Delphi – Issue 5

Pythia's Mouth

Authors: Joana de la Fontaine, Michel Kessler
Year: 2020
Language: English, German
Zine: 76 P.
Paper: Heaven 52

 

Delphi is an ongoing narrative dealing with contemporary issues that concern us as architects.

The conversation allows different opinions and positions. Each issue relates to a previous one, expanding or processing its topic, or putting a complete antithesis and thus, always continuing the conversation, forming an ever growing and complex whole.

On the power of colour

Colour is science, psychology, and communication, but in art and design it is also about perception and choice.  Colour is fun, packed with emotion, and is personal, but it can also become dangerously political. In DAMN°76 we explore some of the most colourful myths and realities – from naked cowboys riding pink unicorns to the corrupt power of the American greenback – and get new insights into how the use of colour feeds and challenges our perceptions.  We look at the latest exhibitions and projects and talk to some of the artists and designers whose work dares us to recalibrate our thinking on the politics of colour – especially given the huge changes the digital revolution has introduced. 

a+u 2020:03
Architecture in Chile – In Search of a New Identity

Located at the “end of the world,” Chile’s idyllic landscapes create a perfect canvas for Chilean architects to express poetry in their architecture. To many, it is the utopian holiday homes that brought Chilean architecture into the international scene, and examples of these houses were previously featured in a+u 06:07 and in this issue, the House for the Poem of the Right Angle (see pp. 24–33) and Loba House (see pp. 44–51). Following 2010, however, we begin to see a different group of architects looking into less individualistic visions. Guided by a moral compass, they engage with the public or take up non-profit projects – Ruca Dwellings (see pp. 120–123) and Gabriela Mistral Cultural Center (see pp. 138–145) – that focus on social and sustainable issues which came to a halt during times of oppression. In an introductory essay, Diego Grass, an architect and tutor at Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, shares with us his insights into Chilean architecture since the 1990s. He describes how having gone through years of persistent domestic unrest, the country seeks to forge a new cultural identity that would bring a divided Chile together. 18 projects are selected in this issue to broaden our perspectives into architecture found in Chile, and the many ways these architects respond to its landscapes and urban territories.

English + Japanese / 168 Pages / 219 x 292 mm / 600 g

Openhouse - Issue 13 - Memoirs of a Moment

In this issue, we take time to reflect upon memories of a journey. We share a weekend with Axel Vervoordt to discuss travel and collecting. We spend a day at Casa das Canoas by Oscar Niemeyer just before his great-grandson and former partner take up its renovation. We take residence at Casa Estudio Max Cetto with his grandson in Mexico City, before ending our inspiring Mexico trip at the home of sculptor and designer Pedro Reyes and Carla Fernández.

a+u 2020:02 
Feature: Toshiko Mori

The February issue of a+u is our first monograph dedicated to the architectural practice of Toshiko Mori. Based in New York, the Japanese native founded Toshiko Mori Architect (TMA) in 1981. The introductory essay by Fred A. Bernstein, an architecture journalist, demonstrates her design approach and her keen eye for detail. Mori’s works are the result of an in-depth study of the site’s topography, vegetation, and landscape, as pointed out by Edward Eigen, a historian and scholar of European and Anglo-American landscapes in the long nineteenth century. Mori’s designs reflect a sensitive integration of design, materials, and technology with the site. In addition, Sean Kelly, one of Mori’s clients and an art gallery owner, speaks about the process of collaboration with Mori. 18 representative works after 2000, of which 9 are residences, are featured in this issue, alongside site photographs and survey maps.

To Mori, teaching is always in parallel with her practice. Her essay illustrates her career in architectural academia and the several initiatives she introduced while being a faculty member at various prestigious architecture institutions, including the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD).

a+u 2020:01 
Feature: SuperNormal Architecture in the Netherlands 2010–2020

In this issue, together with guest editor Kirsten Hannema, Chief Editor of the nai010 Yearbook Architecture in the Netherlands, we will take a look at the last 10 years of Dutch architecture discourse. Previously, in our a+u 12:01 issue (Architecture in the Netherlands 2000–2011), which highlighted the country’s architecture scene right after the global financial crisis in 2008, the construction industry faced a slowdown. What we saw then, as “typically” Dutch, has gradually faded. Looking away from the “SuperDutch” stigma, we now see projects combining broader social issues, and taking on new forms of cultural energy. Yet, compared to the superstar generation that preceded them, these architects and their projects often go unnoticed. Therefore, in this issue, 19 projects are selected and placed into 3 themes to introduce a new attitude on today’s architecture in the Netherlands – the “SuperNormal”.

The 3 themes: “Reshaping the Polder” looks into pilot projects that rethink the sustainability of our construction practice. “Tabula Scripta” introduces transformation projects exploring how we rebuild under pre-existing conditions. “After the NAi” presents a body of public projects built during the period after 2012 when the national budget was cut. Each theme is accompanied by an essay written by Bob Witman, Jarrik Ouburg, and Sergio M Figueiredo, respectively. Finally, Floris Alkemade, Chief Government Architect of the Netherlands, shares with us in an interview about his reflections, actions, and predictions on the country’s architectural setting.

Thanks to Eelco Van Welie, Director of nai010 publishers, for his support, and to the authors and the architects who contributed to this issue.

Process Journal is a quarterly released graphic design publication. The aim of the journal is not only to serve as a source of inspiration for designers and graphic designers alike, but also to take a look at the ‘process’ behind some of the world’s most influential creative work. Printed on high quality uncoated stocks utilising a five-colour printing process, the journal comprises 88 pages of advertising-free content.



Paradises

Urban Park Strategies

Increasingly, and at a faster pace, nature becomes culture and as this occurs, so continues the construction of an increasingly artificial and imaginary paradise lost.

The paradises of today are those public spaces where multiple spiritual postures fit, where each one is built while experiencing them.

Javier Mozas traces a walk in search of paradise, through 5 historical models, starting in the 17th Century and ends at the beginning of the 20th Century.

Aurora Fernández Per identifies and analyses within the selected works design strategies and actions with which to create accessible paradises for the citizen.

The STRATEGY series, initiated in 2010, defines scalar scopes, evidences disciplinary origins and composes a grid that overlaps the project to offer a new vision of it.

 

CONTENTS (English/Spanish)

A WALK IN SEARCH OF PARADISE. Javier Mozas          

The Themed Walk

The Leasowes. William Shenstone. Halesowen. West Midlands (United Kingdom), 1743.

Nature as Bearer of Meaning

Parc Jean-Jacques Rousseau. René-Louis de Girardin, Jean-Marie Morel. Ermenonville (France), 1763-1774.

The Public Park as a Lung

Birkenhead Park. Joseph Paxtont. Birkenhead (United Kingdom), 1843-1847.

Repairing the Territory

Parc des Buttes-Chaumont. Jean-Charles Adolphe Alphand, Jean Darcel. Paris (France), 1867.

The Open Space System

The Emerald Necklace. Frederick Law Olmsted. Boston (USA), 1878-1896.

Delphi is an ongoing narrative dealing with contemporary issues that concern us as architects.

The conversation allows different opinions and positions. Each issue relates to a previous one, expanding or processing its topic, or putting a complete antithesis and thus, always continuing the conversation, forming an ever growing and complex whole.

Delphi is an ongoing narrative dealing with contemporary issues that concern us as architects.

The conversation allows different opinions and positions. Each issue relates to a previous one, expanding or processing its topic, or putting a complete antithesis and thus, always continuing the conversation, forming an ever growing and complex whole.

Delphi is an ongoing narrative dealing with contemporary issues that concern us as architects.

The conversation allows different opinions and positions. Each issue relates to a previous one, expanding or processing its topic, or putting a complete antithesis and thus, always continuing the conversation, forming an ever growing and complex whole.

Delphi is an ongoing narrative dealing with contemporary issues that concern us as architects.

The conversation allows different opinions and positions. Each issue relates to a previous one, expanding or processing its topic, or putting a complete antithesis and thus, always continuing the conversation, forming an ever growing and complex whole.

a+u 2019:06 
Diller Scofidio + Renfro

This issue of a+u is our first monograph dedicated to Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R), a New York-based interdisciplinary design studio founded in 1981 by Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio.

Despite their initial interest in remaining independent from the architecture profession, DS+R have managed to enter and challenge it on their own terms. Today, with partners Charles Renfro and Benjamin Gilmartin, DS+R’s critical approach to their work remains the same—prioritizing the designing and “democratization” of space for the public.

Trans is a semi-annual professional journal of the Department of Architecture at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETHZ and has been managed by an independent student editorial team since 1997.

The journal addresses current issues in architecture and urban development from a variety of perspectives, such as the humanities, politics, philosophy and the arts. trans thus sees itself as a platform for interdisciplinary discourse.