Coming Soon/
Design Research for Uncertain Futuresassembles a diverse group of thinkers and makers, and thinking-through-makers, to situate design research as a form of knowledge generation that is complementary to science, and especially needed now, given changing climates and uncertain futures. Our model of design research envisions a distinct and powerful role for design researchers to work confidently with uncertainty and to skillfully negotiate contested futures as part of creating more equitable and resilient worlds. Using the tools of design research, knowledge is built through an iterative process of questioning, probing, proposing, building, testing, analyzing and revising. The climate crises that are challenging our collective survival demands—indeed, provokes—bold partnerships among the curious and committed to align creativity, analytic rigor and the plurality of values in the broader contexts of uncertainty and experimentation.
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. These novel measurements, when integrated into real estate valuation models, establish a financial benchmark for design, catalyzing a shift in the industry's perspective on the intrinsic worth of design and ensuring that future projects properly account for the qualitative impact of design on economic value and social benefits. As we uncover and quantify the inherent value of design, it becomes possible to persuade key stakeholders—real estate developers, investors, and policy-makers—about the significant returns of thoughtful, sustainable, and human-centric design strategies. In essence, we aim to explore how the amalgamation of design and finance via empirical research and innovative data-driven methodologies can lead to a more integrated and holistic valuation practice.
LPA Design Studios rose to national prominence by demonstrating that designers can make a real impact on carbon reduction on a large scale. The firm’s integrated design approach breaks down the traditional model, eliminating barriers between disciplines to develop innovative designs that reduce energy and water and create a better human experience. The firm’s diverse body of work has earned the industry’s top awards and set new benchmarks for building performance, proving that there is a better process for designing buildings.
'Design Matters: Every project. Every budget. Every scale.' presents a beautifully curated collection of LPA projects that illustrate what can be achieved through a collaborative design process with architects, engineers, interior designers and landscape architects working together from a development’s earliest stages. The projects cross a wide range of sizes and types, including transformational education, commercial, civic, cultural and healthcare facilities. Each was created through a repeatable process focused on cost-effective research-driven design strategies. As a collection, LPA’s work is an inspirational model for an integrated, inclusive approach that connects design excellence and building performance.
Richard Neutra’s landmark publication 'Survival Through Design,' in print again for the first time in decades, is a cycle of essays providing insights far ahead of their time. With a new introduction by Dr. Barbara Lamprecht and foreword by Dr. Raymond Neutra, it is richly illustrated and intended as a reference for years to come. Neutra’s themes are wide-ranging and he extensively plumbs through history to develop his insights, however, the general theme of man-made environment and its impact on human physiological, neurological, emotional states over time, and the designer’s potential role as mediator of these conditions, is a constant throughout 'Survival Through Design' with ever greater relevance for the present day.
Delta Design Futures
ENDURANCE FOR NEW FRONTIERS
The Pearl River Delta region has been severely engineered throughout its process of historical emergence. As it is about to confront a new wave of changes in the present century driven by economic growth, industrial activity, and growth of maritime operations, the book proposes “endurance” as a way of urban design in the Pearl River Delta region to organize space around the changing frontiers between territory inhabited by people and South China Sea. The book addresses the urgency to counter the risks posed to the delta city-region by proposing scenarios for urban growth.
The design futures for the Pearl River Delta are formed by acknowledging the socio-political drift towards one direction above another, which influences the future organization or reorganization of space. The historical emergence of the river delta highlights the fact that it is conditioned to multiple directives and multiple transformations, which at the same time makes it exemplary yet idiosyncratic. Therefore, the scenarios of city-region development presented in the book, depict an integration of systems of flows, and the symbiosis of conflicting powers. A series of specific questions lead to principles that drive each future growth trajectory, which is represented through a series of diagrammatic logics in order to organize space through structures of landscape systems and those of new territories and networks.
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In celebration of his 50th year in practice, architect Will Bruder is pleased to share this selection of his most-exemplary projects, presented through hundreds of gorgeous photographs, drawings, and original sketches.
Influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright, as well as Paolo Soleri, Bruce Goff and Gunnar Birk erts, Bruder opened his own design studio in 1974. His self-built house/stud io on the desert edge of Phoenix won the 1975 Architectural Record House of the Year award.
A Fellowship in Architecture at the American Academy in Rome was a car eer turning-point permitting several months of intense reflection from a studio overlooking Rome, and tr avel throughout Europe to study historic and contemporary architecture.
Filled with fresh perspective, Bruder won the commission t o design the 280,000sf Phoenix Central Library. It opened in 1995. Cultural, civic and private commissions followed, as did oppor tunities to travel, lecture, and teach. The library was awarded the AIA 25 Year Building Award in 2021.
This superb collection is divided into two sections: pre-Rome Prize projects, presented in black and white, and post-Rome projects dating from 1987 to buildings still currently under construction, presented in color. Scholarly essays and candid conversations with colleagues r ound out this long-awaited Bruder monograph.
1887–1940
Rustic Architecture in America 1887–1940 is a history of a series of misunderstood masterpieces, the log-based architecture that emerged in the Adirondacks and the National Parks between 1890 and 1935. It is a history of how both form and technology of construction were determined by the tourist industry and the railroads who built the buildings and the social and environmental damage caused by the larger process of which they were a part. Many of these buildings were constructional shams driven by romantic pretenses, but there is also in the best of this architecture something truly original. It is also a history of how the rustic aesthetic transcended glib, mythic romanticism to produce a truly original architecture, how the unique conditions of the West merged craft with the industrial, of how its designers drew on the landscape of the West in combination with the European traditions of the rustic to create an original architecture and a unique way of building. Forty buildings are examined in detail. The text and the numerous original drawings unfold the story how the work was actually constructed in relation to its many enduring myths.
ARCHITECTURE AND NATION-BUILDING IN BANGLADESH
Muzharul Islam was one of the principal stalwarts of South Asia who established the norms and practices of modernity. Uniquely passionate about architecture and political engagement, Muzharul Islam’s life and legacy contributed to the building up of a vibrant architectural culture in Bangladesh, with an impact beyond the boundaries of that country. The book Muzharul Islam, An Architect of Tomorrow is the first comprehensive book on the architect featuring his works and texts, and essays by notable figures from across the world. Muzharul Islam (1923-2013) was active from the early 1950s in defining the scope and form of modern architecture, first in Pakistan and then, after 1971, in Bangladesh. His task was an enormous one: to create a modern yet Bengali paradigm for architecture. For Muzharul Islam, modernism meant more than an architectural vocabulary; it was part of an ethical and rational approach for addressing social inequities of the region. His steadfast commitment to a modernist ideology stemmed from an optimistic vision for transforming society. Consequently, his commitment for establishing a strong design culture in Bangladesh is paralleled by a deep engagement with the political and ethical dimension of society, with building the nation, so to speak.
50 SITES OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN AUGMENTED REALITY
The state of California has emerged as a pioneering force in designing for climate change, yet it has also faced the devastating impacts of numerous climate-related disasters, including droughts, wildfires, and rising sea levels. This book offers a unique climate change tour, delving into architectural scale sites across the state. From innovative houses using sustainable techniques to historical locations ravaged by the combined forces of drought and wildfire, the book explores a range of poignant examples. The main visual contents are a set of architectural site illustrations that are each enhanced by an augmented reality component showcasing the interplay between past, present, and future scenarios. The publication caters to architects, landscape architects, planners, design enthusiasts and general audiences alike, fostering a curiosity about climate change and its relevance to our daily lives.
This book takes a small-scale approach seeing the ways that climate vulnerability and resilience has changed and is changing the very places we reside. A cabin at risk of wildfire. A house at risk of erosion. A public walkway that is estimated to be underwater in ten years time. This book is illustrated with 50 sites across California—an atlas of sorts—raising questions about how we live, what we value, and issues we might consider as we plan for the future.
A MONUMENT TO AFRICAN HISTORY
This book is a photographic journey on the origin and life of “Africa Hall” in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia–a building declared in 2015 “Monument to African History” and recently renovated–which was donated in 1961 by Emperor Haile Selassie to the United Nations. Africa Hall was designed by Ar turo Mezzèdimi, a young self-taught architect, to serve as the UN’s continental headquarters and was the birthplace, in 1963, of the Organization of African Unity, now African Union.
The building came to life with an inspiring story of reconciliation at a crucial moment in African history, when the continent was emerging out of the colonial period and making headway into a new era of independence and envisaged unity. Through its architectural composition and the embedded artworks, it embodied a Pan-Africanist vision and its rising ideals.
Edited by the grandson of the architect and representing Italy’s contribution to the renovation project, the book sits at the crossroads of photography, architecture, history, and art and comprises an amplitude of independent essays, contributions and recollections from authors of diverse profiles. Through impacting images and shor t articles, it addresses events of historical relevance on a global scale, for the entire continent of Africa, at a national level for Ethiopia, and locally for the city of Addis Ababa, concluding with an introduction to the life and work of its architect.
Skatepark Design is a first-of-its-kind analysis of skateparks, skate architecture, and the culture and rituals that define these unique spaces. People have been building environments and structures for skateboarding for nearly 60 years, and in that time skateboarding has changed as much as the urban environment has. In this book authors Zach Moldof, and Shane Yee detail the history and development of skateparks and skate architecture, with a specific emphasis on what can be accomplished in the public commons.
This history sets the stage for the introduction of narratives, diagrams, and photos that detail intersections of theory, art, design, and skate architecture. Readers will find a systematic and organized presentation of important anthropological and procedural information, and the book serves as an encompassing primer ready to be deployed in a variety of creative and operational capacities.
Skatepark Design is a first-of-its-kind analysis of skateparks, skate architecture, and the culture and rituals that define these unique spaces. Readers will find a syst ematic and organized presentation of important anthropological and procedural information, diagrams, and photos. Skatepark Design is a thought primer for a variety of creative and operational scenarios.
Art historian by training, gallerist and art dealer by profession, Annina Nosei is an essential ar t-world figure. While still a student of the celebr ated Giulio Carlo Argan at Rome’s Sapienza University, she took part in the first Happenings to export the cutting edge of 1960s US ar t to Europe. Completing her studies in the early sixties with a thesis on Mar cel Duchamp, she promptly began her professional career at Ileana Sonnabend’s renowned Parisian gallery. Relocating to the United States soon after, she moonlighted as a freelance curator while lecturing at various universities, ultimately leading to the launch of her gallery in 1980: the enterprise that would cement her place among the int ernational art world’s outstanding figures.
Unlocking the Social Art of Architecture
This book is about architecture, but not about formal architectural images. It is about the people who inhabit and use buildings and places. It is about the people who have made and will make buildings and places. It is a book about subjects and themes that directly impact the lives of the people who will utilize these efforts.
Effectively, it points to the need of a seminal change in the way we look at the production of architecture as a whole today. Nothing is lost: not beauty, not individuality, nor the eagerness to experiment with form. The wonder of it all is that there is everything to gain.
This third volume in the monograph series of work by Jones, Partners: Architecture picks up where the previous volume El Segundo left off. After 10 years in El Segundo the office has relocated near Sciarc in the arts district of DTLA (Downtown Los Angeles) where Jones is teaching and many of the team members have matriculated or are studying. Alameda covers all the work done in this location between 2007 and 2013, in 330 densely packed (but artfully designed, by the Afton Klein Design group) pages, including “words, buildings, machines,” as well as projects, competitions, furniture and over forty pages of the firm’s signature graphic production in convenient tear-out sheets of posters, competition boards and other client presentation material.
The Architectural Rebirth of a Romantic Ruin
Having stood empty for almost forty years since being decommissioned in 1983, Battersea Power Station reopened its doors to great fanfare in 2022. Originally designed in the 1930s by renowned architect, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, the Grade II* Listed Power Station’s thirty-year neglect had created a modern ruin. It was in a critical state of disrepair when it was purchased in 2012 by an ambitious consortium of Malaysian investors who entrusted architects WilkinsonEyre with the design of its repair and regeneration.
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.
Challenging Neoliberal Urbanization Between Crises
Cohabitation Strategies: Challenging Neoliberal Urbanization Between Crisis presents twelve years of urban theories, projects, and interventions developed by Cohabitation Strategies, a Rotterdam- and New York City-based non-profit cooperative committed to radical socio-spatial research, design, and development. Centering on the development of new action-research methodologies, neighborhood-based initiatives, and the facilitation of community-driven transformative interventions, the book offers critical insights and progressive visions on the dramatic impact that neoliberal spatial-restructuring had in communities of color and low-income neighborhoods in the Netherlands, Italy, France, Canada, and the United States.
What is the common value of architecture? The first description that come to mind is: something normal, ordinary, or rational. These keywords are pointing toward the opposite of newness. A brave jump of logic would make out that architecture does not need to call for newness. On the contrary, one must admit that other fields of design and art in fact need to be attracted to newness and the endeavors themselves are meaningful. But architecture has always been unique because it does not exclusively belong to either art or technology because it requires enormous amounts of coordination with various consultants to make one building work in addition to what we call “design.” This unique character of architecture demands commonness rather than newness.
Infrastructure, Militarization, and the Extreme Environment
Today, designers, researchers, and scholars must responsibly engage the entangled networks and delineated systems far beyond boundaries of typical design practice to engage in thoughtful critique of the past and consider counter-imaginations of the future. Our discussion of the unseen begins first with an understanding of the power of sight. A look back at the technologies of control implicated in documenting the world reveals the closely intertwined evolution of imperial occupation and technological progress. Constructing Invisibility continues the exchanges initiated during the first symposium and builds upon the diversity of knowledge shared. The late French philosopher Bruno Latour reminds us that “politics has always been oriented toward objects, stakes, situations, material entities, bodies, landscapes, places. This is in effect the decisive discovery of political ecology: it is an object-oriented politics.
From the French Hôtel to the City of Modern Architecture
The French Hôtel, an aristocratic Paris townhouse, is to the art of the plan as the Venetian Palace is to the art of the facade—the quintessential level of architectural achievement. The development of the hôtel between approximately 1550 and 1800 chronicles the formal transformation from an embedded urban building type to a free-standing suburban building type; it also illuminates the social transformation from total emphasis on the public realm under Louis XIV, to the dominance of private life in our time. In contrast to the principles of continuity and regularity of classical buildings, the design principles of the hôtels were based on discontinuity and irregularity, allowing freer, more adaptable architectural compositions. The French Hôtel is a direct ancestor of the modern “free-plan,” thus enabling a rich contemporary architectural vocabulary.
The Soul of Architecture
As a contributor to the esteemed magazine l’architettura, under the discerning eye of Bruno Zevi, I first encountered the architectural brilliance of Arthur Dyson through a 1995 article on the Jaksha House. My fascination deepened during a pilgrimage to the United States in 2007, where I met Dyson in person, igniting an insatiable desire for a profound understanding of his work. This desire crystallized over the years, ultimately inspiring the writing of this book. Dyson’s architecture, resplendent and visionary, emerges from a wellspring of fervent creativity and an intimate engagement with the unique qualities of its inhabitants. As an authentic organic architect, he envisions a reality that transcends the present, evolving into forms and narratives that are in perpetual flux. The remarkable Jaksha House serves as a precursor to the emblematic Woods House, which in turn leads to the spatial grace of the Hilton House. These are complemented by urban interventions such as the Webster Elementary School and the Selma Police Station, while the ethereal essence of the Betsuin Buddhist Temple offers a contemplative pause, resonating with spiritual depth.
A Vast Wasteland?
This project began with an essay on the “McMansion” phenomenon, and it grew to become a meditation on the assorted different building types that are found in every American city and suburb. While it’s true that good buildings do exist for each of those categories, they are very much the exception, these buildings more typically ranging from dull to assertively ugly. The book is meant to be a fairly pitiless and revealing look at this “vast wasteland,” with an architect’s hat on but without resort to the profession’s fads and verbiages.
Hotel Design presents the beautiful, inviting, and defining hotels and resorts designed by FILLAT+ Architecture. With four studios and over 27 years of experience in hospitality design, the firm was founded in 1992 by Peter Fillat to explore a personal view of how people interact with the environment and to create an Architecture of Permanence, which delights and inspires the human spirit. FILLAT+ specializes in creating places and spaces for people to enjoy life. In the careful planning and sequencing of the interior and exterior spatial experience, the work creates comfortable, inviting spaces that are accommodating, respectful, and memorable. Each project responds to the unique needs and vision of its client as well as the needs of every guest that walks through its doors.
On The Wild Side
Five Houses on the Wild Side is a visual feast showcasing the wildly imaginative, rules-free, cozy and sumptuous interiors Elena Agostinis has created for her family’s homes in New York, Montana, and Mexico. Bold and courageous choices of colors and patterns, elements from the wildlife and fauna of her South African childhood, mixed and matched with the best of local artisanry, textiles purchased from souks and markets all around the world, giant papier-mâché’ animal garden sculptures, and wall art that spans from the elevated to the quirky and amusing, are Elena’s traits that will inspire readers to free-styling their own homes.
Form Through Technics
The works of Gordon Bunshaft, developed while working for the multinational architectural firm SOM (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill), put together a number of concrete and abstract elements that fully reflected the modern movement during the years of its maximum artistic expression.In the early fifties, the Lever House attracted fame and commissions, becoming a paradigm for new modern office buildings projects. The evolution of SOM’s design and construction processes generated a wide variety of formal solutions during the 50s. Fundamental to this process, the work organization of the firm was based on three fundamental aspects: modern architecture, American organizational methods and expertise, and development of techniques and industrialized building materials. Towards the sixties, SOM projects started to have more expressive and technically refined structures, which enhanced formal attributes and gained more functions than usual. The triad of SOM—modern architecture, North American organizational methods and the mastery and development of available industrialized construction techniques and materials—fully supported him.
Lessons in Community Planning and Design
Framework Thinking distills key lessons in creating extraordinary design outcomes. It shares how the clarity, power, and enduring presence of an inspired vision can be increased through holistic thinking, inclusive collaboration, and intentional process – in short, a framework thinking mindset. Reflecting on decades of planning and design experience, and recent projects together, Bill Johnson and Har Ye Kan address the search for more complete, meaningful solutions. As an attitude, Framework Thinking features a ‘context-centered’ frame of mind, where every turn of the process, from start to finish, points to the larger picture of people and place. While seeking short-term, achievable, design outcomes, Framework Thinking also embraces the long-term visionary guidance in the early discovery stages. Finding this ‘big idea’ in the structure of the place is often the difference maker in shaping communities of distinction.
Go Native is a Go Fish card game that celebrates California’s native plants and fosters ecological awareness. Each card features vibrant illustrations by Lesley Goren, showcasing the beauty and uniqueness of these plants, along with their scientific and common names. The game is accompanied by a booklet offering insights into plant families, their connections, and their essential role in California’s culture, history, and ecosystems. Rooted in the belief that learning is most impactful when it’s fun, Go Native combines interactive gameplay with educational content, providing an engaging experience for families, educators, and nature enthusiasts of all ages. Through playing Go Native, participants will begin to recognize these plants in their surroundings and gain a deeper appreciation for the vital role they play in California’s diverse ecosystems.
How HKS Shapes the Future of Design
Hitting the Head is a compelling photography and art book that dives deep into the heart of New York City’s iconic dive bar scene. Published by Goff Books in 2025, this visual archive captures the character-filled, often overlooked interiors of these cultural landmarks, preserving their stories and essence before they disappear amidst urban renewal.The title, rooted in maritime tradition, reflects both the literal act of visiting the restroom and the figurative moments of joy, community, and spontaneity found within these cherished spaces. From gritty interiors to neon-lit corners, Hitting the Head tells the tale of a world that thrives on camaraderie and rebellion, offering readers a nostalgic journey through NYC’s counterculture history.Perfect for fans of urban history, design, and nightlife, this book invites readers to explore the vibrant soul of the city through its hidden gems—dive bars that have long been sanctuaries for connection, storytelling, and authenticity.
Introspective Improvisations for Two Construction Sites: Parcel X Encampment (1994) and The Goodwin Memorial (2004)
In Search of Spatial Scripts is a re-collection of improvisational stories and stage sets and serves those interested in Spatial Tales of Origin Revealed through Specifications for Construction. Peter Waldman first recounts Mining Mica in the alleys of Manhattan only to initiate a resultant collaboration with a bunch of boyhood buddies eight decades ago. Other magical oases were later encountered with both Citizens and Strangers, mapped odysseys somewhere between Princeton and Peru.This project traces two construction sites through the self-reflective eyes of generations of others. One encampment is found in North Garden Virginia and one student memorial is situated on the North Terrace of Campbell Hall at Mr. Jefferson’s University spanning a decade in the cross hairs of the Millennium. Located somewhere between Rebecca Solnit’s A Field Guide to Getting Lost, Eugene O’Neill’s A Long Day’s Journey into Night, and Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author, this collection of collages evolves into vellum scrims which promotes architecture as The Word Made Flesh, Lessons and Carols. Through the eyes of others, a Cast of Circumstantial Characters re-read Lessons From the Lawn and then repair Connective Tissues to set a stage for perhaps the seventh Memo for the Next Millennium.
This book delves into the forefront of architectural innovation by exploring the potential applications of 3D robotic concrete printing as structural prototypes. With a focus on intelligent computational design, the studio aims to revolutionize additive manufacturing techniques, particularly within the realm of large-scale concrete 3D printing. Through the utilization of digital design and cutting-edge fabrication methods, including three-dimensional graphic statics, bidirectional evolutionary structural optimization, and FURobot robotic manufacturing, students undergo a transformative journey, refining their design thinking, methodologies, and construction skills.
How Berkeley Made a Summer Place
Inverness is a coastal village on Tomales Bay about 40 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge. For more than a century, Inverness has been where many Berkeley families vacationed for the summer. Its residential architecture—rustic, simple wood-clad houses set in a hillside landscape—echoed Berkeley’s. These summer families shaped Inverness and its surroundings.
The story of how Berkeley families shaped Inverness and its surroundings runs counter to the prevailing narrative about California coastal living. Inverness avoids the California feeling of restless change. It remains purposefully underdeveloped at a time when stretches of California’s coastline are overdeveloped. Its houses generally present as a unified whole, not a bunch of expressions of conflicting individual tastes, as we often see today in California when affluence meets coastal landscapes.
A Journey Into Emotions
The Ispaces are a territorial redevelopment project born and developed in Rossa, in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. They are an integral part of the broader initiative known as The Rossa Project, a collection of artistic, architectural, and cultural activities aimed at engaging the local population in social and sustainable initiatives capable of generating interest from external audiences. Among the initiatives are the construction of private residences, facilities dedicated to cultural activities, such as a library and a youth hostel, the Temple of Thought, and the Ispaces themselves. These Ispaces are sculptures made from local larch wood, distributed throughout the forests surrounding Rossa, and can be visited along an immersive nature trail. The eight structures are inspired by geometric shapes - sphere, cube, pyramid, and hourglass - sometimes combined to create more complex compositions. The Ispaces explore and apply the principles of spatial psychology, with the goal of evoking specific emotions and sensations. While common elements may be identified in the exploration experience, the project takes into account all psychological, behavioural, and social aspects.
The idea of “environment” is foundational to landscape architecture – as backdrop, as surround, as something to help save. But what is the environment, or an environment? First and foremost, it is a word that is so pervasive—and its meaning taken for granted—that it is easily forgotten how recently the term has proliferated, particularly as a qualifier for myriad disciplines, institutions, and activities: environmental history, environmental studies, environmental science, environmental justice, environmental art, environmental planning, environmental protection, environmentalism. In our upcoming issue, LA+ ENVIRONMENT, designers and scholars illuminate the wide range of interpretations, histories, and projects that engage with this elusive idea.
Fifteen Projects
Over the past two decades, Mark Cavagnero Associates has been quietly making an imprint on San Francisco’s urban fabric. Born of the Modernist tradition of clean lines, abundant natural light, and functional, flowing open space plans, the firm’s work expands on these values, encompassing a deep understanding of the city and Bay Area. Mark Cavagnero Architect surveys fifteen of the firm’s foundational projects, ranging from cultural and civic buildings to recreational and educational facilities. Across this collection unfolds the development of a distinct design language that is at once remarkably consistent and refreshingly new with each individual project. The principles of interlocking volumes, a limited palette of wood and concrete, lightness, authenticity, and presence are applied and varied per the unique demands of client, community, and context. The resulting body of work is not based on style but on substantive thought.
The Work of Maryann Thompson
Between Shadow and Light is the first comprehensive monograph on the work of Cambridge-based architect Maryann Thompson. As one of her clients recently declared, Thompson inhabits a “liminal” space, a space of both-and, of inside and outside, of light and shadow.[1] It is a dialogic space, a position from which to examine a situation from multiple perspectives, to facilitate opportunities for discussion, and, ultimately, to seek a consensual basis for design. For Thompson, architecture is the stage on which we live out our lives, a philosophy that foregrounds its inherent symbolism, its ability to arouse our emotions, to challenge our preconceptions, and to provide sites of individual solace and respite from quotidian affairs as well as of heightened collective interaction. Her inclusive design process encompasses extended conversations with clients, patrons, users, and ultimately with the public at large—all envisioned as a means to address the collective social dimension of the work.
This is the first place these projects have been collected, and they reflect 37 years of work in the US and abroad. The scale of the projects ranges from houses to a federal courthouse. Sites range from a faction of an acre to forty acres. Merill, Pastor, and Colgan Architects describes work with a range of master planners, but principally with DPZ and DPZ CoDesign.
With the onset of the Anthropocene Era, concern for the metabolism of various kinds of settlement has risen appreciably. Of particular concern in the study of architecture and urban design are metabolic contributions of flows of stocks that go into the construction and operation of settlements of one kind or another. This book is about a methodological approach that allows urban settlement patterns to be re-written, as it were, into water, energy and other material flows emanating from original sources in the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and so on, through various stages of transformation during settlement construction and operation and then on to end-of-life activities. In short, the methodology produces a so-called ‘cradle-to-grave’ account of the material aspects of urban settlement from which technological and design proposals can be crafted ameliorating and diminishing adverse impacts, as well as related outcomes such as embodied energy and carbon concentrations so deleterious to climate change and proliferation of other hyperobjects.
Modern, Again: The Benda House & Garden in Chicagoland is equal parts a history of modern residential architecture in America and a rewarding journey of preservation and stewardship. Ambrose and Sabatino—co-authors of this book and co-owners of the Winston Elting designed Benda house—summarize their in-depth archival research and hands-on work undertaken for the restoration of their 1939 International Style house in Riverside, a historic village designed by Olmsted & Vaux in Chicago’s western suburbs. The Benda House was commissioned during a time when excitement for modern architecture, art, and design was very much alive amongst the public in America, partly due to the enthusiasm created by Chicago’s Century of Progress International Exposition held between 1933 and 1934 and culminated with the New York World’s Fair of 1939. This book features archival materials ranging from architectural drawings to historic building product catalogues alongside contemporary photographs taken before and after the restoration process. Finally, the co-authors discuss their addition of a new landscaped garden that re-establishes the relationship between nature and this modern house while extending Olmsted’s vision of idealized suburban living in America.
Muzharul Islam was one of the principal stalwarts of South Asia who established the norms and practices of modernity. Uniquely passionate about architecture and political engagement, Muzharul Islam’s life and legacy contributed to the building up of a vibrant architectural culture in Bangladesh, with an impact beyond the boundaries of that country. The book “Muzharul Islam: An Architect of Tomorrow” is the first comprehensive book on the architect featuring his works and texts, and essays by notable figures from across the world. Muzharul Islam (1923-2013) was active from the early 1950s in defining the scope and form of modern architecture, first in Pakistan and then, after 1971, in Bangladesh. His task was an enormous one: to create a modern yet Bengali paradigm for architecture. For Muzharul Islam, modernism meant more than an architectural vocabulary; it was part of an ethical and rational approach for addressing social inequities of the region. His steadfast commitment to a modernist ideology stemmed from an optimistic vision for transforming society. Consequently, his commitment for establishing a strong design culture in Bangladesh is paralleled by a deep engagement with the political and ethical dimension of society, with building the nation, so to speak.
Manhattan is commonly regarded as an iconic island-territory of the twentieth century. Conventional representations reinforce its reading as an urban condition resulting from neoliberal capitalism. These forces have expanded the city grid and extruded its architectures as a laboratory of urban ideas. Yet, like many other coastal and insular conditions, twenty-first century Manhattan faces adverse Anthropogenic climate change. Stronger storm surges and sea level rise now demand that the island recalibrates its social and environmental positions. The city needs to consider once again its fluid archipelagic conditions inherited from glacial dynamics.
LPA Design Studios rose to national prominence by demonstrating that designers can make a real impact on carbon reduction on a large scale. The firm’s integrated design approach breaks down the traditional model, eliminating barriers between disciplines to develop innovative designs that reduce energy and water and create a better human experience. The firm’s diverse body of work has earned the industry’s top awards and set new benchmarks for building performance, proving that there is a better process for designing buildings. No Excuses presents a beautifully curated collection of LPA projects that illustrate what can be achieved through a collaborative design process with architects, engineers, interior designers and landscape architects working together from a development’s earliest stages. The projects cross a wide range of sizes and types, including transformational education, commercial, civic, cultural and healthcare facilities. Each was created through a repeatable process focused on cost-effective research-driven design strategies. As a collection, LPA’s work is an inspirational model for an integrated, inclusive approach that connects design excellence and building performance.
Drawing, the cornerstone of the book Notes of Happiness, is described as an authentic and profound reality, an absolute space where one can explore their essence. It is not merely a graphic representation but an existential experience that allows every life event to be transformed into a spontaneous and sincere gesture. Through the coordination of body and mind, drawing becomes a bridge between the conscious and the unconscious, the real and the imagined, offering a personal navigation through different dimensions. The Iscapes collection emerges from artistic and stylistic innovation, breaking the boundaries of classical drawing. Here, the stroke becomes a universal language capable of evoking deep emotions, from the ancestral charm of a mark in nature to the comfort of a place designed to be inhabited. This gesture, as simple as it is powerful, transforms abstract space into a lived place where individuals can find balance, introspection, and truth.
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.
Petra Rephotographed represents an exploration of time and change across the iconic archaeological city of Petra, Jordan, through repeat photography––meticulously replicating historic images of the landscape and monuments a century later. In the early 1920s, retired civil engineer Sir Alexander Kennedy set out to explore and photograph the archaeological wonder of Petra, an ancient city of ruins nestled in the striking Jordanian Highlands. Armed only with a field camera of the day, Sir Kennedy captured the Rose Red City’s magnificent features: dramatic stone façades, sweeping vistas, and hewn carvings—shedding light on what was then a mostly untouristed region.
For almost a decade we had an interior design studio which led us a unique opportunity to discover and visit Portuguese family houses, with stories and beauty that deserved to be portrayed. Since then, time has passed and with the growth of tourism in our country, many of these houses ended up being transformed into hotels, vacation rentals, airbnbs and rural hotels, as it was too expensive to keep them just as family homes. Watching this made us feel the need to make a book about the ones that still resist. Our shared passion for these houses and their unrepeatable identity convinced us that this could be a project where we could work together again, photographing the properties that we still managed to find so that at least their visual memory didn't get lost. We want this book to pay homage to a memory, a Portuguese savoir-faire and taste that is disappearing with the massification of design, objects and furniture. We hope that this book will help raise awareness to what we feel is most valuable about these homes: the notion that this heritage is precious, that it is part of our history and must be preserved.
This book of over 200 photographs by Bernis and Peter von zur Muehlen covers the sweep of Prague’s history from World War II to the “Velvet Revolution.”The first chapter, illustrated by his mother’s black and white snapshots of the city, is an account of Peter’s life in Prague as a young boy during the months leading up to the end of World War II and of his family’s narrow escape days before the Red Army entered the city.
Puzzling Assemblies, by award-winning architects and educators Dwayne Oyler and Jenny Wu, is an in-depth investigation into the robust relationship between architectural concepts and puzzle logics. Organized into three primary sections, Puzzling Assemblies is a dissection of this idea—offering insights into its potential to enrich contemporary architectural thinking. Through rigorous design investigations, detailed drawings, and diverse analysis, Oyler Wu unpacks some of the fundamental assembly methods of puzzled forms and engage a series of physical and perceptual operations that boldly reimagine them at a range of scales.
Rustic Architecture in America 1887-1940 is a history of a series of misunderstood masterpieces, the log-based architecture that emerged in the Adirondacks and the National Parks between 1890 and 1935. It is a history of how both form and technology of construction were determined by the tourist industry and the railroads who built the buildings and the social and environmental damage caused by the larger process of which they were a part. Many of these buildings were constructional shams driven by romantic pretenses, but there is also in the best of this architecture something truly original. It is also a history of how the rustic aesthetic transcended glib, mythic romanticism to produce a truly original architecture, how the unique conditions of the West merged craft with the industrial, of how its designers drew on the landscape of the West in combination with the European traditions of the rustic to create an original architecture and a unique way of building. Forty buildings are examined in detail. The text and the numerous original drawings unfold the story how the work was actually constructed in relation to its many enduring myths.
SCDA celebrates the acclaimed firm’s extensive portfolio of work across the globe—from Singapore and China to the United States. Through SCDA's diverse array of projects, spanning mixed-use high-rises, hospitality venues, commercial and institutional developments, and residential masterpieces, the monograph showcases Soo K. Chan's mastery of shaping unique spatial experiences that transcend conventional boundaries. At the heart of SCDA's design ethos lies a meticulous attention to detail and a profound understanding of form, light, and scale. Whether it's crafting inviting public landscapes or sculpting dynamic high rises, Chan's architectural visions tell a compelling story of harmony between the built environment and its natural surroundings.
This pioneering monograph on Shamsul Wares, Bangladesh’s acclaimed architect and educator, demonstrates architecture as a reflection of the sociocultural conditions of a country, as well as global modernity. Shamsul Wares is widely known in Bangladesh to be a fiercely passionate teacher who professes architecture as a philosophy of modernism, one that views the challenges of space-making through the lens of twentieth-century modernist experiments through abstraction, platonic clarity, and humanism. Edited by Adnan Zillur Morshed with contributions from a diverse range of authors, this profusely illustrated book explains a cerebral architect’s design work with careful analysis and contextuality.
Soundscape Architecture presents historical examples, design projects and art works related to the sonics of architectural spaces and landscapes. This work grew out of our interest in listening to places that sponsor distinct sonic characteristics with specific and memorable identities. We have addressed this challenging design territory by beginning with the act of listening itself. We record the spaces, create new compositions from the recordings, draw (by hand and digitally) the sounds of these compositions, animate these drawings, and then create digital paintings as a memory of this process. We also present sonic installations, projects, and other exemplary art works as creative demonstrations that support the act of listening to the atmospheres of our natural and built environments.
Douglas Hamilton Jr., a self-taught gardener, credits his lifelong curiosity about the natural world, horticulture, travel, and Asian aesthetics as inspirations for the gardens he and his wife, Tsognie, developed at Tashiding. Douglas serves as board chair of Hamilton Associates and related entities, a family of entrepreneurial companies where he served as CEO for thirty-seven years. A former board chair and president of Baltimore’s renowned Walters Art Museum, Douglas has also served on the board of the Bhutan Foundation as well as those of the McDonogh School and the Valleys Planning Council. Douglas and Tsognie have two sons, Douglas III and Palden, and three granddaughters, Charlotte, Alice, and Tara.
Neither an architect nor a landscape architect, Pechet might best be described as an urban acupuncturist. As a keen observer of interactions between animate beings and inanimate things, Pechet has sensitively mended public spaces in Canada and the United States for decades, designing strategic and delightful interventions in public parks and plazas, waterfronts and streetscapes, LRT stations and cemeteries. As a beloved teacher, he has also educated generations of architecture and design students at the University of British Columbia to approach their work with the same sense of curiosity and adventure he brings to his own.
The White Compositions are symbolically charged with highly specific references that speak to Ames’s work and life as an architect in Georgia preoccupied with modernism, art and basketball, among other cultural and literary meanings. Ames playfully collages architectural elements, such as facades organized by grids, with everyday (yet highly specific) objects—like a Morandi-esque vase, a Corbusian pair of glasses, a can of coke, an electric guitar, or a basketball hoop. The contrast between the (supposedly) rational, objective, and universalizing characteristics of modernism in confrontation with the particular, the idiosyncratic, and the autobiographical quotidian communicates a uniquely Ames-ian sensibility that provides a distinctive and refreshing take on the 20th-century architectural movement.
In celebration of his 50th year in practice, architect Will Bruder is pleased to share this selection of his most-exemplary projects, presented through hundreds of gorgeous photographs, drawings, and original sketches.Influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright, as well as Paolo Soleri, Bruce Goff and Gunnar Birkerts, Bruder opened his own design studio in 1974. His self-built house/studio on the desert edge of Phoenix won the 1975 Architectural Record House of the Year award. A Fellowship in Architecture at the American Academy in Rome was a career turning-point permitting several months of intense reflection from a studio overlooking Rome, and travel throughout Europe to study historic and contemporary architecture.
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