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An attempt to understand the contemporary city at a moment when globalisation has exploded its scale beyond our grasp. Abandoning topography,ideology, representation, and context, the authors resort to pure data to discover what agenda for architecture and urbanism a numerical approach could provoke.--Provided by publisher.
Welcome to Porous City! Welcome to a porous society! Welcome to cities that want to be open and porous! Our cities consist of buildings that are introverted and not mixed with urban life. They are closed. How to open them? How can we introduce pockets for encounters, for streams of circulation, for green areas, for tunnels of cooling ... What logics can be imagined in our towers to allow for this openness? Using stepped floors? Creating grottos? Splitting towers? Twisting blocks? Every hypothesis leads to a series of interventions. How far can we go before the tower collapses, before it is unaffordable? Together, these series form an army of towers that contributes to a more porous city. Why wait?
New! A new face! A new style! Worldwide, there is talk of a cult of novelty. This is also true in architecture, where architects compete against each other in terms of innovation and originality. The Why Factory does things differently, and in Copy Paste, it explores the possibilities of copying in architecture. What are the really original ideas in architecture? Isn't it better to ask what someone adds to the existing repertoire and then to evaluate that? In science, it is common to define originality in that respect. This type of attitude seems to be a taboo in architecture. So now the time has come to stop this obsessive pursuit of unique authorship. The Why Factory brings together diverse viewpoints on the dilemma of copying in architecture, along with the ethical and legal obligations. This book contains a versatile guide to copying, and explores the potential by means of a broad set of scenarios with the help of various tools.
Winy Maas proposed a provocative and inspiring brief; he asked participants to redesign the cities of Rotterdam and New York in a way that everything is reachable within five minutes. A series of serious questions arise from the challenging brief: 'What will such a city look like? What happens to such an hypothesis if cars are the only mode of transport? What will such a city look like when it is only accessed by public transport? Or by walking?' How one can extend the knowledge of compact or dense cities? How fast cities can be? Is increased speed an ideal concept for future cities? Is development of new infrastructure sustainable for cities in future? Can Rotterdam become such a city? Is it possible to upscale Manhattan? How does mobility affects the working and living qualities of the cities and how is mobility shaping cities?
The Why Factory is a global think-tank and research institute, run by MVRDV and Delft University of Technology and led by professor Winy Maas. The Why Factory's Future Cities research programme explores possibilities for the development of our cities by focusing on the production of models and visualizations for cities of the future"--Book Jacket
Vast areas of the Netherlands seem to be filling up with low-cost housing, low-rent offices, warehouses and other low-density structures--producing a vast sea of architectural mediocrity. This book examines the prospects for animating this tendency. Conceived and edited by Winy Maas and Jacob van Rijs with Richard Koek and produced by MVRDV, FARMAX reads as an architectural narrative composed of studies and designs made by MVRDV and students from Delft University of Technology, the Berlage Institute and the Rotterdam Academy of Architecture and Urban Planning, along with contributions by other authors.
"The Book Mountain is a building with a mission: to encourage a town populated by the least enthusiastic readers in the Netherlands to switch off their televisions and start reading books again. This biography of the Book Mountain paints a picture of the town of Spijkenisse and the political and social contexts in which such buildings are realized. The story also examines the role of the modern library, the essence of a Ville Nouvelle and the search for an alternative for identification - and whether or not this should be done through historicizing architecture. The often contradictory motives of the protagonists and the context of the project are described in a catchy, straightforward style, befitting Spijkenisse, by former Volkskrant newspaper editor Nicoline Baartman. The story is illustrated with photographs by Marcel Veldman and informative graphics by MVRDV. Book Mountain Spijkenisse. "Biography of a building" is the story of an architect with a vision, a revolutionary councillor, the widow of a veterinarian, an artsy library director and a visionary hero from India who saves the town. It is a fascinating portrayal of life and customs in a new polder town"--OCLC
Founded by Winy Maas, The Why Factory concentrates on the production of models and visualizations for future cities. It runs independent research projects, PhD programs, architecture and urbanism studios, postgraduate studios at the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam, and workshops and debates. One component of the thinktank is publishing a series of books and producing films. This volume is based on Maas' inaugural address upon assuming the position of Chair of Architecture and Urban Design at Delft University of Technology in 2009. It also includes transcripts and addresses from "My Future City," a Why Factory symposium, in which students, architects, urban planners, philosophers, politicians and engineers shared their visions for the city of the future.
Presenting research by the Action Space! Studio on the Evolutionary City, this work explores an ambitious project meant to create a new tool not only for urban planners, but also for people involved inside project management business and people outside that practice.
The popular coastal regions of Spain and Portugal, almost entirely financed by tourism, have become increasingly indistinguishable from any other heavily-visited beach front locale, be it Cancun, Miami, Rio, or Hawaii. Exploiting the natural beauty and local identity of this area, the tourism industry has covered the coastline with a commercial facade, building up a kind of "elongated city". Yet, even though this region at times has a higher population density than New York or Hong Kong, it has no significant cultural institutions or industrial infrastructure. This study, directed by Winy Maas and Jacob van Rijs of the famed architectural team MVRDV, and done as a student's workshop at the School of Architecture at the University of Catalunya, evaluates the distressing present condition as well as the potential dynamics of this coastal environment. Also included are tongue-in-cheek renderings of future developments were the tourism machine to continue unimpeded on its present course.