The Mannerist Mind

An Architecture of Crisis Francisco González de Canales “Art critics between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries imprinted a long-standing derogatory meaning to the word “mannerism”. Even though scholars such as John Shearman or Wolfgang Lotz rehabilitated the term to a certain degree during the twentieth century, it is still uncommon nowadays to find the expression “mannerist” used without certain pejorative connotations—connected to everything which is affected and contrived, or characterized by unnecessary gestures and excessive self-references. While the term has barely been revised within the shared vocabulary of architects, the presence of an attitude that may be identified as mannerist is more evident than ever within a significant range of design decisions of the architecture that is produced in Europe today, including practices such as Lutjens Padmanabhan, architekten de vylder vinck taillieu, Ted’A, 6a architects and Office KGDVS, among others. This book provides a contemporary revision of the mannerist attitude for the present, creating a framework to analyze and shed light not only on the work that these practices are carrying out, but also on the less evident filiations and affinities, as well as on their deeper implications” Introduction by Rafael Moneo EBOOK VERSION

Ciudades y Ríos (SP ED.)

aldayjover arquitectura y paisaje Iñaki Alday, Margarita Jover, Jesús Arcos, Francisco Mesonero

The architectural culture of Spain in the last 20 years of boom and bust has been an important incubator for a paradigmatic shift of vision in the profession, a process in which the architecture of Iñaki Alday and Margarita Jover, with their firm aldayjover architecture and landscape, has played a pioneering role. Taken as a whole, aldayjover's work demonstrates the importance of understanding architecture in all its facets, from building design to landscape and territorial planning, as a unified cultural and a technical discipline that is capable of addressing complex problems in holistic terms. During the years of the icon builders, the cultural dimension of architecture was seen chiefly as a question of individual creative expression, of a personal poetics or sensibility, which was invested in the built object as if it were a work of art. aldayjover's role, in contrast, is comparable in certain respects to those contemporary artists who seek to disengage the creative process from its focus on the objecthood of art, and seek, in its place, to engage more directly with the vital substance of life and experience. aldayjover see architecture's cultural dimension as a question that arises from the problem itself, and whose solution is found there as well. They discover the hitherto unconscious narrative histories of the site or the landscape, the hidden currents of its cultural formation, and bring them to the surface in new configurations. In their work, the continuity of architecture's cultural dimension does not exclusively pass through the architect as an individual creator. Rather, they are highly-informed, thoroughly prepared and perceptive facilitators, like a wizards or a sage, if you will, who transform knowledge into action. And this, I think, is how architecture can once again prove its worth as a discipline capable of introducing positive changes in everyday life. David Cohn North American critic of architecture specializing in Spain.

With contributions of Eduardo Arroyo, David Cohn, Luis Francisco Esplá, Elisabeth K. Meyer, Bruno de Meulder, Xavier Monteys, Javier Monclús, Kelly Shannon, Sueanne Ware

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Geospaces

Continuities Between Humans, Spaces, and the Earth Alper Derinboğaz Architectural history is a fragment of the long evolution of forms of habitat. The shape of the lands and the way we inhabit them are at the root of all architectural endeavours. However, our established conception of architecture is based on a hierarchy between nature and culture. Modernity and its break from the vernacular has led to a crisis of connections which we are experiencing the effects of. To move towards an architecture more in tune with earth, we need to think in continuities, looking at the emergence of natural forms, the history of human inhabitation and the future of fabrication technologies. What if we see buildings as iterations of nature rather than artificial objects? This book is an extended visual essay of ideas, images, drawings and projects that follows the work of Alper Derinbogaz over the past decade, framing an approach based on empathy with earth. Exploring architecture through the lens of evolution, Geospaces traces relationships between topography, geology, genetics, ecologies, and construction technologies, arguing that a hybrid approach to making will shape our future habitats. With Contributions of: Bahar Türkay, Di̇lek Öztürk, Blaine Brownell, Edipcan Yıldız, Enise Burcu Derinboğaz, Furkan Temir, Laura Pedata, Loris Rossi, Nicola Cherubini, Rana Irmak Aksoy, Simona Finessi, Sinan Logie Foreword by Luca Molinari With essay by Graham Harman EBOOK VERSION

UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECT PER L’ARCHITETTURA CONTEMPORANEA (IT ED.)

UFO’s Experiments between Political Activism and the Artistic Avant-garde Beatrice Lampariello, Andrea Anselmo, Boris Hamzeian (eds.) The contemporary context is defined by a unique conjuncture. On one hand, we witness the revival of the Radical Architecture that from the avant-garde experiments of the origins recovers creative processes and iconographic fragments while nullifying the original ideological and political values. On the other hand, we see social protests in defense of fundamental rights of democracy, as in 1968. With these premises, Architecture is now reinvestigating those ephemeral experiments that have endured half a century as new “stone monuments” capable of indicating new perspectives for both research and design. Placing UFO group, one of the authors of those still poorly known “monuments”, at the core of the contemporary debate means investigating their formal and seductive aspects, but also the ideological, political and social values with which objects, installations and happenings have been innervated, transforming them into devices of an architecture nourished by literature, art and political commitment for the foundation of an eloquent and activist project even more radical than the well-known Superstudio and Archizoom. The collaboration between Beatrice Lampariello, an architecture historian specialized in the 1960s and 1970s, and False Mirror Office, a group of historians and designers engaged in the rediscovery of UFO group, lead to a monograph focused on the UFO’s work and an evaluation of their legacy relative to contemporary architecture. The monograph is composed of four sections: 1) History, a first-ever study of UFO by False Mirror Office via analysis of all archival and bibliographic sources, as well as a series of interviews with UFO members and a collection of its writings (published and unpublished), for the first time translated into English; 2) Context, composed of essays by historians and architectural theorists (Beatrice Lampariello, Simon Sadler, Alessandra Acocella, Giovanni Galli, Jacopo Galimberti) intended to place UFO’s work in the context of the avant-garde that influenced its work, from the experience of Florentine Radical Architecture to Umberto Eco’s theories on semiotics and the American experiences between Pop Art, Video Art and Happening; 3) Legacy, articulated through graphic contribution and essays by young designers, as False Mirror Office, Parasite 2.0, Point Supreme, Jimenez Lai, Andrew Kovacs, Adam Nathaniel Furman, Traumnovelle, (ab)Normal and Peter Behrbohm, to investigate UFO’s legacy relative to the contemporary revival of the most distinguishing creative processes and obsessions that shaped the so-called Radical Architecture; 4) Anthology the first complete collection of UFO writings for the first time available in English. Granted by the Italian Council (9th Edition, 2020), to promote Italian contemporary art in the world by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture. Buy English edition EBOOK VERSION

Gestating / Living (ENG ED.)

Barcelona’s Social Housing Strategies Caterina Figuerola; Ibon Bilbao (eds.) To understand the point at which public housing stock in large urban centres finds itself, it is vital to approach the process of generating social housing in all its complexity. The need to respond sustainably to the housing emergency has prompted a rethinking of the strategy to generate housing and, more urgently, social housing. This publication presents and analyses the various strategies for the development and construction of social housing carried out in recent years by the municipal administration in the city of Barcelona. It selects a series of projects that exemplify the maximum number of working methodologies, briefs and innovative proposals that also guarantee quality architecture. It is a collective book in which all those involved in the process of gestating and the process of living have a voice. A voice that is materialized in a wide variety of documents: drawings, plans, renderings, photographs, reflections, debates, testimonies... A collection of situations that invite reflection. Buy Spanish Edition

Gestar / Habitar (SP ED.)

Estrategias para la vivienda social en Barcelona Caterina Figuerola; Ibon Bilbao (eds.) To understand the point at which public housing stock in large urban centres finds itself, it is vital to approach the process of generating social housing in all its complexity. The need to respond sustainably to the housing emergency has prompted a rethinking of the strategy to generate housing and, more urgently, social housing. This publication presents and analyses the various strategies for the development and construction of social housing carried out in recent years by the municipal administration in the city of Barcelona. It selects a series of projects that exemplify the maximum number of working methodologies, briefs and innovative proposals that also guarantee quality architecture. It is a collective book in which all those involved in the process of gestating and the process of living have a voice. A voice that is materialized in a wide variety of documents: drawings, plans, renderings, photographs, reflections, debates, testimonies... A collection of situations that invite reflection. Buy English Edition

Cuca de Llum

Funicular Tibidabo Barcelona Mias Architects & Leitner

This book tells the story of the new funicular of Tibidabo Park: la Cuca de Llum (glow worm). The emblematic funicular has been rehabilitated several times since its installation in 1901, however, in 2020 it was decided to design a new funicular, which was to be sustainable, transparent, fast and accessible. The new funicular, designed by MIAS in collaboration with Leitner Ropeways, achieves maximum integration into the landscape by hiding its installations, and thus enables the best views of the city of Barcelona. This book shows not only the history of the park and its funicular, but also all the details of its innovative design and connection to the city. With Contributions of Rosa Ortiz, PATSA Director Martin Leitner, LEITNER ROPEWAYS director Josep Miàs, MIAS founder & director

Urbanismo regenerativo (SP ED.)

Santander, Hábitat futuro Landlab, Paisaje Transversal

We are living in a critical moment, a reality marked by environmental and socio-economic limits that requires innovative and realistic forms of action and planning. This is what regenerative urbanism proposes, a new approach based on utopian pragmatism that seeks to restore balance to the urban territory by designing systems that allow it to adapt and transform. It is a methodology that defines models that do not consume available resources, but rather generate new ones that ensure compatibility between economic and social prosperity and nature. Santander, Hábitat Futuro (Santander, Future Habitat) is the city model created from this methodology, a proposal for the transformation of this city for the year 2055. It is an open model based on innovation and citizen participation that prepares and adapts the territory for the different scenarios to come. Santander, Habitat Futuro is a guide that directs the commitment of the different social, economic and political agents towards a common goal: to achieve a circular, sustainable, resilient, vertebrate, prosperous, vital and inclusive city. A model that, due to its innovative nature, can serve as an example to other intermediate cities around the world. With Contributions of Emilio Luque, Zaida Muxí Martínez, Carlos Moreno, Pere Macias, Sonia P. Landázuri, Jorge Pérez-Jaramillo, José Mª García-Pablos y Antonio Bezanilla. EBOOK VERSION

TdB Architects (SP ED.)

Juan Trias de Bes From the understanding that architecture is at the service of society, its tasks include values such as the transmission of the identity of corporations and companies, the contribution to territorial and urban implantation, the quality of the environment, the control of resources energy, the contribution to the health of users and the maintenance of buildings over time. In short, TdB deploys its ideas in the construction of space as a result of the convergence between architecture and humanism. Buy English Edition

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