Revitalizing Japan

Architecture, Urbanization, and Degrowth Mohsen Mostafavi and Kayoko Ota (eds.) The shrinking and aging of the population is exacerbating the social decline in the regional cities of Japan. While excluded from the market-driven metropolitan areas, architects of the young generation are beginning to build ways of revitalizing regional cities through innovative design or new ways of practicing. This book features works by seven named or unnamed younger architects in Japan that preempt architectural responses to the post-growth condition, a gripping essay by community designer Ryo Yamazaki, and a captivating photo documentation by Kenta Hasegawa. Keynote essay by Toyo Ito. With Contributions of Toyo Ito, Kumiko Inui, Jun Aoki, Schemata Architects, Matthew Gandy, Kenta Hasegawa (photography), Ryo Yamazaki, and architects of the younger generation.

Tectonics for Non-Extractive Architecture

Architectural Logics for Emergent Contexts Josep Ferrando, Jordi Mansilla, Ricardo Devesa, Francisco Cifuentes, Marta Bugés (eds.) This publication is a summary of the content, ideas and thoughts that were discussed in the seminar on the current situation of the Mediterranean forest, systems of timber construction, stakeholders, designers, and industries that are shaping the non-extractive architectural principles it fosters. With the seminar The Tectonics of Non-extractive Architecture, compiled here, ETSALS introduced ALEC, a new research line in the framework of La Salle R+D, aimed at making our society, industry and designers ready for a post-carbon future based on new strategies for architectural design and construction. With Contributions of Steve Webb, Margarita Jover, Paco Lloret, Peris+Toral Arquitectes, Sebastián Martorell, Dima Fadel, Gloria Schönburg, Martina Blázquez, Pau Garrofé, Lisa Marie Guerrero. EBOOK VERSION

Casa Gilardi (SP ED.)

El último testigo de Barragán José Luis Alvarez Tinajero, Martín Luque Pérez Casa Gilardi was the last built project of Pritzker Prize winner Luis Barragan’s prolific career. In 1976, 10 years after his retirement from the practice of architecture, Barragan accepted the commission of two young publicists passionate about his architecture. This editorial project aims to disseminate the complete story of this masterpiece from its initial sketches to the completion of its construction and provide a critical reading of it today by publishing the existing archive of Barragan’s documents for the house: drawings, sketches, technical details, and correspondences as well as historic and contemporary photographs. This book includes critical reflections by contemporary architects and critics who have visited this private house. With Contributions of Charles Renfro / Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Daniel Libeskind, Paul Lewis / LTL, Snøhetta, Ricardo Devesa, Julio Jiménez Sarabia, Jorge Vázquez del Mercado, Martín Luque, among many others… Buy English Edition

Gilardi House (ENG ED.)

Barragan´s Last Witness José Luis Alvarez Tinajero, Martín Luque Pérez Casa Gilardi was the last built project of Pritzker Prize winner Luis Barragan's prolific career. In 1976, 10 years after his retirement from the practice of architecture, Barragan accepted the commission of two young publicists passionate about his architecture. This editorial project aims to disseminate the complete story of this masterpiece from its initial sketches to the completion of its construction and provide a critical reading of it today by publishing the existing archive of Barragan’s documents for the house: drawings, sketches, technical details, and correspondences as well as historic and contemporary photographs. This book includes critical reflections by contemporary architects and critics who have visited this private house. With Contributions of Charles Renfro / Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Daniel Libeskind, Paul Lewis / LTL, Snøhetta, Ricardo Devesa, Julio Jiménez Sarabia, Jorge Vázquez del Mercado, Martín Luque, among many others… Buy Spanish Edition

Arquitectura No. 387

Territorio Javier García-Germán & Alejandro Valdivieso (eds.) The Madrid metropolitan area forms the second largest city in the European Union, following Paris. Moreover, among the major European cities with over 1 million inhabitants, Madrid will be the only one to grow by more than 20%, increasing its population by nearly 1.5 million in 25 years. This transformation presents significant opportunities but also poses substantial territorial challenges. These encompass both infrastructural issues—providing clean air, water, and energy, among others—and considering a territorial mosaic that includes food supply or biodiversity conservation. Such profound demographic growth necessitates the creation of an urban fabric that encourages citizen interaction, creating public spaces, facilities, and quality housing at affordable prices. This issue of Arquitectura magazine aims to study exemplary practices in Madrid that can demonstrate how the city's infrastructural and ecological dimensions should permeate all scales so that, starting from the territorial dimension, it reaches through all layers to the everyday lives of citizens. With Contributions of Iñaki Ábalos, Toni Cañellas, Eduardo Castillo-Vinuesa, Albert Cuchí, José María Ezquiaga, Ginés Garrido, Daniel Ibáñez, Nikos Katsikis, Javier Martínez, Silvia Muñoz, Manuel Ocaña, Pablo Pérez Ramos, Eduardo Prieto, Chris Reed, Andrés Rubio, Álvaro Sevilla-Buitrago and Luís Asín (photographer)

RZLBD Pack

The Empty Room

Fragmented Thoughts on Space RZLBD (Reza Aliabadi) Part aphorism and part manifesto, this book by Canadian architect Reza Aliabadi (RZLBD) references his ideas and thoughts about space. He suggests 'the empty room' as the very essence of architecture, and 'the spatial experience' as its highest mandate. Reza revisits architecture —not as the walls that enclose the space— but rather the space in-between the walls. What he calls an "anti-architecture" of invisible voids. Today architecture has fallen short as a discipline and has instead converted into an industry, part of the commercial establishment. Accordingly it has given up its capacity to offer contributions and has been reduced to being a service. It has become all about a form-making exercise and dressing it up with a fashionable skin. What matters most, is the look of it, and the contest to keep that look relevant in the media— as long as possible. It submits itself to a sick competition for visibility. The more awes it creates, the more viral it becomes. What used to be an autonomous discipline and a source of inspiration, stimulation, and motivation now has become the subject of entertainment, speculation, and show business. Now, it is necessary or rather urgent to pause, take a moment, go inward, search for the essentials, and hope to rediscover a principle which is at once basic and timeless. Where to begin then! Well, as Kahn always said: "Architecture comes from the making of a room". This book starts with this, the very desire to dwell in a space in its most basic form— a room. Through short passages and aphorisms, this text revisits space as the only protagonist, the very foundation, and the sole essence of architecture. It affects your perception of space, it makes you to look at architecture differently —most likely to see the invisible. Today architecture has turned into a mere media device at the service of external forces. What used to be an autonomous discipline and a source of inspiration, stimulation, and motivation, now has become the subject of entertainment, speculation, and show business. It has given up its capacity to be a discipline and instead converted to be an industry, a part of commercial establishment. It is my hope that reading through these pages affects the way you perceive the space and hopefully invites you to look at architecture differently —most likely to see the invisible. _RZLBD (Reza Aliabadi)

100 Rooms

Many Untold Parables of The Empty Room RZLBD (Reza Aliabadi) The Empty Room, in the absence of any visual materials, was a written manifesto composed of RZLBD’s poems and collection of quotes intended to portray the room and the emptiness as the essence of architecture. Now, 100 Rooms complements our own blurry images of the empty room with a visual guide. Each spread consists of a plan and a physical model of a room, which is an excavation of the geometry and order inherent within the square. It holds no design intention — no scale or function — but simply one of infinite possibilities that emerge from a square. This framework suggests that the formal expression of a room comes from within. With these visual references, one can begin to imagine many approximations to the empty room. A line on paper is always less, as Kahn says, but through these measurable means, the immeasurable idea of the empty room will be formed in one’s mind.

Intimate Spaces

Exploring Adaptive Living Spaces in a Pandemic Era Mladen Jadrić Jadrić examines the evolving concept of family in contemporary society, emphasizing that it extends beyond traditional nuclear units to encompass broader communities such as neighborhoods, co-living arrangements, and working groups. These diverse forms of "family" have increasingly adopted the characteristics of closely-knit, mutually supportive social groups, providing solace and resilience during challenging times. Through the lens of three distinct projects, Jadrić illustrates the diverse rhythms of life experienced by different families navigating the balance between privacy and public engagement. Each project represents a unique interpretation of adaptive living spaces, offering a spectrum of possibilities for self-determination and fulfillment. "Intimate Spaces" serves as a thought-provoking resource for architects, urban planners, policymakers, and anyone interested in reimagining the way we live in an ever-changing world. It offers insights into the profound impact of the built environment on our daily lives and emphasizes the potential of innovative design solutions to enhance our collective resilience and quality of life. Projects: GREEN HOUSE AUSTIN / TEXAS / USA 2013 HAUS GRILL-REICHENAUER/ PAYERBACH / AUT 2020 AT HOME IN THE ALPS / RAMSAU / AUT / 2022 With Contributions of Alexander Peer

100 Rooms

AA Files 79

AA Files is the Architectural Association's (AA) journal of record. Launched in 1981 by the AA's then chairman Alvin Boyarsky, the journal appears twice a year and is sent out to members of the Architectural Association and individual subscribers, and is distributed to a global network of bookshops. Currently under the editorship of Maria Shéhérazade Giudici, AA Files looks to promote original and engaging writing on architecture. It does this by drawing both on the AA’s own academic research, public programme, exhibitions and events, as well as by a rich and eclectic mix of architectural scholarship from all over the world. With Contributions of Pier Vittorio Aureli, Brendon Carlin, Jingru (Cyan) Cheng, Thomas Daniell, Adam Kaasa, Marson Korbi, Michelle Millar Fisher, Gabrielle Printz, Ines Weizman, Amber Winick

Histories of Ecological Design

An Unfinished Cyclopedia Lydia Kallipoliti The term ecological design was coined in a 1996 book by Sim van der Ryn and Stewart Cowan, in which the authors argued for a seamless integration of human activities with natural processes to minimize destructive environmental impact. However, ecological design harks as far back as Ernst Haeckel’s definition of the field of ecology and Henry David Thoreau’s manual for self-reliance. Since World War II, contrary to the position of ecological design as a call to fit harmoniously within the natural world, there has been a growing interest in a form of synthetic naturalism, where the laws of nature and metabolism are displaced from the domain of wilderness to the domain of cities, buildings, and objects. With the rising awareness of disturbances in the planetary reservoir, the field of ecological design has signified not only the integration of the designed object or space in the natural world, but also the reproduction of the natural world in design principles and tools through technological mediation. Unlike van der Ryn and Cowan’s argumentation, which focused on a deep appreciation for nature’s equilibrium, ecological design might commence with the synthetic replication of natural systems. There have been many accounts on the history of ecology and others on the migration of ecological thought to design and architecture practice. Yet, the work of a focused and expanded history of ecological design is much needed. This book will present conflicting definitions and concepts of architects and designers and the parallel histories of their intellectual positions toward environmental thought from the 19th century to today. It will showcase that ecological design starts with the reconceptualization of the world as a complex system of flows rather than a discrete compilation of objects, which visual artist and theorist György Kepes has described as one of the fundamental reorientations of the 20th century. To survey the formation of this field, the history of ecological design will be not be exclusively examined chronologically, but also in connected worldviews, each rendering evolving perceptions of nature, its relation to culture, and the occupation of the natural world by human and non-human subjects.

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