Public Catalyst


Book Description

Demonstrates the existence of public space catalysts, as well as the need for their presence for an expectant or indifferent place to be activated. This work -- which understands that the city, now and always, has had and must have public spaces of intensity -- proposes urban catalysts as agents that are capable of activating a place that was previously indifferent. The comparative work of historical and recent cases, developed by research and drawings, has allowed us to discover that the vivid public spaces of identity and reference have been formed due to the urban effect caused by these agents that we call "catalysts." Manuel Bailo's work includes a wide range of projects, ranging from urban scale to interiorism. It has been widely published and presented with awards. Co-published with University of Virginia: School of Architecture.




The Challenge of Change


Book Description

"The legacy of the Modern Movement has gained legendary status, largely as a result of the appreciation of the masterworks and the visionary architectural concepts. In the reality of everyday life, however, it has been difficult to maintain the architectural creations of the Modern Movement in such a way that they still reflect the original intentions of their designers. Many buildings and ensembles of the Modern Movement have already been saved; the icons amongst these have even become so precious that they are treated like pieces of art rather than as buildings in everyday use. But despite the successes that have been achieved, many buildings and ensembles are still at risk of demolition or maltreatment. The bi-annul international conference is one means by which it is possible to continue furthering the aims of Docomomo. Knowing that many modern architects aimed at functionality and changeability, the challenge for today is how to deal with the modern heritage in relation to its continuously changing context, including physical, economic and functional changes, as well as socio-cultural, political and scientific ones. It is with this in mind that conservation in general, and the conservation of modern architecture in particular, has become a new challenge. Rather than attempting to return a modern building to its presumed original state, our challenge is to revalue the essence of the manifold manifestations of modern architecture and redefine its meanings in our changing world of digital revolution, worldwide mobility and environmental awareness."--Jacket.




The Challenge of Change: Dealing with the Legacy of the Modern Movement


Book Description

Conservation of architecture - and the conversation of Modern architecture in particular – has assumed new challenges. Rather than attempting to return a Modern building to its resumed original state, the challenge of these proceedings is to revalue the essence of the manifold manifestations of Modern architecture and redefine its meanings in a rapidly changing world of digital revolution, worldwide mobility and environmental awareness. This volume aims to provide a variety of platforms for the exchange of ideas and experience. A large, international group of architects, historians, scholars, preservationists and other parties involved in the processes of preserving, renovating and transforming Modern buildings has been invited to investigate the paradox of the Modern monument, and to reflect on the manifold dilemmas of change and continuity. The general theme is elaborated through five sub-themes. The sub-theme ‘Change and Continuity’ addresses the tensions between change and continuity from a historical-theoretical perspective. ‘Restructuring Cities and Landscapes’ focuses on the larger scale of city and landscape, while ‘Shifts in Programme and Flexibility’ draws attention to the scale of the building or building complex, and questions limits of re-use and flexibility. The fourth sub-theme deals with education and the fifth sub-theme ‘Progress, Technology and Sustainability’ considers specific issues of techniques and materials.




Health and Well-Being Considerations in the Design of Indoor Environments


Book Description

Indoor residential environments have a direct influence on human health, both in developed and developing countries. Significant levels of indoor pollution can make housing unsafe and can negatively impact on human health. Housing, therefore, is a key health factor for people all over the world, and various parameters such as air quality, ventilation, hygrothermal comfort, lighting, physical environment, building efficiency, and others can contribute to healthy architecture and the conditions that can result from the poor application of these parameters. Health and Well-Being Considerations in the Design of Indoor Environments addresses issues concerning indoor environmental quality (IEQ), including air quality and ventilation, access to daylight and views, acoustic conditions, and control over lighting and thermal comfort, as well as the impact that this environment can have on human health and mental well-being. The book also investigates the functional aspects of interior design such as whether the layout provides easy access to tools and sufficient space for occupants. It also considers energy demand and building energy losses due to such issues as air renovations and enclosure infiltrations. Covering topics such as sustainable design, pollution, building materials, and lighting, this book is an effective resource for students, professors, academicians, researchers, architects, designers, planners, engineers, interior designers, building managers, construction companies, and other industry professionals looking to increase building occupant satisfaction by considering all aspects of IEQ.







Tower and Office


Book Description

A study of the complex relationship between technological development and the conceptual basis of architectural design, from World War II to the early 1990s.




The Taylorized Beauty of the Mechanical


Book Description

The dream of scientific management was a rationalized machine world where life would approach the perfection of an assembly line. But since its early twentieth-century peak this dream has come to seem a dehumanizing nightmare. Henry Ford's assembly lines turned out a quarter of a million cars in 1914, but all of them were black. Forgotten has been the unparalleled new aesthetic beauty once seen in the ideas of Ford and scientific management pioneer Frederick Winslow Taylor. In The Taylorized Beauty of the Mechanical, Mauro Guillén recovers this history and retells the story of the emergence of modernist architecture as a romance with the ideas of scientific management--one that permanently reshaped the profession of architecture. Modernist architecture's pioneers, Guillén shows, found in scientific management the promise of a new, functional, machine-like--and beautiful--architecture, and the prospect of a new role for the architect as technical professional and social reformer. Taylor and Ford had a signal influence on Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius and on Le Corbusier and his Towards a New Architecture, the most important manifesto of modernist architecture. Architects were so enamored with the ideas of scientific management that they adopted them even when there was no functional advantage to do so. Not a traditional architectural history but rather a sociological study of the profession of architecture during its early modernist period, The Taylorized Beauty of the Mechanical provides a new understanding of the degree to which modernist architecture emerged from a tradition of engineering and industrial management.




A-typical Plan


Book Description

As a typology conceived in the twentieth century, the office building is often the architectural manifestation-- not only of global capital, but also of technological might and mass production. But when we think of these buildings, we often think more of objects than of space; more of appearance than of atmosphere. In A-Typical Plan, Jeannette Kuo offers a reversal of the experience, starting from the inside out, and prioritizing space over symbol. In particular, the book reconsiders the deep plan within the European context for a discussion on density, economy and, not least, sustainability. Featuring buildings by architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Kenzo Tange, Giuseppe Terragni, Le Corbusier, SANAA, Herzog & de Meuron, Toyo Ito, Christian Kerez, and many others, A-Typical Plan presents a collection of projects through history that have attempted to bring character to the deep plan as a spatial experience for the workspace. The work features essays by renowned authors, including Iñaki Ábalos, Pier Vittorio Aureli, Andrea Bassi, Florian Idenburg, Jeannette Kuo, Freek Persyn, and Antoine Picon. A conversation with Inès Lamunière and a graphic essay by Jimenez Lai round out the diverse perspectives. A final chapter presents the work of students at the EPFL, with whom this research began. Succinct and beautifully illustrated, A-Typical Plan is a reminder that even buildings created for quotidian uses can be spatially and experientially rich.




The Architecture of the City


Book Description

Aldo Rossi was a practicing architect and leader of the Italian architectural movement La Tendenza and one of the most influential theorists of the twentieth century. The Architecture of the City is his major work of architectural and urban theory. In part a protest against functionalism and the Modern Movement, in part an attempt to restore the craft of architecture to its position as the only valid object of architectural study, and in part an analysis of the rules and forms of the city's construction, the book has become immensely popular among architects and design students.