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"Mute icons" challenges fixed aesthetic notions of beauty in architecture as both, disciplinary discourse and a spatial practice within the public realm, by intersecting historic antecedents and present instances within contemporary projects wherein indeterminacy, monolithicity and defamiliarization play a speculative role in constructing withdrawn, irritant and yet(...)
Mute icons: pressing dichotomy in contemporary architecture
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"Mute icons" challenges fixed aesthetic notions of beauty in architecture as both, disciplinary discourse and a spatial practice within the public realm, by intersecting historic antecedents and present instances within contemporary projects wherein indeterminacy, monolithicity and defamiliarization play a speculative role in constructing withdrawn, irritant and yet engaging architectural images. No longer concerned with narrative excesses or with the "shock and awe" of sensation making; the mute icon becomes intriguing in its deceptive indifference towards context, perplexing in its unmitigated apathy towards the body. Object and building, absolute and unstable, anticipated and strange, manifest and withdrawn, such is the dichotomy of mute icons. Dwelling in the paradox between silence and sign and aiming to debunk a false dichotomy between critical discourse, a pursue of formal novelty and the attainment of social ethics, "Mute icons" reaffirms the cultural need and socio-political relevance of the architectural image, suggesting a much-needed resolution to the present but incorrect antagonism between formal innovation, social responsibility and economic austerity. Intersecting relevant historical antecedents and polemic theoretical speculations with original design concepts and provocative representations of P-A-T-T-E-R-N-S recent work, the book aspires to stimulate authentic speculations on the real.
Architectural Theory
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First published in 1992 to wide critical acclaim, ''Pictures from home'' is Larry Sultan’s pendant to his parents. Sultan returned home to Southern California periodically in the 1980s and the decade-long sequence moves between registers, combining contemporary photographs with film stills from home movies, fragments of conversation, Sultan’s own writings and other(...)
Larry Sultan: pictures from home
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First published in 1992 to wide critical acclaim, ''Pictures from home'' is Larry Sultan’s pendant to his parents. Sultan returned home to Southern California periodically in the 1980s and the decade-long sequence moves between registers, combining contemporary photographs with film stills from home movies, fragments of conversation, Sultan’s own writings and other memorabilia. The result is a narrative collage in which the boundary between the documentary and the staged becomes increasingly ambiguous. Simultaneously the distance usually maintained between the photographer and his subjects also slips in an exchange of dialogue and emotion that is unique to this work. Significantly increasing the page count of the original book, this MACK design of ''Pictures from home'' clarifies the multiplicity of voices – both textual and pictorial – in order to afford a fresh perspective of this seminal body of work. Emphasising the cinematic motion of the family’s home videos, the Super-8 film stills have been newly digitised and magnified, with select scenes running full-bleed across double-page spreads. Meanwhile, Sultan’s photographs of his parents as they go about their daily lives – against the quintessential backdrop of the Reagan-era American dream – are supplemented with previously unpublished images. Most significantly, the book honours Sultan as the oft-hailed ‘King of Colour Photography’.
Photography monographs
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Contemporary engagements with documentary are multifaceted and complex, reaching across disciplines to explore the intersections of politics and aesthetics, representation and reality, truth and illusion. Discarding the old notions of “fly on the wall” immediacy or quasi-scientific aspirations to objectivity, critics now understand documentary not as the neutral picturing(...)
Documentary Across Disciplines
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Contemporary engagements with documentary are multifaceted and complex, reaching across disciplines to explore the intersections of politics and aesthetics, representation and reality, truth and illusion. Discarding the old notions of “fly on the wall” immediacy or quasi-scientific aspirations to objectivity, critics now understand documentary not as the neutral picturing of reality but as a way of coming to terms with reality through images and narrative. This book collects writings by artists, filmmakers, art historians, poets, literary critics, anthropologists, theorists, and others, to investigate one of the most vital areas of cultural practice: documentary. Their investigations take many forms—essays, personal memoirs, interviews, poetry. Contemporary art turned away from the medium and toward the world, using photography and the moving image to take up global perspectives. Documentary filmmakers, meanwhile, began to work in the gallery context. The contributors consider the hybridization of art and film, and the “documentary turn” of contemporary art. They discuss digital technology and the “crisis of faith” caused by manipulation and generation of images, and the fading of the progressive social mandate that has historically characterized documentary. They consider invisible data and visible evidence; problems of archiving; and surveillance and biometric control, forms of documentation that call for “informatic opacity” as a means of evasion.
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The Atelier de la Conception de l’Espace (ALICE), affiliated with the School of Architecture at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, is an educational facility focusing on preparing students for the practice of architecture. To cultivate the ability to create or shape space, students must be confronted with an educational frame¬work that prepares them for the(...)
Architectural Theory
April 2016
The invention of space: all about space, vol.I
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The Atelier de la Conception de l’Espace (ALICE), affiliated with the School of Architecture at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, is an educational facility focusing on preparing students for the practice of architecture. To cultivate the ability to create or shape space, students must be confronted with an educational frame¬work that prepares them for the field’s many practical challenges, from cultural, social, environmental, and physical concerns to working with the wide range of collaborators who must bring their creativity and expertise together in the design process. The Invention of Space is the initial volume in a four-part series on ALICE, this new book focuses on how its innovative curriculum primes students to recognize the cultural practices embedded in the invention of space. Architectural spaces are conceived—and experienced—collectively within the incorporating culture. How can culture, together with a raft of com¬peting concerns, be best translated in the design process? The book explores this and related questions through a fictional narrative, in essays and with more than three-hundred images. ALICE plays a key role in the success of one of Europe’s leading schools of architecture, and this book, together with the three other volumes in the series, provides an opportunity to explore the exceptional learning environment ALICE offers.
Architectural Theory
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This book, conceived as a project at the Architectural Association in London, leads a narrative through a series of architectural drawings, texts and images. At its core lies an urban proposal for the transformation of one of London's biggest and most congested traffic intersections,(...)
Yellow rhythms : a roundabout for London
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This book, conceived as a project at the Architectural Association in London, leads a narrative through a series of architectural drawings, texts and images. At its core lies an urban proposal for the transformation of one of London's biggest and most congested traffic intersections, Vauxhall Cross, into a giant cross-Thames roundabout. In this book episodes of urban life, political measures and financial strategies contrast with the architectural and urban proposals that are weaved into its form. An allegorical reading of the rhythm of the junction's traffic control system structures the book: green, yellow and red episodes alternate with one another in a repetitive succession and use Levebre's analytical system of 'Rhythmanalysis' to interpret contemporary London as a force-field of rhythms with different scales and durations. Those rhythms, by which the social, political and economic powers manifest themselves, are shown to act upon the site and the individuals within it. If the rhythm of the traffic lights stands for a system of successive incidents, the transformation of the site into a roundabout suggests continuous flow capable of liberating and utilizing these urban forces. The book ends therefore by suggesting a strategic proposal in which the inner area of the roundabout becomes a laboratory, a speculative arena for the testing of alternative urban futures.
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October 1999, Rotterdam
Urban Theory
Miroslav Sasek
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Czech artist Miroslav Šašek (1916–1980) is celebrated for his pioneering approach to narrative nonfiction picture books, particularly his bestselling This Is series, which began with ''This is Paris'' in 1959 and eventually totaled eighteen books. With their distinct visual vocabulary, this witty collection of travel guides illustrating life and culture in a variety of(...)
Miroslav Sasek
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Czech artist Miroslav Šašek (1916–1980) is celebrated for his pioneering approach to narrative nonfiction picture books, particularly his bestselling This Is series, which began with ''This is Paris'' in 1959 and eventually totaled eighteen books. With their distinct visual vocabulary, this witty collection of travel guides illustrating life and culture in a variety of cities and countries around the world from a child’s perspective, became immensely popular and garnered many awards. The artist’s charming travelogues continue to appeal to adults and children alike, even in a digital age exploding with travel imagery. Acclaimed author Martin Salisbury analyzes Šašek’s techniques and how his work not only reflects his architectural training and the ideas of the midcentury European avant-garde, but also the influence of contemporaries such as Saul Steinberg. In this beautifully designed volume, illustrated with sketches and original artwork from the Šašek Foundation in Prague, with examples ranging from Greece to Hong Kong, Rome to San Francisco, Ireland to Israel, Paris to New York, and more, Šašek’s best-known works come alive alongside lesser-known aspects of his practice, such as oil painting. Full of insight into the life and work of a singular talent, ''Miroslav Šašek'' will appeal to illustrators and those interested in the midcentury modern period.
Design Monographs
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During the two hundred millennia we've been on the planet, nothing has shaped us more profoundly than the city. In a fascinating narrative that ranges through cities famous and forgotten, acclaimed historian Ben Wilson tells the glorious story of how urban living has allowed human culture to flourish. Beginning with Uruk, the world's first city, he shows that cities(...)
Metropolis: a history of the city, mankind's greatest invention
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During the two hundred millennia we've been on the planet, nothing has shaped us more profoundly than the city. In a fascinating narrative that ranges through cities famous and forgotten, acclaimed historian Ben Wilson tells the glorious story of how urban living has allowed human culture to flourish. Beginning with Uruk, the world's first city, he shows that cities created such a blossoming of human endeavor--new professions, new forms of art, worship, and trade--that they kick-started civilization itself. Despite outbreaks of plague and war, and outlasting empires, the city endured and new cities sprang up to capture the inimitable energy of human beings together. Wilson reveals the innovations nurturned amid the density of urban centers over the centuries: civics in the agora of Athens, global trade in ninth-century Baghdad, finance in the coffeehouses of London, domestic comforts in the heart of Amsterdam, peacocking in Belle Epoque Paris. In the modern age, the skyscrapers of New York City inspired utopian visions of community design, while the trees of twenty-first-century Seattle and Shanghai point to a sustainable future in the age of climate change. Page turning and irresistible, ''Metropolis'' is a history of cities that is also a history of how humanity lives.
Urban Theory
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In this book, Vladimir Belogolovsky reflects on nearly twenty years of conversations with leading creatives from around the world whose focus is on art, photography, architecture, design, critical theory, and more. His intimate dialogues are with prolific visionaries, the likes of Paul Andreu, Aaron Betsky, Tatiana Bilbao, Christo, Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid, Toyo Ito,(...)
Imagine buildings floating like clouds: Thoughts and visions of contemporary architecture from 101 key creatives
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In this book, Vladimir Belogolovsky reflects on nearly twenty years of conversations with leading creatives from around the world whose focus is on art, photography, architecture, design, critical theory, and more. His intimate dialogues are with prolific visionaries, the likes of Paul Andreu, Aaron Betsky, Tatiana Bilbao, Christo, Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid, Toyo Ito, Glenn Murcutt, Renzo Piano, Moshe Safdie, Ric Scofido, Richard Serra, Frank Stella, Michael Sorkin, Stanley Tigerman, Bernard Tschumi, Lin Utzon, Massimo Vignelli, Madelon Vriesendorp, and so many others. He exposes the complexity of their thought processes, while comparing and contrasting them to one another to distill more than 101 ideas. His engaging narrative captures the stories behind every project and every personality while exploring many important questions, including: What makes a building architecture? How would a Futurist solve problems vs those whose focus is on nostalgia? The selection of interviews gathers many answers and intentions, but inevitably, also many more questions. ''Imagine buildings floating like clouds'' represents a diverse group of multitalented, creative people who work in disparate places culturally and climatically and came of age in very different times- from the revolutionary 1960s to our own time, when the future, for many, is being more feared than desired.
Contemporary Architecture
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Today, R. M. Schindler's Kings Road House is celebrated as an icon of early modern architecture, but this wasn't the case when it was finished in 1922. Though Schindler and his wife Pauline recognized its genius early on, its radical appearance was - and remains - incomprehensible to many. This book is an incisive examination of the house, placing it in the context of the(...)
Schindler, Kings Road, and Southern California modernism
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Today, R. M. Schindler's Kings Road House is celebrated as an icon of early modern architecture, but this wasn't the case when it was finished in 1922. Though Schindler and his wife Pauline recognized its genius early on, its radical appearance was - and remains - incomprehensible to many. This book is an incisive examination of the house, placing it in the context of the architect's career and clarifying its influence on modern architecture and its practitioners. Little-known aspects of Schindler's life, his relationship with his mentors, and the development of his unique theories about space enrich the narrative. Robert Sweeney focuses on the construction of the house and the people who lived, worked, and performed there, demonstrating the building's significance in the social history of Southern California. He includes new research on Schindler's educational and personal background in Vienna and a discussion of the critical influence of Pauline Schindler in formulating the social underpinnings of the house. Judith Sheine's essay places the house in the context of Schindler's career, in which it established the basis of the spatial development of his work. She also examines the influence of the house on the work of numerous architects from Frank Lloyd Wright to Frank Gehry.
Architecture Monographs
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Some central questions in the natural and social sciences can’t be answered by controlled laboratory experiments, often considered to be the hallmark of the scientific method. This impossibility holds for any science concerned with the past. In addition, many manipulative experiments, while possible, would be considered immoral or illegal. One has to devise other methods(...)
Natural experiments of history
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Some central questions in the natural and social sciences can’t be answered by controlled laboratory experiments, often considered to be the hallmark of the scientific method. This impossibility holds for any science concerned with the past. In addition, many manipulative experiments, while possible, would be considered immoral or illegal. One has to devise other methods of observing, describing, and explaining the world. In the historical disciplines, a fruitful approach has been to use natural experiments or the comparative method. This book consists of eight comparative studies drawn from history, archeology, economics, economic history, geography, and political science. The studies cover a spectrum of approaches, ranging from a non-quantitative narrative style in the early chapters to quantitative statistical analyses in the later chapters. The studies range from a simple two-way comparison of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, which share the island of Hispaniola, to comparisons of 81 Pacific islands and 233 areas of India. The societies discussed are contemporary ones, literate societies of recent centuries, and non-literate past societies. Geographically, they include the United States, Mexico, Brazil, western Europe, tropical Africa, India, Siberia, Australia, New Zealand, and other Pacific islands. In an Afterword, the editors discuss how to cope with methodological problems common to these and other natural experiments of history.
Urban Theory