Disappearing Architecture

Disappearing Architecture PDF

Author: Georg Flachbart

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 3764372753

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The creation of new environments through the use of developments in Information Technology is significantly altering not only architecture itself but also the roles and tasks of the architects. Architecture can no longer be described in the terms we are familiar with since it no longer corresponds to the form of architecture as we know it: an inclusive and exclusive structure, clearly defined, with a single interior and a single exterior. For architects, the challenge of the future will increasingly lie in creatively coming to terms with hybrid environments, understanding and exploiting the design potential of digital spaces within the physical world, and redefining the role of architecture within a visually dominated culture. This volume presents a valuable and attractive contribution to the contemporary discussion on this subject.

Lost Futures

Lost Futures PDF

Author: Owen Hopkins

Publisher: Royal Academy Editions

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 128

ISBN-13: 9781910350621

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'Lost Futures' casts a detailed look at the wide range of buildings constructed in Britain between 1945 and 1979. Although their bold architectural aspirations reflected the forward-looking social ethos of the postwar era, many of these structures have since been either demolished or altered beyond recognition. In this volume, photographs taken at the time of the buildings' completion are accompanied by expert research examining their design and creation, the ideals they embodied and the reasons for their eventual destruction. 'Lost Futures' covers many buildings, from housing to factories, commercial spaces to power stations, and presents the work of both iconic and lesser-known architects. The author charts the complex reasons that led to the loss of these postwar projects' ambitious futures, and assesses whether some might one day be restored. AUTHOR: British architecture historian and curator Owen Hopkins is the author of several popular architecture books, including 'Reading Architecture: A Visual Lexicon', 'Architectural Styles: A Visual Guide' and 'Mavericks: Breaking the Mould of British Architecture'. His scholarly interests have ranged from Nicholas Hawksmoor's Baroque grandeur to Alison and Peter Smithson's Brutalism, taking in everything in between.

Architecture and Freedom

Architecture and Freedom PDF

Author:

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2018-04-09

Total Pages: 136

ISBN-13: 1119332621

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Architects are facing a crisis of agency. For decades, they have seen their traditional role diminish in scope as more and more of their responsibilities have been taken over by other disciplines within the building construction industry. Once upon a time, we might have seen the architect as the conductor of the orchestra; now he or she is but one cog in a vast and increasingly complex machine. In an attempt to find a way out of this crisis, there is growing debate about how architects might reassert the importance of their role and influence. On one side of this argument are those who believe that architects must refocus their attention on the internal demands of the discipline. On the other are those who argue that architects must, instead, reacquaint themselves with what many still believe to be the discipline’s core mission of advancing social progress and promoting the public good, and at the same time the scope of their traditional disciplinary remit. At root, this question is fundamentally about freedom, about whether architects still possess it – if they have ever done – and whether it is possible to find the professional, disciplinary and individual autonomy to be able to define the spheres of their own practice. Presenting a variety of views and perspectives, this issue of AD takes us to the heart of what freedom means for architecture as it adapts and evolves in response to the changing contexts in which it is practised in the 21st century. Contributors include: Phillip Bernstein, Peggy Deamer, Adam Nathaniel Furman, Kate Goodwin, Charles Holland, Anna Minton, Patrik Schumacher, Alex Scott-Whitby, Ines Weizman, and Sarah Wigglesworth. Featured architects: Atelier Kite, ScottWhitbyStudio, C+S Architects, Anupama Kundoo, Noero Architects, Umbrellium, and Zaha Hadid Architects. Architects are facing a crisis of agency. For decades, they have seen their traditional role diminish in scope as more and more of their responsibilities have been taken over by other disciplines within the building construction industry. Once upon a time, we might have seen the architect as the conductor of the orchestra; now he or she is but one cog in a vast and increasingly complex machine. In an attempt to find a way out of this crisis, there is growing debate about how architects might reassert the importance of their role and influence. On one side of this argument are those who believe that architects must refocus their attention on the internal demands of the discipline. On the other are those who argue that architects must, instead, reacquaint themselves with what many still believe to be the discipline’s core mission of advancing social progress and promoting the public good, and at the same time the scope of their traditional disciplinary remit. At root, this question is fundamentally about freedom, about whether architects still possess it – if they have ever done – and whether it is possible to find the professional, disciplinary and individual autonomy to be able to define the spheres of their own practice. Presenting a variety of views and perspectives, this issue of AD takes us to the heart of what freedom means for architecture as it adapts and evolves in response to the changing contexts in which it is practised in the 21st century. Contributors include: Phillip Bernstein, Peggy Deamer, Adam Nathaniel Furman, Kate Goodwin, Charles Holland, Anna Minton, Patrik Schumacher, Alex Scott-Whitby, Ines Weizman, and Sarah Wigglesworth. Featured architects: Atelier Kite, C+S Architects, Anupama Kundoo, Noero Architects, Umbrellium, and Zaha Hadid Architects.

The Cultural Role of Architecture

The Cultural Role of Architecture PDF

Author: Paul Emmons

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-11-12

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 113576543X

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Exploring the ambiguities of how we define the word ‘culture’ in our global society, this book identifies its imprint on architectural ideas. It examines the historical role of the cultural in architectural production and expression, looking at meaning and communication, tracing the formations of cultural identities. Chapters written by international academics in history, theory and philosophy of architecture, examine how different modes of representation throughout history have drawn profound meanings from cultural practices and beliefs. These are as diverse as the designs they inspire and include religious, mythic, poetic, political, and philosophical references.

Out of Season

Out of Season PDF

Author: Jamer Hunt

Publisher: Booth-Clibborn

Published: 2016-08-09

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781861543783

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Wildwood is a small barrier island at the tip of southern New Jersey. Through a? combination of economics, geography, and chance, it contains a national treasure: the highest concentration of mid-twentieth-century modern hospitality architecture in the United States. The short three-month tourist season, combined with a working-class aesthetic, resulted in Wildwood's motels remaining essentially frozen in time for over four decades. In recent years, however, more than half ?have been demolished and the future of those that remain is in doubt. The images in this book are the result of a ten-year? project by Mark Havens to capture the essence? of these vanishing treasures. A number of the ?motels were photographed at the end of their last season, just prior to demolition; in fact they were disappearing so fast that at times Havens was shooting the front of a motel while workers were demolishing the back. Though the lights were still on and the pools still full, there would be no more guests, no more summers. The images are accompanied by essays from Joseph Giovanni and Jamer Hunt.

The Component

The Component PDF

Author: Kas Oosterhuis

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2023-12-07

Total Pages: 678

ISBN-13: 1003812120

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The Component: A Personal Odyssey towards Another Normal is the Oosterhuis' personal account of four decades of architectural and societal thinking, designing, building, and theorizing. It is an orchestrated yet non-linear series of subjects all leading toward the creation of a parallel world called "Another Normal." Another Normal is as of now a hypothetical parallel world. Nomadic international citizens are the inhabitants of Another Normal. Urged by the climate crisis, the food, energy, and water nexus, and the COVID-19 pandemic, Another Normal demonstrates the inevitable data-driven techno-social architecture of the physically built environment and the metaverse. Besides robotic production on demand of almost anything – when, where, and as needed – Oosterhuis' proposes a dozen strategies that run in parallel to establish Another Normal, among others: ubiquitous basic income, global birthright to own a generous piece of land, distributed production of healthy food, clean energy, and drinking water, ownership of private data and personal avatars in the Web 3.0, autonomous electronic transportation, ubiquitous shared responsibility for clean production and waste treatment techniques, ubiquitous home delivery, working from anywhere for any period of time, and decentralized real-time peer to peer banking. The organic real and the synthetic hyper-real co-evolve naturally in Another Normal, where a mix of strong and simple legislative, planning, and design rules create complexity, diversity, fairness, and equality.

Obsolescence

Obsolescence PDF

Author: Daniel M. Abramson

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2016-02-12

Total Pages: 203

ISBN-13: 022631345X

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Things fall apart. But in his innovative, wide-ranging, and well-illustrated book, Daniel Abramson investigates the American definition of what falling apart entails. We build new buildings partly in response to demand, but even more because we believe that existing buildings are slowly becoming obsolete and need to be replaced. Abramson shows that our idea of obsolescence is a product of our tax code, which was shaped by lobbying from building interests who benefit from the idea that buildings depreciate and need to be replaced. The belief in depreciation is not held worldwide which helps explain why preservation movements struggle more in America than elsewhere. Abramson s tour of our idea of obsolescence culminates in an assessment of recent tropes of sustainability, which struggle to cultivate the idea that the greenest building is the one that already exists."

The Disappearing Computer

The Disappearing Computer PDF

Author: Norbert Streitz

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2007-07-20

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 3540727272

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This book examines how the computer, as we currently know it, will be replaced by a new generation of technologies, moving computing off the desktop and ultimately integrating it with real world objects and everyday environments. It provides a unique combination of concepts, methods and prototypes of ubiquitous and pervasive computing reflecting the current interest in smart environments and ambient intelligence.