A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

The Blindspot Initiative: Design Resistance and Alternative Modes of Practice Jose Sánchez eVolo Press , February 2019 Hardcover | 7 x 9-1/2 inches | 232 pages | English | ISBN: 978-1938740237 | $39.95 Publisher Description : The Blindspot Initiative: Design Resistance and Alternative Modes of Practice documents the professional work of twenty-one design practices that are expanding their respective fields and hybridizing traditional design outputs through the intersection of other disciplines. The expansion of architectural and design practices toward the domain of robotics, material science, film, simulation, or software, redefine the skillsets required to engage with a creative output that challenges the conventions of established domains. All practices curated in this volume, propose an autonomous approach towards design research, resisting the pervasive design competition model that requires free labor and speculative remuneration. The critique of such a model is pres...

eVolo Skyscrapers 3  edited by Carlo Aiello, published by  eVolo , 2016. Hardcover, 656 pages. ( Amazon ) Every year since 2006 the eVolo Skyscraper Competition  has asked architects, students, engineers, designers, and artists from around the world to submit "outstanding ideas that redefine skyscraper design through the implementation of novel technologies, materials, programs, aesthetics, and spatial organizations along with studies on globalization, flexibility, adaptability, and the digital revolution." Those familiar with the competition know these are not "shovel-ready" designs; the winners will not jump from the drawings boards to reality any time in the near future – if at all. These are experiments: speculations on density, cities of the future, and how technology can be harnessed to envision and realize new realities. Or in the words of eVolo's Carlo Aiello, the submissions "are not traditional skyscrapers by any means but instead they are dee...

Paradigms in Computing: Making, Machines, and Models for Design Agency in Architecture edited by Dr. David Jason Gerber and Mariana Ibañez, published by  eVolo Press , 2014. Hardcover, 400 pages. ( Amazon ) One key to the direction computation in architecture is taking can found in this book in an unlikely place, tucked underneath the long bio of architect and theorist Neil Leach: "He is currently working on a research project sponsored by NASA to develop a robotic fabrication technology to print structures on the Moon and Mars." Considered with a news item like Norman Foster's involvement in a European consortium to "explore the possibilities of 3D printing to construct lunar habitations," and to a lesser degree Turkish architect Gulay Yedekci's design of "an entire extraterrestrial community which could one day be home to human beings on Mars," there are signs of a trend toward using the new forms of architecture generated and built throug...

Dynamics & De-realisation by Margot Krasojevic, published by Springer, 2011. Paperback, 104 pages. ( Amazon ) eVolo Skyscrapers edited by Carlo Aiello, published by  eVolo , 2011. Hardcover, 1,224 pages. ( Amazon ) The permeation of the computer in architectural production these days is undeniable, be it CAD (Computer Aided Drafting), BIM (Building Information Modeling), CNC (Computer Numerical Control) fabrication, or parametric modeling. These pieces of software (ACAD, Revit, Rhino, etc.) purport to speed up the process of design and development, make an architect's time more efficient, and lead to new explorations not capable of being envisioned with traditional design methods, such as hand drawings, models, and the like. In general I'm not easily convinced about arguments for efficiency and speed, but like many people I'm easily (if skeptically) wooed by computer-generated renderings that envision fantastical constructions or even worlds, even if thei...

eVolo Issue 03: Cities of Tomorrow edited by Carlo Aiello eVolo , 2010 Paperback, 122 pages The third issue of twice-yearly eVolo continues with the same format as the first two issues (but in a slimmer page count), with content divided into four sections: News (including the latest Skyscraper Competition that eVolo runs), Opinion, Depth, and Catalog. Likewise the issue is built around a theme, in this case "the future of urban habitat." The projects and imagery that permeates is accurately, yet inadvertently described by Heidi Druckemiller in her text on MAD Architects ' Taichung Convention Center in the Depth section (and pictured on the cover): "the integration of contemporary art and digital technology into architecture design and projects that connect the natural and man-made worlds." Yes, that seems accurate when considering the other projects by BIG , Terreform One , UNStudio , Vincent Callebaut Architectures , and others, beca...

eVolo #02: Skyscrapers of the Future edited by Carlo Aiello, published by  eVolo , 2009. Paperback, 200 pages. ( Amazon ) The second issue of the twice-yearly eVolo follows the same format as the first: one half new projects and other features, one half coverage on eVolo's most recent competition. Each half follows one particular theme. The first tackled housing and now the second takes aim at skyscrapers. Similar to the first issue a number of big names are featured: Morphosis, Herzog & de Meuron, MVRDV, Jean Nouvel, SOM. Alongside their latest high-profile tall building designs are some features I found exemplary: an interview with Skyscraper Museum founder/director/curator (and author of a book I can't recommend highly enough, Form Follows Finance ) Carol Willis, an interview with artist Giacomo Costa , and essays on some evolutionary traits in skyscrapers.   So taking into account the projects that may b...