13 research outputs found
Publishing as Architectural Practice
Appropriating its title from the recent collection of essays Publishing as Artistic Practice (ed. Annette Gilbert, Sternberg Press, 2016) - in which publishing is explored as a recently appropriated form of artistic practice in itself - this article begins by asserting that, contrary to the art world, the act of publishing has always been an integral aspect of architectural practice, arguably dating back to Vitruvius, at which time the architectural publication was founded as a means of authenticating, distributing and subsequently developing architectural discourse and practice. This article focuses on architectural books – the book being architecture’s longest running, most abundant, and most celebrated form of publishing – and book design in particular as a publishing practice. Although there is a considerable existing body of research canonizing the history and development of the architectural book, particularly between the mid-sixteenth and mid-twentieth centuries, the majority of this research has focused on book content rather than book design. The book is still intrinsic to the proliferation of architectural discourse, culture and the profession, but the lack of debate and development around the theories of its form and its futures is limiting the architectural book to become increasingly self-referential as a designed entity. The market-led restrictions imposed by the publishing industry are limiting the architectural book - this is the principal time crime outlined here - the design of the architectural book is in stasis due to the publishing industry: it is stuck in time. This article looks to determine how architectural book designing can be considered as relational to architectural practice, through an exploration of how book design has been theorized as a formal and material interplay and manifestation of spatial ideas – chiefly through the theories of “book usage”, “intermedia”, “topological” and “ergodic” literatures, “visual language” semiotics, and “metamediality”, originating from studies in literature, design, media and comics. Examples from my own architectural book design research praxis are discussed in relation to these theories, with a more thorough examination of three recent book works that are used as an armature to speculate on the potential futures of architectural book design, making and publishing practice. One hopes that this article will arouse debate and encourage more enthusiasm for book works as designed manifestations of spatial ideas. One might even go so far as declaring architectural book designs to be architectural projects
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Digital Cottage Industries
A film project shown in the 'Experiment 01 - 60 Second Architecture' exhibition, in DDP (Dongdaemoon Design Plaza), 'Gallery Moon', Seoul, Korea, June 2015
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Paginations: Book Designs as Architectural Projects
The book – printed or otherwise – continues to be the architect’s most fertile and celebrated form of media output. This exhibition presents over a hundred rare books from the fields of Architecture, Art, Design and Literature, and explores how book design can be conceived as a type of architectural project – the book as an interplay of formal-material ideas and a manifestation of spatial concepts through graphic means.
Organised around three key themes, this exhibition investigates the book as an immersive space to be entered upon reading, the physical book as an architectural object, and speculates on the future possibilities of the architectural book. These themes are further sub-categorised through a utilisation of theories originating from studies in literature, design, media and comics.
The CNC’d cabinetry in the exhibition is folded into the existing gallery space, and aims to evoke the undulations of a book’s foredge when thumbed through during reading.
Also exhibited are the book works of Mike Aling, with his ongoing architectural book design research praxis explored in relation to the themes of the show. Mike’s books are known in architectural circles for their challenging design languages, spatial qualities and sumptuous materialities. Mike Aling is the MArch Architecture Design Co-ordinator and Publications lead for the AVATAR research group at the University of Greenwich
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Spatial codices: On architecture book design
There is a considerable body of research canonizing the history and development of the architectural book, particularly between the mid-sixteenth and mid-twentieth centuries, with OMA/Rem Koolhaas and Bruce Mau’s 1995 S,M,L,XL as an appendix. The majority of this research has focused on books authored by architects and architectural theorists, excluding many significant works that have inspired architecture book production from outside the immediate field. There is also an emphasis on book content over book design, and the future of the architecture book is left unexplored – book futures speculation seemingly the business of media theorists alone
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AD (Architectural Design) Worldmodelling: architectural models in the 21st century
In light of current developments in modelling, and with the aim of reinvigorating debates around the potentiality of the architectural model – its philosophies, technologies and futures – this issue of AD examines how the model has developed to become an immersive worldbuilding machine. Worldbuilding is the creation of imaginary worlds through forms of cultural production. Although this discourse began with an analysis of imaginary places constructed in works of literature, it has evolved to encompass worlds from fields such as cinema, games, design, landscape, urbanism and architecture. Worldbuilding differs from the notion of worldmaking, which deals with how speculative thinking can influence the construction of the phenomenal world. As architects postulate ever-increasingly complex world models from which to draw inspiration and inform their practice, questions of scale, representation and collaboration emerge. Discussed through a range of articles from acclaimed international contributors in the fields of both architecture and media studies, this issue explores how the architectural model is situated between concepts of worldbuilding and worldmaking – in the creative space of worldmodelling
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Backgarden worldbuilding: the architecture of the model village
This article explores the origins of the British Model Village, the first of which was designed and built by Charles Paget Wade at the Hampstead Garden Suburb in 1907, where he was living and working as an architect at the time. Model Villages are often sites of lament and this article will explore their peculiar and often reactionary architectures, urbanisms and politics. Their worldbuilding capacity in this article is explored through the articulation of an ongoing contemporary Model Village proposal developed by the author. Model villages have rarely been discussed in architectural discourse, and this article looks to examine how model villages are relevant to the practice of architectural model making
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Scaling up: The many worlds of the architectural model
This is the introductory article to the edited edition of AD (Architectural Design) Worldmodelling: Architectural Models in the 21st Century.
In light of current developments in modelling, and with the aim of reinvigorating debates around the potentiality of the architectural model – its philosophies, technologies and futures – this issue of AD examines how the model has developed to become an immersive worldbuilding machine. Worldbuilding is the creation of imaginary worlds through forms of cultural production. Although this discourse began with an analysis of imaginary places constructed in works of literature, it has evolved to encompass worlds from fields such as cinema, games, design, landscape, urbanism and architecture. Worldbuilding differs from the notion of worldmaking, which deals with how speculative thinking can influence the construction of the phenomenal world. As architects postulate ever-increasingly complex world models from which to draw inspiration and inform their practice, questions of scale, representation and collaboration emerge. Discussed through a range of articles from acclaimed international contributors in the fields of both architecture and media studies, this issue explores how the architectural model is situated between concepts of worldbuilding and worldmaking – in the creative space of worldmodelling