COMING SOON

Oblique Experiments

Claude Parent’s Architectural Installations (1969–1975)

With the radical proposition of life on inclined planes—a theory known as the oblique function—the French architect Claude Parent sought to free architecture of orthogonal form, renew its social relevance, and inspire people’s interest in the built environment. Oblique Experiments: Claude Parent’s Architectural Installations (1969–1975) explores the significance of a series of temporary interventions that he designed in an attempt to convert his theory into practice. Referred to as practicables, these installations incorporated oblique geometries, involved interdisciplinary collaboration, and made themselves at home in existing buildings, often inside of French cultural centers known as maisons de la culture. Using rarely published archival materials as well as new drawings produced by the book’s author, Oblique Experiments brings overdue attention to this series of architectural experiments with enduring intellectual and creative appeal. Moreover, the book prompts the reader to imagine the radical potential of obliqueness in a range of contemporary practices—beyond the literal prospect of life on sloped floors. As such, Oblique Experiments builds upon Parent’s work in order to imagine new forms of experimentation in architecture, design, and art.

Claying Architecture

Making Machine and Material Kin

Claying Architecture: Making Machine and Material Kin presents a curated collection of essays, interviews, and projects from leading architects, designers, and researchers who are analyzing the role of clay 3D printing in contemporary architecture. The book blends research, theory, and practice to highlight how this ancient material is being reimagined through 3D printing, robotic fabrication, and innovative construction techniques. Through original essays and project showcases, Claying Architecture brings together 30 plus voices from contemporary architectural academia and practice to interrogate why clay is a protagonist in contemporary architecture as an agent capable of binding new kinships between processes, environments, and culture. In this sense, our 'kinship' with the machines of digital fabrication mirrors our 'kinship' with one another and opens up ways to reflect on how 3D printing clay is a method to reconsider how we code, construct, and conceive architecture.

Representing the Landscape Project

THE CREATIVE PROCESS AND DESIGN EDUCATION

Representation is an indispensable creative process, able to develop our thinking, making us more aware and weaving a new connection with the landscapes surrounding us. For the landscape architect, representation is fundamental to unravelling all those values that underlie reality. It also allows the development of an analytical, introspective and observational capacity that goes beyond the mental and social structures we have grown up with. Representation is, therefore, a proper form of communication that translates thoughts into images, managing to develop a landscape sensitivity of which the designer is the spokesman and interpreter. In landscape architecture, there were always the tendency to consider nature systemically as if painting and botany are inextricably linked. Despite everything, representation is currently experiencing a crisis—especially in the school system where probably it is not considered enough. Instead, representation can be understood as a tool able to stimulate the creativity of designers and students in their creative process. Sensibility, awareness and creativity are the central values of representation, which, thanks to the attention to terrestrial, communicative and personal phenomena, make culture, ecology and landscape expressive complements of the project.

HOT AIR

Hot Air is a monograph that situates and defines the hot air of the urban equator through the architecture and creative practice of Erik L’Heureux and the Office of Equatorial Intelligence. By critically evaluating intersections of architecture, the tropics, the equator, urbanization, colonialism, mechanical cooling, and fossil fuel dependency, L’Heureux’s built work offers decarbonization, passivecomfort, and contextual case studies appropriate for the urban equator. The architectural projectsare also the outcome of deeply personal and self-reflective thinking,having lived on the equator for 20 years. Thebook offers insights into the practice of architecture on the equator in an age of climate calamity. Themes embedded in a series of architectural projects engender writings on tropical representation, postcolonialism, monoliths, jungles, carbon, and others from diverse contributors. Each contributor offers a divergent inquiry and critical reflection on Hot Air, examining the architectural work through different cultural and geographical contexts while situating the work at the equator and in our rapidly warming world

ARCHITECTURAL CERAMICS ASSEMBLIES WORKSHOP VI

This book chronicles experimental approaches to the design and production of architectural terra cotta facades and structures. Under the auspices of the Architectural Ceramic Assemblies Workshop (ACAW), a research collaborative supported by Boston Valley Terra Cotta, the largest manufacturer of architectural terra cotta in the United State, architectural firms work with manufacturing to explore material and design innovation.  Now in its sixthe year, the workshop aims to educate architects about terra cotta through the production of unique prototypes of rain screen façade systems, modular assemblies, columns and structural systems.

"Architectural Ceramic Assemblies Workshop VI" chronicles the work of architectural firms ARO (Architecture Research Office), HOK (Helmuth, Obata, Kassabaum), Studio Gang, Goody Clancy, CookFox Architects, Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, and Alfred University/University at Buffalo at the 2021 ACAWorkshop.

TOWARD AN AMERICAN SPOLIA

A LOOSE INVENTORY OF ANTECEDENTS AND POSSIBILITIES

Spolia is what historians call the ancient practice of recycling of building materials, and until recently it was deemed rather inconvenient as it contaminates an understanding of history as a linear progression of time. It is both constructive (re-use) and destructive (“spoils” imply conquest, destruction and uprooting). Yet as a way of engagement with historic artefacts, spolia opens a new door into the creation of built form. This publication is an inventory of the processes of spolia, a distinctive cultural practice from the ancient times to ours, framing the necessity for the spoliation of the American 20th century—its materials, inventions, aesthetics and debris. The book will contain appropriated and repurposed images, drawings, and texts presented as a series of unbound plates affording multiple ways of sorting, comparing, mixing, and reusing.

The book consists of antecedents of ancient and contemporary spolia in the form of images, texts and drawing, composed of an introductory Bound Volume and a Loose Inventory, a collection of plates. Both the Volume and Inventory address the idea of spolia through the primary lenses of Form, Material, Type and Tech; and the contents of the Inventory are sorted, at least initially, according to those categories. The loose plates can be also organized chronologically, alphabetically, programmatically, volumetrically, chromatically, etc., and, of course, sorted randomly. 

The introductory Bound Volume contains a foreword, a series of essays, illustrated footnotes and an afterword. The essays are essentially short “chapters” on the phenomenon of spolia in art, architecture, design & landscape composed by the author out of short fragments provided by prominent academics, curators and practicioners (detailed below). The Bound Volume is followed by the Inventory, a collection of loose plates with images on recto and text on verso. Recto contains photographs of buildings & objects, drawings & diagrams, paintings reproductions, and book spread reprints where contemporary spolia is case-studied. On each plate’s verso is an accompanying explanatory/exploratory text by the author.

PRATT SESSIONS

VOLUME 3

‘Pratt Sessions’ presents conversations with notable names in architecture, discussions that unpack their work in non-standard ways, revealing new insight to familiar terms circulated in the discipline and profession. The two areas of focus—new architectural mediums and contexts—are timely issues in architecture that are challenged and questioned within the six conversations. The range of practitioners and thinkers that engage in critically exploring these topics allows the 'Pratt Session' series to develop and present evolving disciplinary arguments as different voices from different regions and praxes come together within the book.

The 'Pratt Sessions' series is aimed at an architectural audience, especially students and young practitioners who are engrained in the fast-paced media culture and engaged in contemporary practice. All content included in the publications is original and has only been available to attendees of the Pratt lecture series. Through the publication of these conversations, a much larger audience can engage with these topics. In its examination of two central topics in contemporary architecture—which will only continue to grow in importance in coming years—the book is also relevant for the wider architectural community, both academic and within practice.

Bracket [On Sharing]

VOLUME 5

'Bracket [On Sharing]' considers the historic roots of sharing and their relationship to contemporary models of sharing. Sharing is one of the humanity’s most basic traits; we intrinsically recognize the benefits of pooling resources within a community in order take advantage of varied abilities and access in order to fulfill needs. The impact of sharing goes beyond simply satisfying the necessities for survival and extends itself into the social and cultural dimensions of our communities. In constructing an urban commons, composed of collectively managed and shared resources, we shape our physical, social, and cultural environments to achieve some degree of shareabilty—whether of goods, services, or experiences. These historic and evolved cultural roots ensure that sharing is inevitably part of our daily lives. Yet, its central role in how we organize and manage our cities is increasingly threatened. Within a context of increased emphasis on the individual and privatization of the commons, sharing holds much promise for re-evaluating our economic, political, and social relations to equitably distribute resources and services at the scale of both the individual and the collective.

Value of Design

Creating Agency Through Data-Driven Insights

In the context of architecture and real estate, the value of design—be it financial or social value—remains largely unmeasured, overlooked, and inadequately researched. By failing to acknowledge the potential of design, we miss opportunities to address the wide-ranging social and sustainability challenges at play today. This book acts as a platform to bridge the gap between design and finance, using empirical research to dissect design into measurable features through data-driven methodologies, with New York City serving as the experimental research site. Novel analytical tools such as AI, machine learning, and natural language processing, along with new forms of data like anonymized mobile phone data, social media data, and image data, unlock new dimensions for gauging the impact of previously immeasurable design elements of the built environment on human behaviors.

Re-scaling the Rural

Some Reflections from Europe

 Existing as it does on the brink of being overrun, urbanized or abandoned, rurality is contested. Even in the field of academia, it is often questioned or considered a minor subordinate appendix to urbanity.
 
Since the ancient Greeks, conceptions of the rural have praised it as an idyllic and tranquil place where humans were closer to nature. Nowadays however, notions of the countryside are more complex, it is also a place in constant flux, a place defined and controlled by the urban. Can rurality continue to depend on the urban? Or will future scenarios recognize it for its potential to live truly ‘closer to nature’ and as the place to be? What can we learn from current counter-urbanization movements that have sprung up in the wake of changing geopolitical circumstances as well as geographical and social inequality?

The Urban Design Legacy of Colin Rowe

The Urban Design Legacy of Colin Rowe describes the ideas developed and described primarily by Colin Rowe, professor of architecture and head of the Urban Design Studio at Cornell, and additionally by his students, his co-authors, and colleagues throughout the course of the last half of his highly influential career spanning the years 1963 till his death in 1999. From the simplest of techniques regularly used in present day planning, urban design, and architectural analysis and design work to the philosophical and aesthetic ideas related to them, these techniques and ideas inform much of current discussion about the appropriate forms of human settlement, sustainability, and even architectural style. 

Images, Artifacts, Architecture

This book chronicles 25 years of design research at SU11 Architecture + Design, where ideas, concepts, and techniques have both shaped and been shaped by the evolution of digital and post-digital paradigms. The projects presented here reflect an era defined by the rise of new technological tools, their rapid proliferation, and the counter-movements critiquing some of their consequences—such as increasing formal homogeneity and the tendency to foster a new “universal” style. Through 22 individual projects, the book offers an eyewitness account of a practice deeply embedded in these transformations. As readers explore these works, they will uncover the influences, concepts, and techniques that have shaped SU11’s pioneering design strategies. Organized around distinct conceptual and aesthetic themes, the projects trace a disciplinary arc, positioning them within the broader digital and post-digital discourse. Two guiding questions drive SU11’s research: How do technological innovations intersect with contemporary cultural needs and desires? And how can such entwinements be effectively represented through architectural images, artifacts, and buildings? The evolution of these inquiries forms the core of SU11’s design research and the subject of this book.

The Mechanized Landscape

Statecraft and Environment in the Tennessee Valley

 In 1933 the United States government created the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and gave it jurisdiction over a demarcated region – the watershed of the Tennessee. The TVA was authorized to develop the resources in the Valley and promote the welfare of its residents. The TVA pursued these goals by constructing three large-scale operations, referred as the river, land and power machines.  The TVA also invested in social projects, including support for housing and tourist industries in the region. The Mechanized Landscape: Statecraft and Environment in the Tennessee Valley examines this comprehensive effort as a form of statecraft – the art of government persuasion and diplomacy – manifested through environmental transformation. It follows the TVA’s physical transformations and its investment in infrastructural power – programs that extended the state’s capacity to reach even the most remote residents. The product of this process, the mechanized landscape, is a testament to the TVA’s complex approach to democracy, its racial and middle-class biases, and its technical and managerial acumen. By bringing together original photography, newly created maps, and text, this book offers a well-researched, visually compelling appraisal of the TVA’s plans and their implementation. Rather than following a linear textual narrative, readers are invited to explore the complexity of the mechanized landscape through multiple media.

Media Matters in Landscape Architecture

 Media Matters in Landscape Architecture makes a unique contribution to landscape architectural praxis for its explicit framing of “environmental media” in terms of its dual meaning within our discipline. In the sciences, environmental media are the materials of the natural world—soils, air, water, plants, microbes. Within STS and media studies, “environmental media” refers broadly to the relationship between environmental issues—such as pollution, biodiversity loss, climate change—and the creation and application of the tools, interfaces, and images, through which information about these issues is conveyed.

Oblique Experiments

Claude Parent’s Architectural Installations (1969–1975)

 With the radical proposition of life on inclined planes—a theory known as the oblique function—the French architect Claude Parent sought to free architecture of orthogonal form, renew its social relevance, and inspire people’s interest in the built environment. Oblique Experiments: Claude Parent’s Architectural Installations (1969–1975) explores the significance of a series of temporary interventions that he designed in an attempt to convert his theory into practice. Referred to as practicables, these installations incorporated oblique geometries, involved interdisciplinary collaboration, and made themselves at home in existing buildings, often inside of French cultural centers known as maisons de la culture. Using rarely published archival materials as well as new drawings produced by the book’s author, Oblique Experiments brings overdue attention to this series of architectural experiments with enduring intellectual and creative appeal. Moreover, the book prompts the reader to imagine the radical potential of obliqueness in a range of contemporary practices—beyond the literal prospect of life on sloped floors. As such, Oblique Experiments builds upon Parent’s work in order to imagine new forms of experimentation in architecture, design, and art.

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