The Pavilion: Pleasure and Polemics in Architecture

Book published by Hatje Cantz (2009)

Pleasure and Polemics in Architecture examines both the history and the contemporary state of pavilion architecture. This historical survey consists of two parts: first, the examination of a group of ... [more ▼]

Pleasure and Polemics in Architecture examines both the history and the contemporary state of pavilion architecture. This historical survey consists of two parts: first, the examination of a group of twentieth-century pavilions—categorical examples that form an architectural typology and can be interpreted as such—and second, a comprehensive collection of essays. This outstanding analysis has been produced by students of architecture at Frankfurt’s Städelschule. In the theoretical section, well-known authors discuss the materials used in pavilions, starting with influences from the Orient, India, and Asia, and moving on to significant twentieth-century pavilions and today’s issue of temporary buildings somewhere between art and architecture. In addition, this volume documents the research and development of a summer pavilion for the garden at the Deutsches Architekturmuseum in Frankfurt done by the offices of Barkow Leibinger and Werner Sobek. [less ▲]

When Economies Become Form

Book published by Berlage Institute (2009)

Micro-Economic Models as Spatial Prescriptions in Northeast Brazil This 18-week research studio will investigate a strategy for local intervention. The current economic climate and emergence of six ... [more ▼]

Micro-Economic Models as Spatial Prescriptions in Northeast Brazil This 18-week research studio will investigate a strategy for local intervention. The current economic climate and emergence of six resorts within the emerging sub-urban economy of Northeast Brazil, which has proven resilient to the current economic crisis, will be invoked as a case study. The six-star Duas Barras resort under development along Alagoas’ 143 miles of unspoiled coast will provide a backdrop for investigation. Students will investigate twelve meta-topics via micro-economies in which content-productions become formal interventions and spatial prescriptions. Individual interventions will arise out of explorations considered on local, regional and super regional scales, which will in turn be considered as an accumulation or composite to produce a new, generative layer for the (sub-) region. Communication design will enter as content. Text will be developed as a material construct. Graphic Design by Berlage Institute. [less ▲]

ARCHIPHOENIX – Faculties for Architecture

Book published by NAi (2009)

ARCHIPHOENIX - Faculties for Architecture has turned the Dutch Pavilion, at the 11th Architecture Biennale in Venice, into a weeklong stage for research and exploration and a debate platform focussing on ... [more ▼]

ARCHIPHOENIX - Faculties for Architecture has turned the Dutch Pavilion, at the 11th Architecture Biennale in Venice, into a weeklong stage for research and exploration and a debate platform focussing on the capacities and capabilities of architecture - beyond building. ARCHIPHOENIX takes the recent burning-down of the Faculty of Architecture in Delft as starting point for an exploration of what values to defend, what territories to explore and what practices to develop as an architect. The fire seems to open a new era, it gives the architecture community a chance to reposition itself and the opportunity to question whether thinking in terms of buildings is the solution to the issues and demands that we face in the near future. In short: the faculties for architecture, in the sense of its multiple capacities, powers, capabilities. A question mark rather than an exclamation mark. [less ▲]

Serpentine Gallery Manifesto Marathon

Book published by Koenig Books (2009)

Manifesto Marathon is the third in Hans Ulrich Obrist's series of Marathon events at London's Serpentine Gallery. Coming at a moment when manifestos, having ceased to spearhead artistic movements, seem ... [more ▼]

Manifesto Marathon is the third in Hans Ulrich Obrist's series of Marathon events at London's Serpentine Gallery. Coming at a moment when manifestos, having ceased to spearhead artistic movements, seem ripe for reinvention, Manifesto Marathon collects statements and declarations of all kinds from artists and contributors from the worlds of literature, design, science, philosophy, music and film. Highlights include Nicolas Bourriaud's "Altermodern," Paul Chan's "Sex and the New Way, V.I.," Jimmie Durham's "No More Silly Hats," Fritz Haeg's "London: A Manifesto From Your Animals," David Hockney's "Manifesto for Smoking," Adam Pendleton's "Black Dada," Agnes Varda's "What To Do?," Ben Vautier's "I Don't Know What To Do," Ai Wewei's "Despicable Things," Vivienne Westwood's "AR," Lebbeus Woods' "Slow Manifesto," plus interviews with Eric Hobsbawm and Tino Sehgal, and a wealth of photographs from the event. [less ▲]

East Coast Europe

Book published by Sternberg Press (2008)

East Coast Europe, which took place during Spring 2008 at the New School in New York, is a project about the perceptions of contemporary European identity and its relation to spatial practices and ... [more ▼]

East Coast Europe, which took place during Spring 2008 at the New School in New York, is a project about the perceptions of contemporary European identity and its relation to spatial practices and international politics. “Europe” in the title is the central topic for investigation, its contemporary culture, expansion and its status as a continuing social project. “East Coast” refers to two distinct edges of Europe, both real and imaginary-the geographical East Coast of the USA and the political “East Coast” of the EU. The book details a dense network of contemporary experience of the EU’s extensive exchange of knowledge, people, and goods with the US and also with its own eastern border. Contributions by: Shamim Momin, Taryn Simon, Marina Abramovic, Orchard, Kazys Varnelis, Lisa Farjam, Jordan Wolfson, Sislej Xhafa, Nedko Solakov, et al. Graphic Design and Photography by Zak Group. [less ▲]

UK Confidential (Demos)

Book published by Demos (2008)

Privacy protects a set of deeply significant values that no society can do without; it is about the lines, boundaries and relationships we draw between and among ourselves, communities and institutions ... [more ▼]

Privacy protects a set of deeply significant values that no society can do without; it is about the lines, boundaries and relationships we draw between and among ourselves, communities and institutions. Privacy appears threatened because our perception of what it means has radically changed. This collection argues that we get the privacy culture we deserve. Our appetite for a connected society means we have yet to determine why we still care about privacy. These essays explore the underlying challenges and realities of privacy in an open society, and argue for a new settlement between the individual and society; the public and the state; the consumer and business. To achieve this, we need collective participation in negotiating the terms and conditions of twenty-first century privacy. [less ▲]

Hatch: The New Architectural Generation

Book published by Laurence King (2008)

Hatch showcases 114 architects who will define the physical fabric of our cities for the next 30 years, aswell as the theoretical and interpretive background of architectural practice worldwide. These are ... [more ▼]

Hatch showcases 114 architects who will define the physical fabric of our cities for the next 30 years, aswell as the theoretical and interpretive background of architectural practice worldwide. These are practitioners for whom the old categories do not hold, and for whom modernism is no longer the orthodoxy. [less ▲]

Memosphere. Rethinking Monuments

Book published by Revolver (2007)

The publication of the pavilion at the 52nd Venice Biennial groups theoretical and visual contributions as the first episode in a long-term project that aims to rethink the contemporary monument. It stems ... [more ▼]

The publication of the pavilion at the 52nd Venice Biennial groups theoretical and visual contributions as the first episode in a long-term project that aims to rethink the contemporary monument. It stems from the belief that monuments are ‘impossible necessities’, that monuments are problematic knots entangling decisive questions about the modes of history and ideology that constitute or condition communities. The artistic, critical repossession of the monument could bring enlightening arguments in the discussion about the subversive capabilities of political art, perhaps actualizing Thomas Hirschhorn’s enigmatic dictum about ‘making art politically’, in a practice that does not evacuate the possibility of failure and does not dissimulate it in lesser ambitions and diminishing scale. [less ▲]

With/Without: Spatial Products, Practices and Politics in the Middle East

Book published by Bidoun (2007)

With/Without: Spatial Products, Practices and Politics in the Middle East As Dubai builds unprecedented monuments to the new newness, other parts of the region grapple with physical and symbolic histories ... [more ▼]

With/Without: Spatial Products, Practices and Politics in the Middle East As Dubai builds unprecedented monuments to the new newness, other parts of the region grapple with physical and symbolic histories. Reinvention and revolution encounter relics of old newnesses. Meanwhile, micro-mutations in Middle Eastern politics and economics have become “local” news in media markets around the globe. With/Without casts a critical eye across these broader swathes of the contemporary Middle East, insisting on an approach that goes beyond — or before — the media-driven calls to be for or against. Featuring an archival design, this hardback book is essential reading for anyone interested in the politics, society, design, and architecture of Middle Eastern cities. Each of the anthology’s fourteen chapters considers an architectural or institutional type (the museum, the villa, the street, the skyscraper) and illustrates it with essays, interviews, and documentary photographs. Subjects range from the redevelopment of Martyr’s Square in Beirut; gated communities in Istanbul; Dubai’s mall culture; bridge building in Mecca; and the creation of a new Iraqi flag in the post-Saddam era. The underlying question in all of these inquiries is: how do spaces and territories form fundamental ideas about individuals, communities, and worlds? Co-published by Bidoun and Moutamarat, With/Without was edited by London-based architects/critics Shumon Basar and Markus Miessen, with Bidoun editor Antonia Carver. The anthology was designed by Jana Alerting of the award-winning Dubai agency 9714. Featuring: Mauricio Guillen, Yto Barrada & Simona Schneider, Brian Ackley, Issandr El Amrani, Pelin Tan, Richard Allenby-Pratt & Celia Peterson, Kevin Mitchell, Hugh Macleod, Deena Chalabi, Dr. Saad Bashir Eskander, Rem Koolhaas, Kai Friese, Ursula Lindsey, Senan Abdelqader, Clare Davies, Stephan Trüby, Markus Miessen, Shumon Basar, Erandi de Silva, Antonia Carver, L.E.FT, Nader Vossoughian, Keller Easterling, Lara Almarcegui, Philipp Misselwitz, Susanne Schuricht, Armin Linke, George Katodrytis, Fawwaz Traboulsi. Graphic Design by Jana Allerding. [less ▲]

European Kunsthall

Book published by European Kunsthalle (2007)

"Spaces of Production" is a study that conceptualizes, tests, and practically applies the spatial strategy for the European Kunsthalle. The investigation does not result from purely theoretical ... [more ▼]

"Spaces of Production" is a study that conceptualizes, tests, and practically applies the spatial strategy for the European Kunsthalle. The investigation does not result from purely theoretical, conceptual considerations but is rather the result of the activities incorporated into the European Kunsthalle’s founding phases’ two-year work practice from 2005 to 2007. The spatial strategy for the European Kunsthalle is therefore the direct result of applied research - an iterative investigation informed by resonances between theory and practice. [less ▲]