Openhouse - Issue 14 - Respite, Connect and Escape

In this issue we find respite in the slower connections made by the hands of artists and artisans. We share a weekend with master-gardener Luciano Giubbilei at Potter’s House in Majorca, experience the inspired frugality of Enric Mestre’s Valencia workshop, and escape to Basque Country to consider the sculpture of Eduardo Chillida in the setting most personal to his work. We stop in Mexico City to visit Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo, and head home dreaming about new ways of life practiced by Bijoy Jain at Studio Mumbai.

a+u 2020:06

MVRD FILES 4 Projects 435-908

MVRDV is an architectural office established in the Netherlands since 1993. Following our previous 3 series of MVRDV FILES in 2002, 2007 and 2017, a+u June issue – MVRDV FILES 4 focuses on the office’s ambitions to conceptualize sustainable “futureproof” buildings and cities as described in an essay by its cofounders, Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries, along with the 23 projects featured. The office prides itself on its visionary ideas of redefining spaces that we use every day. Whether it is the design of a new building or the re-purposing of an abandoned building, MVRDV capitalizes on every creative opportunity presented to them to rethink typologies and open up possibilities. Despite challenges faced during the COVID-19 pandemic, the partners at MVRDV came together in a web conference to share with us details about their studio’s projects and the experiences they’ve had when collaborating with clients, experts, and the public to find the best strategies.

English + Japanese / 184 Pages / 219 x 292 mm / 650 g

a+u 2020:05

Architecture of Hope: 30 years of European Architecture – EU Mies Award

The a+u May 2020 issue features the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award (EU Mies Award). Its organizer, the Fundació Mies van der Rohe, was founded in 1983 during the reconstruction of the Barcelona Pavilion (1929). The EU Mies Award has been held biennially since 1988 and marked its 16th edition in 2019. The issue covers all the shortlisted works and the Jury proceedings of each edition that were curated together with Ivan Blasi, an architect and a coordinator of the award at the Mies Foundation, along with an essay by Angelica Fitz, one of the jury members in 2019. Additionally, the issue features another initiative of Mies Foundation, the Art Intervention at the Barcelona Pavilion. 8 works are highlighted here and supported with an essay by architectural historian, Dietrich Neumann. Finally, through the collection of more than 500 works recorded since the construction of the Pavilion in 1929, we are able to trace the trends and discussions of the “European architecture” that have continued since more than 90 years ago till today.

English + Japanese / 192 Pages / 219 x 292 mm / 650 g

a+u 2020:04
Computational Discourses

This issue of a+u examines the application of computational design and digital fabrication across a spectrum of scales – from a free-form high-rise exoskeleton, to bio-mimetic wearables for the body, to the printed structure of a nonstandard brick – taking its conceptual cues from Charles and Ray Eames’ 1977 film, Powers of Ten. Selected here are 14 projects by individuals and entities working in cross-disciplinary ways, that suggest what “thinking digitally” can do with the means of our present time.

For each of the issue’s projects, the shaping and organizing of various materials, via computational methods, serve as our starting points. Supporting them are texts by Jenny E. Sabin, Patrik Schumacher, and Achim Menges. Through the relationships drawn from this iterative collection of work, we hope to make the unfamiliar more familiar, and to provoke questions about the relationship between natural systems, digital technology, and the shaping of the material environment.

English + Japanese / 176 Pages / 219 x 292 mm / 640 g

Trans 37 – Alien

Ein Kreis von 30 Metern Durchmesser und eine VR-Brille reichen aus, um uns glauben zu lassen, dass wir uns endlos geradeaus bewegen. Sprache als begrenztes Koordinatensystem von Bedeutungen erweitert die Welt auf ähnliche Weise. Differenz ist dabei die Masseinheit unserer Wahrnehmung: Wir glauben, durch Grenzen wahrnehmen zu können. Doch im Gleichschritt mit Kategorie und Definition entstehen Ambivalenz uns Subversion.

Obwohl das Fremde unausweichlich zum Komplizen von Ausschluss und Aneignung wird, setzen wir im vorliegenden Heft den Schwerpunkt nicht auf das Konzept der Wahrnehmung, sondern auf das praktische Potential des Begriffes "Alien": weg vom Befremden, hin zum Entfremden als Werkzeug, um bestehende Kartografierungen umzudeuten und neue Handlungsräume aufzuspannen. Das Alien verweist auf eine alternative Realität, abseits der gewohnten, festgefahrenen Wirklichkeiten, die unsere Welt zu bedeuten scheinen.

Trans 36 – Spannung

Gleich ist es soweit. Jeden Augenblick. Jeden Moment. Noch ein bisschen länger. Nur noch ein bisschen weiter. Noch ein Stückchen. Noch ein. Bisschen. Ziehen. Im Moment der höchsten Spannung passiert nichts. Stillstand. Spannung ist ein Flirt mit der Grenze, ein Seilziehen zwischen Kontrahenten. Sie fliesst und dehnt, sie hält und führt. Spannung stresst. Mal ist sie stark wie Stahlseile, mal zart wie Zahnseide. trans 36 widmet sich dem Thema Spannung in seinen vielfältigen Facetten und Massstäben, sei es in einzelnen Bauteilen, architektonischen Kompositionen, Erzählungen oder in den Bezugsfeldern, die sich zu anderen Disziplinen auftun.

Issue D 2020

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 2020:02 
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.