A Grid and a Conversation

A Grid and a Conversation
Morris Adjmi Architects
The Images Publishing Group, June 2019



Hardcover | 9 x 11 inches | 240 pages | 400 illustrations | English | ISBN: 978-1864708301 | $45.00

Publisher Description:

A Grid and a Conversation presents a survey of work by the New York City based firm Morris Adjmi Architects, well known for the Samsung building along the High Line and the Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. This firm interprets the complex forces that shape our cities to create buildings that are contextual yet unmistakably contemporary. Deeply embedded in the firm's practice is a belief in the Renaissance tradition of architecture, wherein buildings are inextricable from their cultural situation and intellectual function. With a rapidly rising profile and projects under construction in major cities across America, Morris Adjmi Architects is building on its previous ten-year partnership with the Italian architect, designer and scholar Aldo Rossi, with an understanding that the built environment is constantly evolving as it both absorbs and reacts to greater historical narratives; and this rich inheritance unfolds through a distinctive formal language and creative use of materials inspired by its urban milieu. From unexpected twists on classic building types like the all-glass interpretation of a cast-iron facade or the ghostly metallic duplicate of a brick warehouse, to the literally twisting steel tower that embodies the collision of Manhattan's two primary street grids, this text traces the development and distillation of MA's unique practice through key projects completed during its first 20 years. A Grid and a Conversation is interlaced with reflections from writers, scholars, and collaborators, including Diane Ghirardo, Bill Higgins, and Jimmy Stamp. These essays and conversations offer an insight into the array of influences that shape the work of Morris Adjmi Architects.

dDAB Commentary:

In the years between my 2011 book, Guide to Contemporary New York City Architecture, and my latest, NYC Walks, which came out in March of this year, Morris Adjmi Architects (MA) realized a lot of buildings in New York City. The first book has just one building by the firm — the Scholastic Building — although that SoHo building is considered first and foremost a creation by Aldo Rossi. The famous Italian architect led its design but died unexpectedly in 1997, four years before the office building opened. Therefore Adjmi, who had studied under and worked with Rossi, carried it to completion before striking out on his own. Jumping ahead to 2019, there are five Adjmi buildings in NYC Walks, though that guide is limited to the routes of ten walking tours and is therefore not as comprehensive as the first one. What this says to me is that Adjmi has gained commissions in parts of the city that are seeing a good deal of development and physical change: Tribeca, the Bowery, Meatpacking District, and Williamsburg, Brooklyn, among others. Looking at MA's buildings from a qualitative rather than quantitative perspective, this also says to me that their services are in demand for the way they balance the historical and the contemporary, an important consideration when dealing with NYC's many landmark districts.

A Grid and a Conversation presents nearly 30 projects in five thematic sections, with most of the projects built and in New York City (the outliers tend to be elsewhere on the East Coast, though one building is in Adjmi's native New Orleans). The title of the monograph arose from a comment by preservation specialist Bill Higgins, that Adjmi's buildings "begin with a grid and a conversation." The first part of the phrase alludes to the urban, structural, and other grids that are hardly unique to MA's buildings but often find overt expression in them, while the "conversation" carries through to five literal conversations, one per section. So a talk with Higgins prefaces the first section, "Contrast and Coexistence," and its handful of projects and later, in the last section, "Inspiration and Innovation," Adjmi talks with painter Lyle Starr,  as captured in a couple spreads below. Each conversation that elucidates a different concern for MA is moderated by Jimmy Stamp, who wrote the project texts. Rounding out the writings are an essay by Diane Ghirardo, whose latest book is on Aldo Rossi, and an introduction by Adjmi. Although it's short, Adjmi's intro is the most illuminating text in the book, situating his design approach within the ideas of ambient music, of all things, and sharing how he came to work with Rossi and how his firm's work has evolved. Once known simply as Aldo Rossi's local architect (and described by me in my walking tours to a similar effect), Morris Adjmi has made a name for himself and his now 20-year-old firm, changing the built landscape of New York City in the process.

Spreads:


Author Bio:

Morris Adjmi Architects interprets the historic forces that shape our cities to design buildings that are both contextual and contemporary. The firm's diverse team of architects and interior designers is guided by a shared belief that timeless ideas about beauty and harmony can be integrated into the modern built environment, but the expression of those ideas must reflect the way we live today.

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