A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

Ilôt de Candie in Paris, France by Massimiliano Fuksas, 1995 Director of this year's architecture section of the Venice Biennale, Massimiliano Fuksas posed this theme to international architects: "Citta: Less aesthetics, more ethics”. Unfortunately most entries did not directly address his demand, due to the decreased role in architecture affecting social change ever since Modernism "collapsed". The recent strain of simple designs, popular all over the world, echoes this -ism without concerning itself with the social concerns that Modernism embraced. Architects are fine with this situation, comfortable with society's dismissal of architecture as no more than mere fashion. This generalization is at the root of Fuksas's direction behind the Biennale, giving architects a chance to embrace technology (much as Modernist architects did) towards ...

Lustprojection in Stuttgart, Germany by jatsch laux The following text and image are by the studio of jatsch laux , in collaboration with Markus Mayer, for an installation at the Schloss Solitude Palace in Stuttgart, Germany. The Baroque lust-palace "solitude" was built 1763 by duke Carl Eugen as a retreat from representation. It was designed to express the complex feeling of "lust", accomplished through a variety of sensual and artistic experiences found in and around the building. Today, the interest in the topic of "lust" is heightened as our society reacts to an increasingly technological orientation and the resultant perceived loss of sensuality. Lustprojection at Schloss Solitude expresses the theme of lust and ambivalence. It creates an environment for a new understanding through disorientation. The complexity of emotions experienced through lust is symbolized ...

College in a Forest in Fredrikstad, Norway by Duncan Lewis, 1998 Located in the wooded, rocky landscape of Fredrikstad, Norway, Duncan Lewis's project (with Pir II Arkitektkontor ) for a college attempts to integrate into the existing landscape, paralleling the school's pedagogy: making students aware of environmental issues. Lewis uses an environmental approach both in the building's siting and its aesthetic. Similar to Rem Koolhaas's design for a one-family house in Floirac , France, the college is broken down into three components: auxiliary spaces built into the rocky, sloping site; five wings emerging from these spaces, as well as the rock below; and three light, almost transparent, metallic beams, containing classrooms in an open plan. The first grounds the design into the earth, the second brings it out of the earth (the walls made from the same rock as the site), and the third places objects ...

Vuosaari Gateway in Helsinki, Finland by Heikkinen-Komonen Architects, 1999 The following images and text are by Finnish architects Mikko Heikkinen and Markku Komonen, aka Heikkinen-Komonen Architects . The Vuosaari area of Helsinki starts at Vartionkylänlahti, where the semi-motorway Vuotie together with the metro track running above ground cuts an almost 100 m wide canyon in the landscape. This traffic environment forms the main entrance to the most vigorously growing part of Helsinki, and maybe some day it will act as passage to the new Finnish giant harbor. The expanse of the area and the massive character of the structures (open cuts, concrete bridges, high-rise buildings) require equally massive action in the landscape, not small details or decorations. This environment is usually experienced from within a fast moving car or metro train, in just a few minutes. The fires in Vuosaari saved the to...

Experience Music Project in Seattle, Washington by Frank Gehry, 2000 Architecture has officially reemerged into the public spotlight. TV's Frasier discovers his true love due to a mutual belief in Bilbao's ugliness (Mr. Gehry's Guggenheim Museum is now known solely by the city also) and a recent "Law and Order", in which a lawyer defended his client's (a successful architect) lack of wealth saying, "My client is no Frank Gehry!". Yes, architecture is now part of the media circus and Mr. Gehry, the world's most famous architect, is the profession's celebrity. His recent hyped building, the Experience Music Project , is almost guaranteed to continue his rise of fame. The Experience Music Project, or EMP, is a music museum "combining interactive and interpretive exhibits to tell the story of the creative, innovative and rebellious expressi...

Città: Third Millennium in Helsinki, Finland by Pasi Kolhonen, 2000 The following images and text are Pasi Kolhonen's entry to the Venice Biennale's online competition – “Città: Third Millennium” (with awards assigned by a Committee made up by François Barré, Peter Cook, Massimiliano Fuksas, Frédéric Migayrou, Paul Virilio, James Wines, Greg Lynn), one of three honorable mentions in the professional architect category. FROM ENGINEER'S AESTETHICS TO ECONOMIST'S AESTETHICS The photos I sent represent a global condition in which graphic information is taking over the cityscape. The upper half of the image is a snapshot of an everyday street in Helsinki; the lower half is the same picture with everything that is not an ad, a sign or a logo removed. What is left is a layer of commercial urban wallpaper that most often passes our eyes unnoticed. Similar pictures can be produced from almost any contemporary...

Peckham Library in London, England by William Alsop & Jan Störmer, 2000 Located in one of London's less desirable neighborhoods, Peckham, the new library by William Alsop & Jan Störmer is one of three elements (as well as the Peckham Arch and the Health and Fitness Centre) defining Peckham Square, created to regenerate the area. I do not know the designs for the arch or the health club but if they approach public space similarly to the library then the chances of success are definitely increased. The library is basically an "L"-shaped building, though instead of the "L" standing upright, as would be expected, it is turned 90 degrees to create a covered, urban space. A row of thin, tubular columns fall at different angles to support the cantilever and further define this outdoor space. The change in column angles hints at the playfulness the architects continued inside, as well as pro...