Gisela Erlacher: Superblocks
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With the municipal buildings of "Red Vienna," the utopia of enabling weaker individuals in society to also have a good life was realized. Originally erected in the 1920s to provide affordable living space for the working class as well as urban infrastructure, communal ownership of housing also makes it possible today to integrate people who would otherwise have limited(...)
Gisela Erlacher: Superblocks
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With the municipal buildings of "Red Vienna," the utopia of enabling weaker individuals in society to also have a good life was realized. Originally erected in the 1920s to provide affordable living space for the working class as well as urban infrastructure, communal ownership of housing also makes it possible today to integrate people who would otherwise have limited opportunities in neoliberal society. The relevance of municipal ownership to the current situation consists as well of the possibility to exert an attenuating influence on real estate speculation and rising rents. With her camera, Gisela Erlacher follows the parcours through the archways of "superblocks" such as the Sandleiten-Hof, Goethe-Hof, and Karl-Marx-Hof. She portrays residents and visitors in all their diversity and gives them space to present themselves beyond stereotyped depictions.
Photography monographs
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Despite Bill Brandt’s fame and considerable influence on the development of modern photography, the photographs in this book are a little known body of work. The work was carried out between 1939 and 1943 when Brandt worked on a commercial assignment for the Bournville Village Trust. The prints and negatives have been with BVT for some 60 years and the work has never(...)
Photography monographs
November 2004, Birmingham
Homes fit for heroes : photographs by Bill Brandt, 1939-1943
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Despite Bill Brandt’s fame and considerable influence on the development of modern photography, the photographs in this book are a little known body of work. The work was carried out between 1939 and 1943 when Brandt worked on a commercial assignment for the Bournville Village Trust. The prints and negatives have been with BVT for some 60 years and the work has never been previously published. The photographs illustrate the living conditions in a range of housing types. For example, the back-to-back slums built in the nineteenth century through to modern municipal housing built in the 1930s. The majority of the photographs were taken in Birmingham but also some in London where he looked at ‘old residential’ properties near to his own home in Camden Hill. London was undoubtedly one of Brandt’s favourite subjects and these photographs, taken around 1943, are amongst a much larger body of work Brandt shot in the capital city during the war-years. The Bourneville Village Trust was set up by George Cadbury in 1900 to manage the Bournville Estate, the model housing development which he created near his factory on the outskirts of Birmingham. The objects of the trust included: “the amelioration of the conditions of the working class population of Birmingham and elsewhere in Great Britain”. Many books and articles published around this time sought to address the issue of the living conditions of the working classes and photography played a key role. The images form distinct picture stories where direct contrasts are made between slum and municipal housing. Brandt also uses light very carefully within these images to emphasise these contrasts. A number of the stories follow a distinct narrative sequence – through the idea of ‘a day in the life’ – a device frequently used in the influential magazine, "Picture Post", for which Brandt often worked.
books
November 2004, Birmingham
Photography monographs
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In distressed urban neighborhoods where residential segregation concentrates poverty, liquor stores outnumber supermarkets, toxic sites are next to playgrounds, and more money is spent on prisons than schools, residents also suffer disproportionately from disease and premature death. Recognizing that city environments and the planning processes that shape them are(...)
Toward the healthy city: people, places, and the politics of urban planning
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In distressed urban neighborhoods where residential segregation concentrates poverty, liquor stores outnumber supermarkets, toxic sites are next to playgrounds, and more money is spent on prisons than schools, residents also suffer disproportionately from disease and premature death. Recognizing that city environments and the planning processes that shape them are powerful determinants of population health, urban planners today are beginning to take on the added challenge of revitalizing neglected urban neighborhoods in ways that improve health and promote greater equity. In this book, Jason Corburn argues that city planning must return to its roots in public health and social justice. To show healthy city planning in action, Corburn examines collaborations between government agencies and community coalitions in the San Francisco Bay area, including efforts to link environmental justice, residents' chronic illnesses, housing and real estate development projects, and planning processes with public health.
Urban Theory
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Construction on the Märkische Viertel in northern Berlin began in 1963 under the supervision of a team of nationally and internationally recognized architects. In the ensuing decades, under the management of the housing association GESOBAU AG, the Viertel evolved from a district that generated controversy throughout the Federal Republic into an exemplary large-scale(...)
Das Märkische Viertel : idee - wirklichkeit - vision
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Construction on the Märkische Viertel in northern Berlin began in 1963 under the supervision of a team of nationally and internationally recognized architects. In the ensuing decades, under the management of the housing association GESOBAU AG, the Viertel evolved from a district that generated controversy throughout the Federal Republic into an exemplary large-scale residential settlement. Architects Werner Düttmann, Hans Müller and Georg Heinrichs wanted to design a better world, with humane dwellings for both inner city residents displaced by redevelopment and evacuees from the east. The concept underlying their masterplan was to shape the landscape via architectural structures. They thought in large forms and proportions, designing a prototypical satellite town for northern Berlin that would contain 16,000 apartments for 40,000 residents, while doing justice to the varied requirements of occupants. Architects such as Oswald M. Ungers, Chen Kuen Lee, Ernst Gisel and René Gagès took part in the construction of this large-scale estate, which caused a furor simply by virtue of its immense scale, unusual for Western Europe. Already in 1964, just after the first residents moved in, the Märkische Viertel, nicknamed the "MV,” was deemed controversial. Some condemned it as a "concrete citadel launched from the drafting table,” a "stony nightmare,” or "the Parrot Estate,” while others celebrated it as a glowing example of a model large-scale settlement. Only recent years have seen an unprejudiced and discriminating appraisal of the project. The residents themselves have always seen their homes in a more positive light than outside observers. In 2003, a survey commissioned by the GESOBAU AG suggested they were perfectly comfortable in their neighborhood. And their children — and even children’s children — often remain in the district. What is the secret of the Maerkische Viertel? How was this once inhospitable bedroom community transformed into a coveted residential district, and how is the transition between generations to be accomplished? Can the Maerkische Viertel sustain itself under the altered economic situation affecting residential housing, or have drastic interventions into the existing architecture become a necessity?
small format
books
$28.00
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These essays, expanded versions of a selection of the Habitats column published in the Real Estate section of The New York Times, take readers to both familiar and remote sections of the city—to history-rich townhouses, to low-income housing projects, to out-of-the-way places far from the beaten track, to every corner of the five boroughs—and introduces them to a wide(...)
Habitats: private lives in the big city
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These essays, expanded versions of a selection of the Habitats column published in the Real Estate section of The New York Times, take readers to both familiar and remote sections of the city—to history-rich townhouses, to low-income housing projects, to out-of-the-way places far from the beaten track, to every corner of the five boroughs—and introduces them to a wide variety of families and individuals who call New York home. These pieces reveal a great deal about the city’s past and its rich store of historic dwellings. Along with exploring the deep and even mystical connections people feel to the place where they live, these pieces, taken as a whole, offer a mosaic of domestic life in one of the world’s most fascinating cities and a vivid portrait of the true meaning of home in the 21st-century metropolis.
books
April 2013
Urban Theory
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Architecture is bound up with our daily lives but, for most of us, it is experienced as a blur of habit. Our reactions towards the buildings that surround us are often culturally generated, and we experience them in ways that are immediate but often mundane. "How to enjoy architecture: A guide for everyone" encourages us to move beyond this and, instead, really look at(...)
April 2024
How to enjoy architecture: A guide for everyone
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Architecture is bound up with our daily lives but, for most of us, it is experienced as a blur of habit. Our reactions towards the buildings that surround us are often culturally generated, and we experience them in ways that are immediate but often mundane. "How to enjoy architecture: A guide for everyone" encourages us to move beyond this and, instead, really look at buildings. Renowned architect Charles Holland talks about the buildings and architects that excite and inspire him, and the ideas and principles through which we can engage with architecture. By breaking buildings down into categories such as materials, structure, space, and use, Holland guides us through drastically different styles and building types—from the satisfying symmetry of a Queen Anne house to the thrill of a high-tech tower, or the social ideals that lie behind a housing estate. In doing so, he demonstrates how looking at, experiencing, and using architecture can bring joy in itself.
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Much has been written about Britain's trailblazing post-1970s privatization program, but the biggest privatization of them all has until now escaped scrutiny: the privatization of land. Since Margaret Thatcher took power in 1979, and hidden from the public eye, about 10 per cent of the entire British land mass, including some of its most valuable real estate, has passed(...)
The new enclosure: the appropriation of public land in neoliberal Britain
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Much has been written about Britain's trailblazing post-1970s privatization program, but the biggest privatization of them all has until now escaped scrutiny: the privatization of land. Since Margaret Thatcher took power in 1979, and hidden from the public eye, about 10 per cent of the entire British land mass, including some of its most valuable real estate, has passed from public to private hands. Forest land, defence land, health service land and above all else local authority land- for farming and school sports, for recreation and housing - has been sold off en masse. Why? How? And with what social, economic and political consequences? “The New Enclosure” provides the first ever study of this profoundly significant phenomenon, situating it as a centrepiece of neoliberalism in Britain and as a successor programme to the original eighteenth-century enclosures. With more public land still slated for disposal, the book identifies the stakes and asks what, if anything, can and should be done.
Urban Landscapes
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"Buildings that Last" provides the layperson with a basis for participating in the discussion about sustainable housing. This book is not about bricks and adobe, nor about cladding with aluminum or glass, nor about the difference between natural and mechanical ventilation. While these are all important aspects of sustainable building, the real key is for the partners in(...)
Green Architecture
March 2004, Rotterdam
Buildings that last : guidelines for strategic thinking
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"Buildings that Last" provides the layperson with a basis for participating in the discussion about sustainable housing. This book is not about bricks and adobe, nor about cladding with aluminum or glass, nor about the difference between natural and mechanical ventilation. While these are all important aspects of sustainable building, the real key is for the partners in the construction process--including the commissioning bodies--to consider early on the physical, social, and cultural environment in which they want to be accommodated. This first thinking stage can lead to the unearthing of surprising solutions that are considerably more sustainable than what has been the norm until now. Real estate is still too often thought of as a question of meeting the demand for floor space in square meters (or feet, depending)--and little else. Buildings that Last includes examples of studies into the construction of offices for 2040, when buildings will hopefully have an environmental impact that is 95% less than was the norm at the end of the last century. Today's top-scoring projects are also reviewed--the results show that we still have a long way to go in sustaining sustainable development.
Green Architecture
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This new book is the product of a unique research, teaching, and exhibition project at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Faculty and students of the university's Institute for Art and Architecture IKA dedicated a full year to investigate the highly controversial modernist architecture of the three decades between 1950 and 1980. Their goal was to assess the state and(...)
Architecture since 1900, Europe
March 2016
Big! Bad? Modern: four megabuildings in Vienna
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This new book is the product of a unique research, teaching, and exhibition project at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Faculty and students of the university's Institute for Art and Architecture IKA dedicated a full year to investigate the highly controversial modernist architecture of the three decades between 1950 and 1980. Their goal was to assess the state and current use and to interpret the aesthetic, history, and public acceptance of four selected buildings from today's perspective. Eventually, the students created designs and proposals for moderate to radical changes for these structures. The surprising results of this undertaking offer a very differentiated picture of Vienna's General Hospital (AKH), the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation's studio complex (ORF-Zentrum), the Vienna University of Economics (WU), and the Alterlaa housing estate. Big! Bad? Modern: reflects this diversity: Arranged by keywords derived from the featured projects, it provides easy access to the rich and comprehensive collection of materials and manifold positions, and opens up new perspectives. Essays by renowned authors such as Hermann Czech, Francoise Fromont, Harry Gluck, Sabine Kraft and Michael Zinganel and a preface by Nasrine Seraji round out the book.
Architecture since 1900, Europe
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Gordon Matta-Clark, scion and rebel, died at 35 in 1978 and has since become a cult figure of late-twentieth-century art. Born in New York and trained in architecture at Cornell, he went on to question the field's conventions in vivid projects that excised holes into existing buildings or assembled deeds to New York City alleys and curbs. As the son of the Chilean-born(...)
Gordon Matta-Clark: works and collected writings
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Gordon Matta-Clark, scion and rebel, died at 35 in 1978 and has since become a cult figure of late-twentieth-century art. Born in New York and trained in architecture at Cornell, he went on to question the field's conventions in vivid projects that excised holes into existing buildings or assembled deeds to New York City alleys and curbs. As the son of the Chilean-born Surrealist painter Roberto Matta and Anne Clark, and godson of Marcel Duchamp, with whom he played a regular game of chess in the Village, Matta-Clark had grown up inside the art world, also working an as assistant to mavericks like Dennis Oppenheim and Robert Smithson. His work and words, while sophisticated enough to make him an "artist's artist," and colossal and outgoing enough to draw public attention and affection, were always also grounded in social or political convictions. He addressed not only space and real estate (in other words, housing), but the ultimate in necessity and nourishment, food. His "Pig Roast" under the Brooklyn Bridge offered passersby 500 pork sandwiches, and Food, the artist-staffed restaurant that he opened with dancer Caroline Goodden in SoHo, became a headquarters for that nascent neighborhood in the early 70s. He consistently broke the boundaries between sculpture and architecture, photography and film, performance and installation, and above all the permanent and the transitory. Once in a while he also broke the law. This book, published in celebration of the gradual opening of Matta-Clark's archives at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal, collects previously unavailable writings, including notecards and notebooks, along with interviews and more than 100 illustrations.
books
October 2006
Contemporary Art Monographs