Rewriting Alberti
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Much has been written about Renaissance architect Leon Battista Alberti’s mantra of part-to-whole as one of the continuing conditions of architecture. While this underlying thesis has often been repeated in the annals of architectural history and theory, architects have rarely questioned the idea. In ''Rewriting Alberti'', architect Peter Eisenman suggests, however, that(...)
Architectural Theory
October 2025
Rewriting Alberti
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Much has been written about Renaissance architect Leon Battista Alberti’s mantra of part-to-whole as one of the continuing conditions of architecture. While this underlying thesis has often been repeated in the annals of architectural history and theory, architects have rarely questioned the idea. In ''Rewriting Alberti'', architect Peter Eisenman suggests, however, that Alberti provoked a radical discourse beyond the part-to-whole dialogue featured in his Ten Books of Architecture. Eisenman’s in-depth analysis of Alberti’s five built works reveals a disjunction between the architect’s buildings and theoretical writings, suggesting a new relationship of form to meaning based on the fragmentation of homogeneous space. ''Rewriting Alberti'' includes contributions by Pier Vittorio Aureli, Mario Carpo, and Daniel Sherer. Carpo, an architectural historian and critic, theorizes that Alberti’s work initiated an idea of the discipline as a notational system akin to contemporary computational logics. By way of comparison, Sherer, an architectural historian, reconsiders critic Manfredo Tafuri’s readings of Alberti, and architect and theorist Aureli draws on Alberti to propose another idea of the architectural “project.”
Architectural Theory
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Josep Lluís Mateo is one of Spain’s leading architects and one of Europe’s most influential architectural intellectuals. He runs a firm called mateoarquitectura in Barcelona, which has designed buildings in many countries across Europe. Alongside his work as guest lecturer, Mateo was professor of design at the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zürich from 2002 to(...)
Footprints: Writings 2005-2020
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Josep Lluís Mateo is one of Spain’s leading architects and one of Europe’s most influential architectural intellectuals. He runs a firm called mateoarquitectura in Barcelona, which has designed buildings in many countries across Europe. Alongside his work as guest lecturer, Mateo was professor of design at the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zürich from 2002 to 2014. Mateo’s standing as a pacesetter in the international intellectual discourse about the future of architecture is closely tied to the journal "Quaderns d’Arquitectura i Urbanisme," which has appeared in Catalan, Spanish, and English since 1985 and of which he was editor in chief from 2002 to 2014. Under Mateo, it developed into the leading platform for discussions on architectural issues, urban design, and aesthetic concepts. "Footprints" collects Mateo’s most important writings from the last fifteen years—short and longer essays and vignettes, along with interviews touching on core questions of contemporary architecture as well as on Mateo’s own designs. The pieces are illustrated and arranged thematically to allow juxtapositions and inspire new connections.
Architectural Theory
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Nova Cantabrigiensis is a utopian island in the middle of the Minas Basin, Nova Scotia. It is the invention of visionary outsider artist John Devlin, and was designed to recreate the atmosphere and architecture of Cambridge, England, which John considers to be the perfect city. John came to study in Cambridge in 1979, and fell in love with its unique ambience.(...)
John Devlin: Nova Cantabrigiensis
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Nova Cantabrigiensis is a utopian island in the middle of the Minas Basin, Nova Scotia. It is the invention of visionary outsider artist John Devlin, and was designed to recreate the atmosphere and architecture of Cambridge, England, which John considers to be the perfect city. John came to study in Cambridge in 1979, and fell in love with its unique ambience. When mental illness forced him to return home to Canada after just one year, he became obsessed with discovering the secret to 'the Cambridge essence'. Over ten years, John created over 360 beautiful and unique illustrations, dream-like sketches of re-imagined and reconfigured Cambridge buildings, drawn again and again in the pursuit of perfection. The book Nova Cantabrigiensis presents a selection of John's illustrations, as well as an essay describing his plans for the island and his mathematical theories about architecture. It is published by Island Editions.
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The Russian projects by (EEA) Erick van Egeraat associated architects are another step in EEA’s progression east. Beginning in 1994 with the completion of the first Eastern Europe Head office of ING Bank and Nationale Nederlanden, EEA has steadily worked on a number of projects in Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland and now Russia. Deeply moved by the richness of the(...)
Erik van Egeraat associated architects : for Russia with love
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The Russian projects by (EEA) Erick van Egeraat associated architects are another step in EEA’s progression east. Beginning in 1994 with the completion of the first Eastern Europe Head office of ING Bank and Nationale Nederlanden, EEA has steadily worked on a number of projects in Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland and now Russia. Deeply moved by the richness of the architecture of these Eastern Europe countries, Erick van Egeraat set himself the task to develop a contemporary response to their architectural heritage. Connecting the demands of contemporary life with the quality of the historical surroundings, he defines his approach to architecture as ‘Modern Baroque’. Seeking to develop an architecture that can inspire, offering temptation as well as solace, the opportunity to work in the capital of the former USSR, and working closely together with the client, Capital Group, on a number of projects, the context of Russia today, has been proven to be completely different from previous experiences in Eastern Europe. The EEA Moscow projects seek to express a new sensuality, catering for the new lifestyle of Moscow citizen after generations of communism. The projects - housing as well as offices and entertainment- express a desire to bridge the potential gap between progress and development and the quality of historic architecture. The invitation to be part of the international competition for the extension of the Mariinsky theatre in St. Petersburg gave EEA the opportunity to further explore the possibilities of ‘Modern Baroque’. Challenged by the intricate detailing and materialization of the classical architecture of the existing theatre, and supported by extensive experience in theatre design in the UK and the Netherlands, the proposal for the Mariinsky is an example of Erick van Egeraat’s quest for contemporary architecture.
small format
Nightscapes
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This book shows how night redefines the framework of thought and action in the realm of the imaginary, of territorial planning and of the practice of landscape, the aim being to arrive at a contemporary urbanism based on perceptual experience. The book is structured in three parts: the first covers the originality and value of the experience of the nocturnal landscape(...)
Nightscapes
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This book shows how night redefines the framework of thought and action in the realm of the imaginary, of territorial planning and of the practice of landscape, the aim being to arrive at a contemporary urbanism based on perceptual experience. The book is structured in three parts: the first covers the originality and value of the experience of the nocturnal landscape for thought and creativity, the second defines infrastructure as the nocturnal landscape’s real scale and strategy, while the third illustrates examples of nocturnal contemporary architecture and landscape.
Urban Landscapes
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The winning proposal for the Museum of the 20th Century in Berlin, one of the most important competitions in the contemporary scene, is the coda of this double issue on Herzog & de Meuron, the fourth monograph AV dedicates to the Swiss studio. With an introductory essay and thirteen critical texts by Luis Fernández-Galiano, the issue covers 34 works and projects developed(...)
AV 191-192: Herzog & de Meuron
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The winning proposal for the Museum of the 20th Century in Berlin, one of the most important competitions in the contemporary scene, is the coda of this double issue on Herzog & de Meuron, the fourth monograph AV dedicates to the Swiss studio. With an introductory essay and thirteen critical texts by Luis Fernández-Galiano, the issue covers 34 works and projects developed over the last four years. Among them, two recently completed buildings already rise as landmarks of contemporary architecture: the Tate Modern extension in London and Elbphilharmonie Hamburg.
Magazines
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Authored by Saskia de Wit, this book examines the enclosed garden as an expression of the ‘genius loci’. How can this be made accessible in the contemporary metropolitan landscape? Included are analyses of the spatial, sensorial, and narrative craft patterns of metropolitan gardens ranging from traditional Japanese masterpieces to contemporary European landscape(...)
Hidden landscapes: the metropolitan garden as a multi-sensory expression of place
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Authored by Saskia de Wit, this book examines the enclosed garden as an expression of the ‘genius loci’. How can this be made accessible in the contemporary metropolitan landscape? Included are analyses of the spatial, sensorial, and narrative craft patterns of metropolitan gardens ranging from traditional Japanese masterpieces to contemporary European landscape architecture. The metropolitan garden, as a defined space in the continuous metropolitan field, provides an alternative way to access the landscape horizon, references to nature, and connections to the underlying landscape, providing a new perspective on two quintessential themes: nature and place.
Landscape Theory
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Tate Modern opened its doors in 2000, since when it has become the most popular modern and contemporary art attraction in the world, now welcoming more than 5 million visitors a year. Working with the shell of the former Bankside Power Station, internationally acclaimed architects Herzog & de Meuron created a gallery of singular power and beauty, whose spaces articulate a(...)
Museums and Universal Exhibitions
November 2016
Tate Modern: building a museum for the 21st century. Herzog & de Meuron
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Tate Modern opened its doors in 2000, since when it has become the most popular modern and contemporary art attraction in the world, now welcoming more than 5 million visitors a year. Working with the shell of the former Bankside Power Station, internationally acclaimed architects Herzog & de Meuron created a gallery of singular power and beauty, whose spaces articulate a rare affinity with contemporary art. With the second major phase of the building now complete, Tate Modern presents a striking combination of the raw and the refined, of found industrial spaces and dazzling contemporary architecture. This is the definitive book of the building, and tells vividly the story of Tate Modern and the building of a twenty-first-century museum.
Museums and Universal Exhibitions
Surface consciousness
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Rather than seeking to define a new movement, this "Surface consciousness" demonstrates that for architecture surface is now far more than a 'crust' or 'decorative strategy', setting up meaningful relationships between contemporary methods of visioning, making and fabricating. Prompted by digital advancements, surface consciousness represents a whole new way of(...)
Surface consciousness
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Rather than seeking to define a new movement, this "Surface consciousness" demonstrates that for architecture surface is now far more than a 'crust' or 'decorative strategy', setting up meaningful relationships between contemporary methods of visioning, making and fabricating. Prompted by digital advancements, surface consciousness represents a whole new way of conceiving tectonic form. Whereas classical and even Modernist architecture polarised ornament and structure, contemporary techniques allow for an integration and blurring of the inside with the outside. In architectural terms this enables an unparalled freedom of expression and form. This is apparent in the diversity of the work featured here by those such as Herzog & de Meuron, Michael Trudgeon, Ashton Raggatt McDougall(ARM) and Lyons, in which a new delight emerges in patterning and texture as well as the sensuous and the ornamental.
Magazines, Back Issues
Gordon Matta Clark's Conical Intersect: sculpture, space, and the cultural value of urban imagery
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In this in-depth analysis, Peter Muir argues that Gordon Matta-Clark’s ''Conical Intersect'' (1975) is emblematic of Henri Lefebvre’s understanding of art’s function in relation to urban space. By engaging with Lefebvre’s theory in conjunction with the perspectives of other writers, such as Michel de Certeau, Jacques Derrida, and George Bataille, the book elicits a story(...)
Gordon Matta Clark's Conical Intersect: sculpture, space, and the cultural value of urban imagery
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In this in-depth analysis, Peter Muir argues that Gordon Matta-Clark’s ''Conical Intersect'' (1975) is emblematic of Henri Lefebvre’s understanding of art’s function in relation to urban space. By engaging with Lefebvre’s theory in conjunction with the perspectives of other writers, such as Michel de Certeau, Jacques Derrida, and George Bataille, the book elicits a story that presents the artwork’s significance, origins and legacies. ''Conical Intersect'' is a multi-media artwork, which involves the intersections of architecture, sculpture, film, and photography, as well as being a three-dimensional model that reflects aspects of urban, art, and architectural theory, along with a number of cultural and historiographic discourses which are still present and active. This book navigates these many complex narratives by using the central ’hole’ of ''Conical Intersect'' as its focal point.
Contemporary Art Monographs