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Around 1800, one of the most influential architectural concepts of the last 250 years emerged—that of built spaces as technical devices. Climate, morality, and comfort are the three main themes of this study, and each is vividly examined in separate chapters through synchronous comparison and with the help of examples. The emergence of corresponding metaphors, knowledge, and construction forms is traced over a period of about 70 years. The author focuses particularly on the operative dimension of architecture. Thus, the book provides a historical perspective on a key topic for the future of architecture. The book is aimed at readers interested in architecture, technology or the cultural history of building and living.
The origin of the 'living machine' Around 1800, one of the most influentialarchitectural concepts of the last 250 years emerged - that of builtspaces as technical devices. Climate, morality, and comfort are thethree main themes of this study, and each is vividly examined inseparate chapters through synchronous comparison and with the help ofexamples. The emergence of corresponding metaphors, knowledge, andconstruction forms is traced over a period of about 70 years. The authorfocuses particularly on the operative dimension of architecture. Thus,the book provides a historical perspective on a key topic for the futureof architecture. The book is aimed at readers interested inarchitecture, technology or the cultural history of building and living.
Edward J. Gillin explores the extraordinary role of scientific knowledge in the building of the Houses of Parliament in Victorian Britain.
A homage to the 1973 publication of Architecture and Utopia by Manfredo Tafuri—echoed in the title—this book is devoted to the radical experiences of the 1960s and to their consequences for the most recent developments in contemporary architecture. As a response to the profound crisis of Western culture the emerged in the 1960s, radical artists from Italy, Austria, England and Japan called into question the foundations of modernist utopias. They transmuted the difficulties of capitalism into a repertory of startling images that revealed the disturbing realities of consumer society, even in those places still resistant to the penetration of modern architecture, such as Superstudio and Arc...
»Building Institution« chronicles the expansion of architecture as a profession and discipline in the postmodern era. Kim Förster traces the compelling history of the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies, which was active in New York from 1967 to 1985. Drawing on extensive archival research and oral histories, he constructs a collective biography that details the Institute's diverse roles and the dynamic interplay between research and design, education, culture, and publishing. By exploring the transformation of cultural production into a practice as well as the culturalization and global postmodernization of architecture, the volume contributes significantly to the institutional history of architecture.
What is the nature of the interaction between architecture and machines as key objects in human design, and how does this interplay work? The contributors to this book explore this multifaceted interchange in its broad thematic manifestations and historical depth, focusing above all on three aspects: machines that assist in the design and construction of buildings, those that perform their tasks inside the walls and structures of buildings, and--in particular--machines that act as models and images of architectural thought. What emerges is that the subject of machines within the architectural framework has been rooted not simply in concrete technical questions, but rather to a far greater extent in general programs, processes, and performances, and thus in fundamental categories of built space. As the first issue of gta papers, Architecture / Machine forms the basis of a new publication format of gta Verlag. The gta papers will, at regular intervals, encompass and present current and selected research findings from ETH Zurich's Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture.
Is there an option to oppose without automatically participating in the opposed? This volume explores different perspectives on dissent, understanding practices, cultures, and theories of resistance, dispute, and opposition as inherently participative. It discusses aspects of the body as a political instance, the identity and subjectivity building of individuals and groups, (micro-)practices of dissent, and theories of critique from different disciplinary perspectives. This collection thus touches upon contemporary issues, recent protests and movements, artistic subversion and dissent, online activism as well as historic developments and elemental theories of dissent.
A cultural history of the shipping container as a crucible of globalization and a cultural paradigm. We live in a world organized around the container. Standardized twenty- and forty-foot shipping containers carry material goods across oceans and over land; provide shelter, office space, and storage capacity; inspire films, novels, metaphors, and paradigms. Today, TEU (Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit, the official measurement for shipping containers) has become something like a global currency. A container ship, sailing under the flag of one country but owned by a corporation headquartered in another, carrying auto parts from Japan, frozen fish from Vietnam, and rubber ducks from China, offers a...