Read more
Informationen zum Autor Alexander Eisenschmidt is an architect, writer, historian and theorist, who teaches design and history & theory at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania and his Diploma in architecture from the University of Leipzig in Germany. Before moving to Chicago, Eisenschmidt taught at Pratt Institute in New York and Syracuse University. Most recently, Eisenschmidt chaired a conference panel on the Metropolis and hosted a symposium at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, entitled Informal Cities . He has written widely for journals and recently accepted the co-editorship for the Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Modern and Contemporary Architecture , which will have a worldwide distribution. Klappentext The city has become an important new starting point in the quest for architecture. At a time of extreme urbanisation, unharnessed urban growth has led many architects to rethink the way that buildings are designed for the global metropolis. It is no longer practical or desirable to impose the standardised, idealized planning of the 20th century. Rather than viewing the city as a fixed entity, architects are now seeking direct inspiration from the existing urban environment and learning from its ever-changing state that resists predetermination. The city, in all its complexity, has become a realm of invention and a space for possibilities where new designs can be tested. This is as apparent in the work that architects are undertaking in the informal settlements, or favelas, of Latin America, as in the more regulated spaces of Chicago, London or Tokyo. Favouring an inclusive way of viewing the city, no aspect of the urban world is any longer rejected outright, and architects and urban designers instead find potential and learn from the underlying dynamics of the contemporary city. This attitude highlights the generative capacities of the city and finds new ways of engaging it. At the very least, it advances an architectural thinking that engages the city on its own ground, abets its potential and seeks opportunities in the existing condition.* Featured architects: Kunlé Adeyemi/NLE, Atelier Bow-Wow, Jürgen Mayer H, Normal Architecture Office (NAO), Adriaan Geuze/West 8, Ron Witte/WW, UrbanLab, Sean Lally/Weathers, and OMA.* Key contributors: Keller Easterling, Jiang Jun, Albert Pope, Michelle Provoost/Crimson, Robert Somol, Kyong Park, Jesse LeCavalier, Daniela Fabricius and Bernard Tschumi (interview). Zusammenfassung This publication allows architects to become familiar with the type of constantly changing, urban conditions that architecture has commonly avoided. Inhaltsverzeichnis EditorIal 5 Helen Castle About the GUEST-EDITOR 6 Alexander Eisenschmidt SPOTLIGHT 8 Visual highlights of the issue Introduction 14 Stranger Than Fiction: A Mission Statement Alexander Eisenschmidt The City's Architectural Project: From Formless City to Forms of Architecture 18 Alexander Eisenschmidt Patrons & Prototypes: Walmart's Catalytic Urbanism 26 Jesse LeCavalier Localising the Global 36 Kyong Park Revolution of the Ordinary 42 Daniela Fabricius China's Macro-Planning Policies: Architectural Catalyst or Constraint? 50 Edward Denison We Will Be Making Active Form 58 Keller Easterling Counterpoints With Crisis 64 Srdjan Jovanovic Weiss Metropol Parasol, Seville 70 Jürgen Mayer H The Perfect Storm: Urbanism and Architecture 74 Ron Witte The Unified Project 80 Albert Pope Void Metabolism 88 Yoshiharu Tsukamoto Urban Wash 94 Sean Lally African Water Cities 98 Kunlé Adeyemi Make No Big...
