniques and knowledge of the conservation and transmission of wooden architecture in Japan,” which was inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2020. The accompanying discussion details efforts to overcome today’s challenges in passing Japan’s architectural heritage on to the next generation, including attracting and training new artisans, furthering skills, and securing tools and raw materials.
History until 1900, Asia
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Since 1974, when his very first built house, which he designed as a student, was honored with the most important Belgian architecture award, Jo Crepain has developed an impressive body of work. Most of these structures can be found in Belgium, especially the earlier ones; later assignments have ranged throughout the Netherlands. The large diversity and continuous(...)
Architecture Monographs
August 2004, Oostkamp
Jo Crepain : architect '73 - '03
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Since 1974, when his very first built house, which he designed as a student, was honored with the most important Belgian architecture award, Jo Crepain has developed an impressive body of work. Most of these structures can be found in Belgium, especially the earlier ones; later assignments have ranged throughout the Netherlands. The large diversity and continuous innovation evident in his architectural oeuvre can be understood as a consequence of an incessant search--and one which has yielded some of the most striking structures in recent Belgian architectural history. For Crepain, building is in the first place a psychological phenomenon, and a house is the last place left on earth where we can hope to recover a piece of paradise lost--not only for an elite few, but for as many people as possible. This hefty monograph considers a lifetime of work, from 1973 to 2003, presenting dozens of individual projects through textual descriptions, photographs, and floor plans, as well as extended essays on different periods of Crepain's output.
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August 2004, Oostkamp
Architecture Monographs
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Produced at a rate of five billion cubic yards per year, concrete is the second most widely consumed substance on earth, after water. It is ubiquitous and easily taken for granted as the stuff of sidewalks and roads, power plants and parking garages. Concrete is also, however, a favored material of cutting- edge architects and engineers, who value not only its versatility(...)
Materials and Lighting
March 2006, New York
Liquid stone : new architecture in concrete
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Produced at a rate of five billion cubic yards per year, concrete is the second most widely consumed substance on earth, after water. It is ubiquitous and easily taken for granted as the stuff of sidewalks and roads, power plants and parking garages. Concrete is also, however, a favored material of cutting- edge architects and engineers, who value not only its versatility and strength but its unlimited potential for imaginative expression. A hybrid substance made from cement, water, sand, and mineral aggregates, concrete–or liquid stone–has no intrinsic form. In the hands of talented designers, its ultimate appearance is dictated by the framework into which it is poured and the color, texture, or pattern applied to its surface. In a series of essays by top architects, engineers, and scholars, " Liquid stone " explores the nature of concrete, its past and future, from technical, artistic, and historical perspectives. Over thirty buildings by leading international architects including Jean Nouvel, Herzog – de Meuron, Zaha Hadid, Steven Holl, Norman Foster, and Santiago Calatrava are presented through detailed descriptions, photographs, and technical drawings.
Materials and Lighting
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Ever since the discovery of the cave, humans have made use of nature’s geological formations. Only recently, however, have developments in structural engineering made it possible to engage the earth’s surface as a building element in its own right. With an increasing awareness of our planet’s limited natural resources, the most acclaimed architectural practices from(...)
Landscrapers : building with the land
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Ever since the discovery of the cave, humans have made use of nature’s geological formations. Only recently, however, have developments in structural engineering made it possible to engage the earth’s surface as a building element in its own right. With an increasing awareness of our planet’s limited natural resources, the most acclaimed architectural practices from around the world are building into the earth and merging man-made forms with the contours of the land. The results are at once preternatural and breathtaking. From Zaha Hadid’s Tram Terminal in France to Snøhetta’s Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt, from Future System’s hill-burrowing house in Wales to Antoine Predock’s Spencer Theater in the United States, over fifty projects displayed here expose the breadth and depth of this new direction in architecture. Aaron Betsky first considers our historical preoccupation with communing with the land through building, then four central chapters – ‘Engineered Utopias’, ‘Caves and Caverns’, ‘Unfolding the Land’ and ‘A New Nature’ – explore the ways in which ‘geotecture’ responds to, becomes a part of and yet remains distinctive within our natural landscape.
Architecture since 1900, Europe
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How did Los Angeles start the 20th century as a dusty frontier town and end up a century later as one of the globe's supercities - with unparalleled cultural, economic, and technological reach? Peter Lunenfeld constructs an urban portrait, layer by layer, from serendipitous affinities, historical anomalies, and uncanny correspondences. One of the book's innovations is(...)
CIty at the edge of forever: Los Angeles reimagined
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How did Los Angeles start the 20th century as a dusty frontier town and end up a century later as one of the globe's supercities - with unparalleled cultural, economic, and technological reach? Peter Lunenfeld constructs an urban portrait, layer by layer, from serendipitous affinities, historical anomalies, and uncanny correspondences. One of the book's innovations is to brand Los Angeles as the alchemical city. Earth became real estate when the Yankees took control in the nineteenth century. Fire fueled the city's early explosive growth as the Southland's oil fields supplied the inexhaustible demands of drivers and their cars. Air defined the area from WWII to the end of the Cold War, with aeronautics and aerospace dominating the region's industries. Water is now the key element, and Southern California's ports are the largest in the western hemisphere. What alchemists identify as the ethereal fifth element, or quintessence, this book positions as the glamour of Hollywood, a spell that sustains the city but also needs to be broken in order to understand Los Angeles now.
Urban Theory
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Surveying humanity's impact on the planet, with contributions from Donna Haraway, Bill McKibben, Greta Thunberg, Bruno Latour, Alice Waters and others. This book, in the form of an encyclopedia, considers the totality of issues surrounding the Anthropocene, that geologic era characterized by humanity's vast impact on the Earth. ''Connectedness'' acknowledges the(...)
Connectedness: An incomplete encyclopedia of the Anthropocene
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Surveying humanity's impact on the planet, with contributions from Donna Haraway, Bill McKibben, Greta Thunberg, Bruno Latour, Alice Waters and others. This book, in the form of an encyclopedia, considers the totality of issues surrounding the Anthropocene, that geologic era characterized by humanity's vast impact on the Earth. ''Connectedness'' acknowledges the incomplete nature of its project seeing as how this riotous era is not yet finished. With contributions by Greta Thunberg, Bill McKibben, Alice Waters, Tomás Saraceno, Björk and many others, this publication consists of approximately 100 entries, arranged alphabetically, each reflecting on questions, phenomena, terms, possibilities and theories associated with the Anthropocene. Examples of entries include Air, Borders and Coexistence, as well as more complex subjects such as Donna Haraway on the Chthulucene or Anders Blok on Climate Risk Communities. The content ranges from scientific to cultural-theoretical and artistic contributions featuring a wide span of scholars, philosophers, anthropologists, scientists, authors, artists and others. The book accompanies the exhibition at the Danish Pavilion at the 2020 Venice Architectural Biennale.
Environment and environmental theory
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The modern world is dominated by flat surfaces. We write, print and project on flat paper or flat screens, which we stare at all day. We inhabit spaces constructed from flat materials. We play sport on level fields. Engineered planar surfaces have become so pervasive and fundamental to behaviour and thought that we barely notice their existence. But flat landscapes are(...)
Flatness
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The modern world is dominated by flat surfaces. We write, print and project on flat paper or flat screens, which we stare at all day. We inhabit spaces constructed from flat materials. We play sport on level fields. Engineered planar surfaces have become so pervasive and fundamental to behaviour and thought that we barely notice their existence. But flat landscapes are also often disparaged, viewed as featureless, empty and monotonous. Metaphorically, to ‘feel flat’ is to be bored, dull, lacking energy or inspiration. So what is it about flatness that makes it so desirable and practical in everyday life, yet so unattractive in landscape and as an idea? How has the construction of flat surfaces contributed to a degradation of visual diversity? "Flatness" attacks these questions by looking first at the ways humans have perceived the natural world around them, from Flat Earth theories to abstract geometric concepts and the Flatness Problem in modern cosmology. It also traces the long historical trajectory of flatness as an engineering ideal, and the representation of the concept in art, music and literature.
Critical Theory
Mountain: nature and culture
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Majestic and inspiring, there is nothing like the sight of a mountain on the horizon. Throughout all of human history mountains have been linked to the eternal, attracting us to their dizzying heights, stunning us with their natural beauty, and often threatening us with their dangers. Through a compelling journey to both real and imaginary peaks, this book explores how(...)
Mountain: nature and culture
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Majestic and inspiring, there is nothing like the sight of a mountain on the horizon. Throughout all of human history mountains have been linked to the eternal, attracting us to their dizzying heights, stunning us with their natural beauty, and often threatening us with their dangers. Through a compelling journey to both real and imaginary peaks, this book explores how the mountain has figured in our history, culture, and maginations. Veronica della Dora explores the ways mountains have functioned spiritually as a boundary between life and death, a bridge between the earth and the heavens. Interlacing science, culture, and religion, she sketches the mountain as a geological phenomenon that has profoundly influenced and been influenced by the human imagination, shaping our environmental consciousness and helping us understand our—quite small indeed—place in the world. She also explores their significance as objects of human feats, as prizes of adventure and sport, and as places of serene beauty for vacationers. Magnificently illustrated and showcasing famous peaks from all around the world, Mountain offers a fascinating dual portrait of these giants in nature and culture.
Landscape Theory
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In the middle of the salt-frosted Afghan desert, in a village so remote that Google can’t find it, a woman squats on top of a loom, making flowers bloom in the thousand threads she knots by hand. Here, where heroin is cheaper than rice, every day is a fast day. B-52s pass overhead—a sign of America’s omnipotence or its vulnerability, the villagers are unsure. They know,(...)
The World is a Carpet: Four seasons in an afghan village
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In the middle of the salt-frosted Afghan desert, in a village so remote that Google can’t find it, a woman squats on top of a loom, making flowers bloom in the thousand threads she knots by hand. Here, where heroin is cheaper than rice, every day is a fast day. B-52s pass overhead—a sign of America’s omnipotence or its vulnerability, the villagers are unsure. They know, though, that the earth is flat—like a carpet. Anna Badkhen first traveled to this country in 2001, as a war correspondent. She has returned many times since, drawn by a land that geography has made a perpetual battleground, and by a people who sustain an exquisite tradition there. Through the four seasons in which a new carpet is woven by the women and children of Oqa, she immortalizes their way of life much as the carpet does—from the petal half-finished where a hungry infant needs care to the interruptions when the women trade sex jokes or go fill in for wedding musicians scared away by the Taliban.
Literature and poetry
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The Clyfford Still Museum was designed by the leading architectural practice Allied Works and its founder, Brad Cloepfil. The building creates space for the voice and artistic vision of American painter Clyfford Still (1904–1980), housing the vast majority of his creative output over a sixty-year period. The museum’s design is inspired by the work of Still and by its(...)
Architecture Monographs
February 2022
Cyfford Still Museum: Allied Works architecture
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The Clyfford Still Museum was designed by the leading architectural practice Allied Works and its founder, Brad Cloepfil. The building creates space for the voice and artistic vision of American painter Clyfford Still (1904–1980), housing the vast majority of his creative output over a sixty-year period. The museum’s design is inspired by the work of Still and by its monumental context: the site is located at the intersection of prairie and mountains, within an urban district of major cultural buildings, vacant lots, historic housing, and new development. The building looks to the earth as a source of silence and profound connection to the elemental forces the artist explored through his painting. This publication presents the vision and realization of the museum from initial concepts to completion. A rich collection of stories, artifacts, documents, and conversations trace the evolution of the building and Allied Works’ unique creative process. New essays and photography examine its significance within contemporary architectural discourse and the singular experience of the completed work.
Architecture Monographs