Alejandro Zaera-Polo – Actar Publishers

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The Ecologies of the Building Envelope

Alejandro Zaera-Polo, Jeffrey S. Andersonwe investigate the historical lineages of the performances, components, assembly types, and material entanglements that constitute the contemporary building envelope.

A Material History and Theory of Architectural Surfaces Alejandro Zaera-Polo, Jeffrey S. Anderson While the façade is one of the most thoroughly theorized elements of architecture, it is also one of the most questioned since the end of the 19th century. Within the discipline of architecture, the traditional understanding of the façade focuses primarily on semiotic and compositional operations (such as proportional laws and linguistic codes), which are deployed on the building's surface. In contrast to this, our material and environmental theory of the envelope proposes that the exponential development of building technologies since the mid-19th century, coupled with new techniques of management and regulation, have diminished the compositional and ornamental capacities of the envelope in favor of material, quantitative, and technical performances. Rather than producing a stylistic analysis of the façade, we investigate the historical lineages of the performances, components, assembly types, and material entanglements that constitute the contemporary building envelope. EBOOK

Imminent Commons: Urban Questions for the Next Future

Imminent Commons: Urban Questions for the Near Future

Alejandro Zaera-Polo, Hyungmin Pai, Maider Llaguno, Nerea Calvillo, Hyewon Lee and othersA framework where set basic commons —an evolving network of agencies, resources and technologies— as the critical issue in the move towards a sustainable and just urbanism.

Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2017 Alejandro Zaera-Polo, Hyungmin Pai, urbanNext (eds.) Imminent Commons, first book from the Seoul Biennale 2017, will present an imminent urban cosmology that is crucially mediated by the technologies and institutions that feed us, move us, condition our environments, recycle our refuse, make our clothes, and connect us into communities. The cities of the world stand at a crossroads. Amidst radical social, economic, and technological transformations, will the city become a driving force of creativity, diversity, and sustainability, or will it be a mechanism of inequality, despair, and environmental decay? At this critical moment, where do the stakes lie and what are the agents of change? From the time of its birth, the city has been held together by the commons. The first publication of the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2017, proposes a framework where set basic commons —an evolving network of agencies, resources and technologies—

Imminent Commons: The Expanded City

Imminent Commons: The Expanded City

Alejandro Zaera-Polo, Jeffrey S. AndersonPresents contemporary urbanism thoughts on nine imminent commons, which engage collective ecological and technological resources relevant to all cities and even extra-urban territories

Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2017 Alejandro Zaera-Polo, Jeffrey S. Anderson As the second book of the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2017, it presents contemporary urbanism thoughts on nine imminent commons, which engage collective ecological and technological resources relevant to all cities and even extra-urban territories. Recent years have seen greatly increased political opposition between urban and rural areas, bordering on crisis. In order to avoid further aggravating this urban/rural polarization, we need to cultivate a discourse on urbanism that focuses on the interdependencies between cities and the greater ecologies of resources, technologies, and natural processes in which they are situated. The way we think about cities needs to expand significantly to incorporate their effects on global natural cycles, how they metabolize resources from rural areas, and their impact on both local and regional economies. EBOOK EDITION

Imminent Commons Compendium (4 vol)

Alejandro Zaera- Polo, Hyungmin Pai and othersThis compendium assembles 4 volumes that explore city commons through the works presented at the Seoul Biennale 2017.

Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2017 (4 volumes) Alejandro Zaera- Polo, Hyungmin Pai and others This compendium assembles 4 volumes that explore city commons through the works presented at the Seoul Biennale 2017. The first book shows an exploration not of distant utopias, but of the very near future, because the emerging commons is changing the way we connect, make, move, recycle, sense, and share, and the way we manage air, water, energy and the earth. The second book presents contemporary urbanism thoughts on nine imminent commons, which engage collective ecological and technological resources relevant to all cities and even extra-urban territories. The third book sets up a dialogue on the current state and near future of cities of the world through the lens of public initiatives, projects, and urban narratives. The fourth book highlights Seoul’s complex urban fabric as a theatre on which the Seoul Biennale was played out. 4 Vol. inlcluded 9781945150517 IMMINENT

The Sniper’s Log

Alejandro Zaera-PoloAn insight into the theoretical discourse that shapes and expands the architect’s practice.

Architectural Chronicles of Generation-X Alejandro Zaera-Polo An insight into the theoretical discourse that shapes and expands the architect's practice. This compilation of texts written since 1986 reveals a parallel activity to Alejandro Zaera-Polo's professional life. The book is like a sniper's log, a register of events for the purpose of accumulating experience for future missions, be it academic or professional, trying to identify tendencies and to assess performances, rather than to establish truth. EBOOK VERSION

Diccionario Metapolis Arquitectura Avanzada (SP ED.)

Manuel Gausa, Vicente Guallart, Willy Muller, Federico Soriano, Fernando Porras, José MoralesIn the format of a selective dictionary of cross-referenced terms, Metapolis identifies a new architectural will within the contemporary social and cultural panorama.

Manuel Gausa, Vicente Guallart, Willy Muller, Federico Soriano, Fernando Porras, José Morales In the format of a selective dictionary of cross-referenced terms, Metapolis identifies a new architectural will within the contemporary social and cultural panorama. It contributes to a global vision of the emerging new architectural action that participates in “advanced culture” and visual art disciplines and technology. The book speaks of an architecture inscribed in the information society and influenced by the new technologies, the new economy, environmental concerns and individual interests. The diversity of authors and works is invaluable for the generational intersections in theory discourse. Featuring Manuel Gausa, Vicente Guallart, Willy Müller, Federico Soriano, José Morales, Fernando Porras, Iñaki Ábalos y Juan Herreros, José Alfonso Ballesteros, Xavier Costa, Enric Ruiz-Geli, Alejandro Zaera Polo. Buy English Edition

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