China's New Architecture

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by Christian Schittich

Historic Preservation For Professionals

by Virginia Benson (author), Richard Klein (author)

A broad-based approach to preservationAfter completing an extensive survey of preservation programs throughout the United States, authors Virginia O. Benson and Richard Klein saw the need for this comprehensive approach to historic preservation, examining where it has been and where it is going, anticipating that historic preservation must encourage collaborative projects among planning, design, and development professionals.This text focuses on complex economic, political, and social realities facing the profession today. Specifically, Historic Preservation for Professionals provides an in-depth historic analysis of the profession, a summary of legal issues, an architectural synopsis, a discussion of career opportunities in the public and private sectors, and examples of innovative nonprofit leadership and preservation trends.Design professionals—architecture, interior, and landscape—and those interested in urban design and urban studies, real estate development, and nonprofit management will find Historic Preservation for Professionals a valuable addition to the fields of architecture, urban design, and preservation.

The extended self

Architecture, memes and minds

by Chris Abel

In his wide-ranging study of architecture and cultural evolution, Chris Abel argues that, despite progress in sustainable development and design, resistance to changing personal and social identities shaped by a technology-based and energy-hungry culture is impeding efforts to avert drastic climate change. The book traces the roots of that culture to the coevolution of Homo sapiens and technology, from the first use of tools as artificial extensions to the human body, to the motorized cities spreading around the world, whose uncontrolled effects are changing the planet itself. Advancing a new concept of the meme, called the 'technical meme,' as the primary agent of cognitive extension and technical embodiment, Abel proposes a theory of the 'extended self' encompassing material and spatial as well as psychological and social elements. Drawing upon research from philosophy, psychology and the neurosciences, the book presents a new approach to environmental and cultural studies that will appeal to a broad readership searching for insights into the origins of the crisis.

The extended self

Architecture, memes and minds

by Chris Abel

In his wide-ranging study of architecture and cultural evolution, Chris Abel argues that, despite progress in sustainable development and design, resistance to changing personal and social identities shaped by a technology-based and energy-hungry culture is impeding efforts to avert drastic climate change. The book traces the roots of that culture to the coevolution of Homo sapiens and technology, from the first use of tools as artificial extensions to the human body, to the motorized cities spreading around the world, whose uncontrolled effects are changing the planet itself. Advancing a new concept of the meme, called the 'technical meme,' as the primary agent of cognitive extension and technical embodiment, Abel proposes a theory of the 'extended self' encompassing material and spatial as well as psychological and social elements. Drawing upon research from philosophy, psychology and the neurosciences, the book presents a new approach to environmental and cultural studies that will appeal to a broad readership searching for insights into the origins of the crisis.

PAINTING THE SKY BLACK

Louis Kahn and the Architectonization of Nature

by Florian Sauter

In 1962, Louis I. Kahn described the design of the Salk Institute as having been developed “out of a respect and understanding of the nature of nature,” before adding: “I am becoming increasingly conscious of the architecture of water, the architecture of air, the architecture of light.” Attempting to poetically unveil the world through the conscious architectonization of nature, the deliberations presented in this book interpret the American architect’s buildings as the result of a Stoic pursuit to comprehend the lawfulness of the natural world, scrutinize his endeavor to set spatial compositions into analogy with organisms’ principles of growth and form, illustrate his growing awareness to shape space in reciprocity with environmental forces, and acknowledge his eventual willingness to make the surrounding landscape and cosmos an integrated part of the architectural project. Furthermore, Kahn’s highly ambiguous epistemology with regard to man’s position within and beyond nature is being discussed – ultimately promoting an ecologically sound down to earth approach, which takes into account the impulse of the primitive and elemental. Aspiring for an eternal expression, the manifestation of the world of the human spirit was for Kahn – one of the most legendary and original architects of the 20th century – only possible within the larger order of the universe, whereas the same transcendent, creative joy pervaded both.

Pattern

Ornament, Structure, and Behavior

by Andrea Gleiniger, Georg Vrachliotis, Andrea Gleiniger, Georg Vrachliotis

As models and paradigms, patterns have been helping to orient architects since the Middle Ages. But patterns are also the basis of the history of ornament, an aesthetic phenomenon that links all times and cultures at a fundamental level. Ornament – and hence pattern as well – was abolished by the avant-garde in the first half of the twentieth century, but the notion of pattern has taken on new meaning and importance since the 1960s. Complexity research has ultimately shown that even highly complex, dynamic patterns may be based on simple behavioral rules, and that has allowed the notions of pattern and pattern formation to take on new meanings, that are also central for architecture. Today the use of generative computerized methods is opening up new ways of talking about an idea that is becoming increasingly abstract and dynamic. Pattern explores the question: what are the notions of pattern that must be discussed in the context of contemporary architecture?

Complexity

Design Strategy and World View

by Andrea Gleiniger, Georg Vrachliotis, Clemens Bellut, Johann Feichter, Andrea Gleiniger, Klaus Mainzer, Denise Scott Brown, Kostas Terzidis, Robert Venturi, Georg Vrachliotis

Digitalization has transformed the discourse of architecture: that discourse is now defined by a wealth of new terms and concepts that previously either had no meaning, or had different meanings, in the context of architectural theory and design. Its concepts and strategies are increasingly shaped by influences emerging at the intersection with scientific and cultural notions from modern information technology. The series Context Architecture seeks to take a critical selection of concepts that play a vital role in the current discourse and put them up for discussion. When Vitruvius described the architect as a "uomo universale," he gave rise to the architect’s conception of him- or herself as a generalist who shapes a complex reality. The architectural concept of complexity, however, failed to keep pace with industrial and social reality, becoming instead an increasingly formal and superficial notion that could ultimately be applied to almost anything. Against it, architectural modernism set the watchword of simplification: "less is more." In this situation, Robert Venturi reintroduced the notion of complexity into architectural discourse: his goal was not just to restore the complexity of architectonic forms and their history but also to explore the concrete reality of the existing built environment. Today it is complexity studies, with their starting point in physics, that define the current approach to the concept of complexity. They have established a new connection between the natural sciences and information technology and have thus become a central premise of computer-based approaches to design.

Simulation

Presentation Technique and Cognitive Method

by Andrea Gleiniger, Georg Vrachliotis, Andrea Gleiniger, Gabriele Gramelsberger, Thomas Hänsli, Erich Hörl, Nils Röller, Georg Vrachliotis

Digitalization has transformed the discourse of architecture: that discourse is now defined by a wealth of new terms and concepts that previously either had no meaning, or had different meanings, in the context of architectural theory and design. Its concepts and strategies are increasingly shaped by influences emerging at the intersection with scientific and cultural notions from modern information technology. The new series Context Architecture seeks to take a critical selection of concepts that play a vital role in the current discourse and put them up for discussion. In the context of discussions of the medial, the notion of simulation plays a central role in architecture as illusion and imitation. In dialogue with information technology and computer science, however, that notion has now taken on a new quality in architectural discourse. Today when we speak of simulation we primarily think of "computer simulation," the technical ability to simulate processes. Whereas simulation used to refer to a mode of presentation, it now connects architecture with the sciences and represents a strategic and methodological instrument, a tool of discovery. With the scientific principle of simulation the focus shifts to the idea of "modeling a dynamic system" (Norbert Wiener), not just presenting finished products but going in search of solutions and developing systems!

Crucial Words

Conditions for Contemporary Architecture

by Gert Wingårdh, Rasmus Wærn

The conditions in which present-day architecture is produced are partly local and singular and partly global and universal. Understanding contemporary architecture means understanding all of these aspects. What are the pivotal themes? Gert Wingårdh and Rasmus Wærn, Sweden’s most active architect and its best-known architecture critic, asked themselves this question and made a selection of approximately fifty terms and concepts, including Branding, Collaborators, Corporate, Desire, Future, Everyday, Ornament, and Wheelchair. The result is a very special dictionary with humorous illustrations and original articles by interesting protagonists such as Denise Scott Brown, Kenneth Frampton, Massimiliano Fuksas, Hans Ibelings, Peter Blundell Jones, Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Juhani Pallasmaa, Joseph Rykwert, Jaime Salazar, Axel Sowa, and Wilfried Wang. A special highlight is the text by Nobel laureate Ohran Pamuk. Die Voraussetzungen, unter welchen heutige Architektur entsteht, sind teils lokal und einmalig bedingt, teils sind sie von globaler und allgemeingültiger Natur. Zeitgenössische Architektur verstehen heisst, all diese Aspekte verstehen. Welches sind dabei die entscheidenden Themen? Gert Wingårdh und Rasmus Wærn, Schwedens aktivster Architekt beziehungsweise bekanntester Architekturkritiker, haben sich diese Frage gestellt und eine kritische Auswahl von rund 50 Begriffen getroffen, etwa Branding, Collaborators, Corporate, Desire, Future, Everyday, Ornament, Wheelchair. Dadurch ist ein ganz spezielles, witzig illustriertes Begriffs-Wörterbuch entstanden, mit Originalbeiträgen von so interessanten Protagonisten wie etwa Denise Scott Brown, Massimiliano Fuksas, Hans Ibelings, Peter Blundell Jones, Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Juhani Pallasmaa, Joseph Rykwert, Jaime Salazar, Axel Sowa, Wilfried Wang; ein besonderes Highlight ist der Text von Nobelpreisträger Orhan Pamuk.

Convergent Flux

Contemporary Architecture and Urbanism in Korea

by Jinhee Park, John Hong

Convergent Flux illustrates the contemporary architectural and urban planning developments in South Korea in the context of the country's considerable urban density.In recent years South Korea, which long stood in the shadow of the superpowers Japan and China, has surged in economic terms. That said, industrialization and the population explosion connected with it have created enormous challenges for the country at the interface between globalization and cultural identity. Some 10.5 million inhabitants live in the center of the capital Seoul, while the metropolitan area includes around 25 million residents making it the second largest conurbation in the world after Tokyo. The result is high urban density, which spells an enormous demand for the more efficient use of space and encourages verticalization in architecture. The publication outlines the current developments in South Korean architecture, urban development and landscape architecture by examining 32 projects in detail. An in-depth view of contemporary South Korean architecture is given by five essays that address topics such as the fusion of tradition and the modern, the re-defining of so-called "social spaces" and the country's special topographical situation.The authors are both architects, trained at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Light Volumes

Art and Landscape by Monika Gora

by Lisa Diedrich

Landschaftsarchitektur kann eine Planungsdisziplin sein, die ebenso wie Architektur tägliche Umwelt schafft, oder aber ihre Stellung als Kunstform behauptet und außergewöhnliche Werke hervorbringt, die kommuneikative Aufgaben wahrnehmen.Monika Goras Oeuvre gründet auf einer knapp 20-jährigen Arbeit als Landschaftsarchitektin und -künstlerin mit Sitz in Malmö, Schweden, aus der zahlreiche Werke im skandinavischen und mitteleuropäischen Raum hervorgegangen sind, die mehrfach Preise erhalten haben und international publiziert worden sind. Jenseits der Seriosität von klassischer Landschaftsarchitektur zeigt Gora mit ihrem Werk den spielerischenUmgang mit der Umwelt und beweist, dass gebaute Landschaft keine bierernste Sache sein muss, sondern für die Sinne da ist, für ein Staunen, ein Grübeln, ein Aha oder Lachen, irgendwo zwischen Intellekt und Sensibilität, jenseits vom Materialismus des Garten- und Landschaftsbaus und weit entfernt vom Konzeptualismus der Museumskunst. Davon zeugen beispielsweise ihre amorph geformten Lichtobjekte « Jimmies », die etwaauf Spielplätzen, in Wohnsiedlungen zum Sitzen oder Klettern einladen, aber zugleich mit weißem oder farbigem Licht ein Leuchten erzeugen.

Emergent Architectural Territories in East Asian Cities

by Peter G. Rowe

This book presents current developments in city planning and architecture in East Asia. It describes the many neighborhoods in which the region’s large cities are modernizing or expanding with innovative structures and advanced construction projects. It combines a typology of public structures with an analysis of the compositional principles of urban environments. Thus, it finally connects new developments in city planning with new developments in architecture, and considers examples such as CCTV, Lujiazui, Kansai Airport, Xinyi, Taipei 101, Chek Lap Kok, Cheonggyecheon, Roppongi Hills, Da Shanzi, Shahe, Omotesando, and Marina Bay from a new perspective.And the new perspectives presented here are not just theoretical: some forty full-page bird’s eye views prepared especially for this volume show these future urban settings in highly detailed images of breathtaking beauty. The result is a rich portrait of the coming together of global and local influences in non-Western countries. With its systematic approach, this presentation by one of the leading international experts in the field is a reference work on a topic of central importance to the world of construction today.

Code

Between Operation and Narration

by Andrea Gleiniger, Georg Vrachliotis

The process of coding is a systematic experimentation with signs, symbols, and the construction of larger cultural meanings. The fourth volume in the series Kontext Architektur examines the architectural-historical and -theoretical relevance of the concept of "code" from various perspectives. The authors and editors start from the premise that this concept makes for new ways of translating architecture into language. Thus, the dominance of computer simulation makes it clear that the building is no longer merely a vehicle for signs, but literally also their product. The code has penetrated, as it were, from the exterior of the building into its interior, into its structure. We are dealing with both a socio-cultural as well as with a mathematical and formal notion of code. The goal of this book is thus to arrive at a critical grasp of the contours of this vibrant conceptual tension between the cultural and the formal, the "outside" and the "inside," while also formulating questions for further exploration that are relevant for architecture.

Creating Desired Futures

How Design Thinking Innovates Business

by Michael Shamiyeh

Die heutige Gesellschaft erbringt Höchstleistungen im Streben nach immer mehr und immer spezifischerem Know-how in den unterschiedlichen Fachbereichen, und die Strukturen in heutigen Unternehmen werden immer komplexer. Dabei ergeben sich an den Schnittstellen Probleme, die eines ganzheitlichen Lösungsansatzes bedürfen. Creating Desired Futures definiert Design als kreativ-analytische Methode zur Entwicklung und Erforschung alternativer Lösungen für komplexe Probleme und zeigt auf, dass Design dem aktuellen Bedarf der Wirtschaft an innovativen Strategien in besonderem Maße gerecht wird.In 24 Fachbeiträgen von Designern, Architekten und Vertretern großer Unternehmen wie Nike oder Shell thematisiert das Buch, inwieweit ein solcher designbasierter Ansatz helfen kann, Probleme in Unternehmen zu definieren, einzuschätzen und zu lösen. Dabei werden sowohl konkrete Strategien aus der Praxis, als auch innovative Ansätze aus dem Bereich Unternehmensberatung vorgestellt; Beiträge aus Forschung und Lehre erörtern theoretische Aspekte zum Thema „Design Thinking“. Michael Shamiyeh ist praktizierender Architekt mit eigenem Büro (Shamiyeh Associates) und zudem Gründer und Leiter des Design-Organisation-Medien Forschungslabors (DOM) an der Kunstuniversität Linz. Er beschäftigt sich mit der Relevanz des kreativen-analytischen Ansatzes im architektonischen Denken zur Lösung von komplexen Problemen im Bereich Strategic Business Thinking and Innovation. Shamiyeh wurde bereits mehrfach ausgezeichnet, unter anderem mit dem Innovation Prize (2008) des österreichischen Bundesministeriums für Wissenschaft und Forschung sowie dem Future Award (ZuP, 2003) und dem Award für Entrepreneurship (2000), beide verliehen von der österreichischen Regierung.

The Urban Code of China

by Dieter Hassenpflug

When reading the Chinese city, which this book sets out to do, it is not the well-known cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Xi an that are in the focus of attention, but rather the essentially Chinese of the Chinese city, those characteristics or attributes that are more or less shared by all Chinese cities. The spotlight is on their spatial grammar, their syntax, in short: their code. Only by deciphering their common traits a view to the underlying structure of Chinese cities is opened, and we can begin to reasonably evaluate and classify the diversity of impressions. Deciphering the code of the Chinese city also enables the author to read new Chinese towns designed by Western architects. Thus, readers are provided with valuable insight on China s booming urbanization and urban development.

Drawn to Design

Analyzing Architecture Through Freehand Drawing

by Eric Jenkins

The book is a guide for students and teachers to understand the need for, the role of and the methods and techniques of freehand analytical sketching in architecture. The presentation focuses on drawing as an approach to and phase of architectural design.The conceptual goal of this approach is to use drawing not as illustration or depiction, but as exploration. The first part of the book discusses underlying concepts of freehand sketching in design education and practice as a complement to digital technologies. The main component is a series of chapters that constitute a typology of fundamental issues in architecture and urban design; for instance, issues of "façade" are illustrated with sketch diagrams that show how façades can be explored and sketched through a series of specific questions and step-by-step procedures. This book is especially timely in an age in which the false conflict between "traditional vs. digital" gives way to multiple design tools, including sketching. It fosters understanding of the essential human ability to investigate the designed and the natural world through freehand drawing.The author, Eric Jenkins received several teaching awards and design awards. He is Associate Professor at Catholic University of America's School of Architecture and Planning where he teaches design, theory and analytical sketching. He earned a Masters in Design Studies from Harvard University's Graduate School of Design, and has previously published "To Scale: One Hundred Urban Plans".

Digital Workflows in Architecture

Design–Assembly–Industry

by Scott Marble

The logics of digital processes in architecture have begun to structure the way that architects design, the way that builders build, and the way that industry is reorganizing. The process of architectural design has become a complex workflow. At the core of the shift toward more expansive forms of digital production within the design and construction industry is the integration of communication through digital networks. The goal is to develop a continuous, easily accessible and parametrically adaptable body of information that coordinates the process from design through a building’s lifecycle. Organized around the key fields of Designing Design, Designing Assembly and Designing Industry, this book is a reference work on digital technologies as key factors in architectural design, fabrication and workflow organization. It presents essays and case studies from some of the leading voices on the topic.

Construction Manual for Polymers + Membranes

Materials, Semi-finished Products, Form Finding, Design

by Jan Knippers, Jan Cremers, Markus Gabler, Julian Lienhard

Whether it be as translucent sheets, broadly stretched membranes, and inflated foil cushions or in graceful, organic curves, architecture today is utilizing plastics in the most disparate forms and for a wide variety of purposes. Innovative technical developments are constantly improving its material properties; at the same time, there is a growing new awareness of its potential as a construction material. While plastics used to be employed primarily as an inexpensive variant on traditional building materials, they are increasingly regarded in the construction world today as a serious and viable alternative, be it as supporting structures, roofs, facades, or elements of interior design and decoration. Thanks in large part to this inherent self-sufficiency, plastics are currently enjoying an unprecedented surge in popularity, even among the international architectural avant-garde – as multiwall sheets or corrugated, fiber-reinforced panels, or as filling between glass panes. And the new generation of ecological bioplastics also pays tribute to the debate on sustainability, ridding plastics of their lingering reputation as environmental offenders. From the history of plastics and membranes in architecture to their material properties and requirements in construction and design, the Plastics and Membranes Construction Manual cuts to the chase, providing the kind of solid and comprehensive overview of the subject that readers have come to expect from the Im DETAIL series. Selected project examples round off the reference work and make it indispensable for the day-to-day life of the professional planner and for every architecture library.

Construction Manual for Polymers + Membranes

Materials, Semi-finished Products, Form Finding, Design

by Jan Knippers, Jan Cremers, Markus Gabler, Julian Lienhard

Whether it be as translucent sheets, broadly stretched membranes, and inflated foil cushions or in graceful, organic curves, architecture today is utilizing plastics in the most disparate forms and for a wide variety of purposes. Innovative technical developments are constantly improving its material properties; at the same time, there is a growing new awareness of its potential as a construction material. While plastics used to be employed primarily as an inexpensive variant on traditional building materials, they are increasingly regarded in the construction world today as a serious and viable alternative, be it as supporting structures, roofs, facades, or elements of interior design and decoration. Thanks in large part to this inherent self-sufficiency, plastics are currently enjoying an unprecedented surge in popularity, even among the international architectural avant-garde – as multiwall sheets or corrugated, fiber-reinforced panels, or as filling between glass panes. And the new generation of ecological bioplastics also pays tribute to the debate on sustainability, ridding plastics of their lingering reputation as environmental offenders. From the history of plastics and membranes in architecture to their material properties and requirements in construction and design, the Plastics and Membranes Construction Manual cuts to the chase, providing the kind of solid and comprehensive overview of the subject that readers have come to expect from the Im DETAIL series. Selected project examples round off the reference work and make it indispensable for the day-to-day life of the professional planner and for every architecture library.

Shape as Memory

A Geometric Theory of Architecture

by Michael Leyton

How do buildings store information and experience in their shape and form? Michael Leyton has attracted considerable attention with his interpretation of geometrical form as a medium for the storage of information and memory. In this publication he draws specific conclusions for the field of architecture and construction, attaching fundamental importance to the complex relationship between symmetry and asymmetry. Wie können Gebäudeformen Erfahrungen und Inhalte speichern? Leyton hat eine viel beachtete neue Theorie der geometrischen Form entwickelt. Er interpretiertdie geometrische Form – im Gegensatz zur gesamten Tradition – als Informations- und Gedächtnisträger. In vorliegender Darstellung zieht er die spezifischen Konsequenzen davon für den Bereich der Architektur und des Bauens.