iA #5

Robotics in Architecture

Kas Oosterhuis and Henriëtte Bier

The fifth issue of this ever-engrossing bookazine series on Interactive Architecture, from researchers, students and guest lecturers from Hyperbody at the Delft University of Technology and other invited contributors. The topic here is understanding buildings from a life-cycle perspective with respect to their economic and ecological impact on society at large. This development requires practical applications for interactive, robotic architecture, leading to the emergence of active and pro-active building components, which act and interact in ever-changing environments.

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More from the Interactive Architecture Series

IMPROVISATIONS ON URBANITY

Trendy Pragmatism in a Climate of Change

Christopher Dell and Ton Matton

What we have here is a hybrid of philosophy and urbanism, asking questions about the nature of autonomy and freedom in the modern world. Ever since Kant, the question of autonomy – the ability of the individual to act on his own – is one of utmost importance to democracy. Yet in today’s consumer culture, we are dependent on the urban infrastructure and supply chain, which makes true autonomy difficult. The authors consider what Beuys meant when he said that everyone is an artist: that everyone is trying to live in tune with our social space. Which brings us to the tuneful cooperation of jazz improvisation where one finds harmony within disorder. Authors Ton Matton, an urbanist and Christopher Dell, a philosopher and jazz musician, join minds to create this deeply thought-provoking book.

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Inside the Villa Mairea

Art, Design and Interior Architecture

Kirsi Gullichsen and Ulla Kinnunen

In the autumn of 1936, Finnish art patrons and industrialists Maire and Harry Gullichsen asked their friends, Alvar and Aino Aalto, to design a home for them. The design process turned into a vivid interaction between architects and clients, and the resulting residence, Villa Mairea, became one of the masterpieces of 20th-century Modernist architecture and design. It also became a lifelong project for Maire Gullichsen, the house’s namesake. This book documents the interiors of Villa Mairea, built in 1938-39. This volume focuses on the rich world of works of art, design objects, furniture, light fittings and textiles inside the walls of the house. With outstanding essays by architect Kristian Gullichsen, artist Carolus Enckell, interior designer Ben af Schultén and art historian Renja Suominen-Kokkonen.

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IT’S ALL HAPPENING SO FAST

A Counter-History of the Modern Canadian Environment

Mirko Zardini & Lev Bratishenko (Eds.)

In an age of unprecedented human impact on the planet, certain countries stand out for their privileged positions and the complexity of their relationships with the land. Canada’s environmental record is among the poorest when compared to other wealthy nations, a fact that suggests ambivalence and the actions of competing interests, most often exposed in moments of disorder and disregard for the unexpected consequences of managing the country’s seemingly endless bounty. This companion to the exhibition at Canadian Centre for Architecture (November 2016–April 2017) assembles 15 case studies that reframe Canada since 1945. Grounding them are conversations about cultural myths and the legal environment, changing ideas of natural resources and environmental risk, indigenous engagement with environmentalism and development, and the impacts of the environmentalist movement. Featured are 26 contributions and texts by Taiaiake Alfred, Elisa Birnbaum, David R. Boyd, Douglas Coupland, Bill Darnell, Margo Pfeiff, John Ralston Saul, David Suzuki, Charles Wilkins and Mirko Zardini, among others.

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Japan

Dwelling Houses

Werner Blaser

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KOOLHAAS IN BEIJING

Edzard Mik

In this fifth entry in the influential essay series sponsored by the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture, Dutch novelist and critic Edzard Mik visits Rem Koolhaas’s CCTV building in Bejing and writes a lyrical ‘road essay’ about Koolhaas, Beijing and on being an artist in the twenty-first century. No building in the world possesses more “Wow Factor” than the monumental, imaginative tower in Bejing’s central business district. Opened in 2009, the glittering archway – refered to as the “twisted doughnut” by local wags – serves as headquarters for Central China television. Each of these beautifully designed pocket-sized books is a small window on a very large idea or project.

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LE CORBUSIER + JEANNERET

Chandigarh was one of Le Corbusier’s most important commissions and a rare opportunity to create “a total work of art” from master plan to furnishings with his cousin Pierre Jeanneret, who oversaw design and construction. As we’ve come to expect from Wright’s past publications, the furnishings on auction are beautifully presented and thoughtfully contextualized within a description of this project— Prime Minister Nehru’s first Indian dream city—amply illustrated with personal and construction photographs, drawings and brief historical notes. Illustrated are chairs, desks, bookcases, sofas, shelving from the court and administrative buildings by both men that capture the influence of Le Corbusier’s design principles and the qualities of proportion, form, modernity and resourcefulness that Le Corbusier and Jeanneret applied to every aspect of Chandigarh from city plan to interiors. The commissioned pieces offered come out of noted private collections based in Chandigarh as well as Europe.

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LINGEZEGEN PARK SUMMER SCHOOL

Improvisation as Teaching Model, Tools for Identity

Ton Matton and Harmen van de Wal

In an imaginatively designed, large-format book, architect Harmen van de Wal and artist Ton Matton report on three-year “summer school” project, 2008 – 2010, in a large park under construction in Holland. The directors brought together students from many disciplines to look at expressing the essence of the park in terms of housing, agriculture, urban planning and recreation, among other uses. Inspired by guest lecturers in philosophy, art history, biology and geography, the students developed plans that related to the layout of the park and the interaction between different groups of users.

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THE MAKING OF POLDER CITIES

A Fine Dutch Tradition

Fransje Hooimeijer

Published with the support of Delft University of Technology and others, this voluminously illustrated publication addresses the critical topic of how to approach Dutch urban water systems in light of the increasing flooding caused by climate change. Though the Dutch have a long tradition of building in wet and soft soil conditions, there has been little systematic research on building-site preparation and its relation to urban development and design. In her text, Fransje Hooimeijer, an independent research and professor of urbanism at Delft University, investigates through text and images the relation between available technology and urban design, and considers how the connection with the natural landscape systems has been lost. Through an understanding of hydrological systems and appropriate methods of building-site preparation, Hooimeijer considers how to reconnect urban and natural systems essential to the survival of our low-lying cities.

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MAP OFFICE

Where the Map is the Territory

Robin Peckham

The old saying used to warn that the map is not the territory. But the guerrilla architectartist-urbanists at Hong Kong-based MAP Office (Gutierrez + Portefaix) insist that the map (or the MAP)most definitely is the territory. A 360-page book, jam-packed with essays, interviews and over 500color illustrations, photos, drawings, collages and more, summarizes two decades in MAP Office’s evolution from architectural research to artistic intervention and cinematic theorization. It’s a work of genius from working geniuses, mixing politics, installation art, humor, science fiction, multi-cultural initiatives and just plain visionary thinking. The group has rejected everything about Modernist ideology, from the idea of the pristine space or the iconic shape to the quaint thought that form might follow function.

The text of this book, structured around six clusters of work, shows off a repertoire of tactics, notions, strategies, installations, sculpture and provocations accumulated through exhibitions, competitions, and festivals (including the Venice Biennale).

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