Aaron Betsky – författare

Visionary proposals for a mythic and strange architecture—or anarchitecture—through which we can imagine other and better worlds.Lurking under the surface of our modern world lies an unseen architecture—or anarchitecture. It is a possible architecture, an analogous architecture, an architecture of anarchy, which haunts in the form of monsters that are humans and machines and cities all at once; or takes the form of explosions, veils, queer, playful spaces, or visions from artwork and video games. In The Monster Leviathan, Aaron Betsky traces anarchitecture through texts, design, and art of the twentieth and early twenty-first century, and suggests that these ephemeral evocations are concrete proposals in and of themselves. Neither working models nor suggestions for new forms, they are scenes just believable enough to convince us they exist, or just fantastical enough to open our eyes.The Monster Leviathan gives students and lovers of architecture, as well as those hoping to construct a better, more sustainable, and socially just future, a set of tools through which they can imagine that such other worlds are possible. As Betsky eloquently articulates, anarchitecture already exists and does not exist at all. It is the myth of building, and all we have to do is find it.

The long-awaited monograph on the Turner Prize-winning multidisciplinary architecture collective Assemble, gathering more than a decade of their groundbreaking collaborative work. Assemble are not your usual architects. They work as a collective, where everything from which projects to take on to who clears away lunch is decided by the group. Formed in 2010 to conceive, build and run a temporary cinema on the site of a disused petrol station, they went on to design the celebrated Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art in London and the workshops at Atelier Luma in Arles, alongside numerous community projects such as playgrounds and public spaces. The fact that in 2015 they scooped the prestigious Turner Prize – more often given to mid-career artists – along the way gives some indication of the nature of their surprising, collaborative work and its cultural impact. This book is the result of extensive conversations between the group and architecture critic Aaron Betsky, bringing together all of their significant projects to date through photographs, drawings and their own words.

Zaha Hadid (1950–2016) was one of the most innovative and celebrated architects of our time. Prepared in collaboration with the architect’s office, this comprehensive survey of over 200 projects – from the earliest experimentations to product design, from speculative follies to large-scale built works – is a testament to the depth, range and excitement of her vision. This fourth edition has been thoroughly expanded and brought up to date with the latest completed buildings and new projects. Eleven new projects are featured, including 582–606 Collins Street (Melbourne, Australia), Messner Mountain Museum Corones (South Tyrol, Italy), King Abdullah Financial District Metro Station (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia), Dominion Office Building (Moscow, Russia) and One Thousand Museum (Miami, USA).

50 Lessons to Learn from Frank Lloyd Wright begins with a simple question. What lessons can designers today learn from Frank Lloyd Wright? Unlike recent books focusing on Wright’s tumultuous personal life and the Taliesin Fellowship, and equally unlike certain works that paint Wright as a mythical hero or genius, this handsome and valuable volume aims to reveal some of the design tools Wright used to create exceptional architecture, interiors, and landscapes—and how we may glean insight from an American master and find inspiration for the thoughtful design of our own homes. By means of succinct examples, pithy texts by noted architecture experts Aaron Betsky and Gideon Fink Shapiro, and evocative visuals provided by photographer Andrew Pielage, they share fifty lessons, or "learning points," with an eye to Wright-designed houses and interiors, ranging from "Let Nature Inspire You," "Screen, Don’t Close," and "Embroider Rooms with Textiles," to "Look to Asia," "Design for Resilience" and "Balance the Whole." Each lesson is accompanied by color photographs, original Wright drawings, newly commissioned diagrams, thoughtful analysis by the authors, and pearls of wisdom gathered from the master's trove of writings on architecture and design. Beyond specific lessons, this volume offers an informal yet richly detailed introduction to this seminal figure, world-famous for his romantic Fallingwater and magical Guggenheim Museum, and will be of much interest to the budding architecture enthusiast as well as to the interior designer, to those seeking ideas for their own homes, and to fans of Frank Lloyd Wright looking for just the right book.

A global showcase of recent residential, commercial, and cultural projects.A visually immersive celebration of recent residential, commercial, institutional, and mixed-use projects, this book reveals the poetic spirit and guiding principles behind the firm’s unmistakable architectural language; the calming presence of water and fountains encourages reflection; bold, expressive color brings warmth and vitality; and the clarity of geometric form creates spaces that feel both uplifting and composed. Together, these qualities shape an architecture that is enduring, distinct, and profoundly human.Richly illustrated and previously unpublished photographs capture the atmosphere and vibrancy of each project. Readers are transported into environments where architecture, art, and landscape converge—from the breathtaking, color-saturated Casa Grande located in Los Cabos, and La Pausa House seamlessly embedded in the landscape of Valle de Bravo, to the dramatic coast of Jalisco at the monumental Four Seasons Tamarindo. Rooted in Mexico’s cultural identity yet informed by a global perspective, Legorreta’s work reflects a commitment to material richness, environmental sensitivity, and designing spaces that enhance daily life.

The white worlds Kim Utzon has created in Denmark and southern Sweden over the last few decades are stage sets for the ordered appearance of rational and reasonable human beings at work, at home, or at play. Clear in their composition, sequence, and scale, sensuous in their responseto light, and conducive to rest and reason more than anything else, theare a refinement of the Scandinavian Modern tradition in which he works. Combining sparse and light-filled rooms surrounded or defined by open grids with expressive roofs or objects, Utzon’s work is able to make sense out of complex programs and create relaxed and continuous spaces.

This book provides a privileged glimpse into the conception and execution of this superlative structure with a text by the renowned architectural critic Aaron Betsky, an introduction and interview with the architect by James Moore McCown, sumptuous photography by Stetson Ybarra, Stephen Morgan and Daniel Joseph Chenin, illuminating drawings, diagrams and layouts. An homage to the forts built when the area was first being settled, the building sits resplendently alone in the tranquility of the landscape: truly a modern masterpiece.

The book provides a privileged insight into how this groundbreaking architectural studio works, especially their innovative approach in which their primary inspiration is derived from the constraints of a given project, hence the subtitle, Inspired by constraints. It shows how XRANGE’s unconventional architecture places an emphasis on systemization and tactility, resulting in audacious but grounded and utterly unique buildings. To do so, it features texts by the principal architects, leading architecture critics, lavish documentation and photography, and in-depth examinations of such significant projects as The Wandering Walls, Ant Farm House, Stone Cloud, and many more.

Where something begins and ends | The liminal is a transformational state between the position where something meets, mixes, and merges. The Liminal House straddles a similar threshold between West Vancouver’s natural stony seashore and its suburban residential neighborhood. Courtyards, cantilevers, and the extension of floor area over exterior space dismantles boundaries between the house and the natural environment in which it exists and a strategy of mixing and merging, where light is reflected and landscapes are invited towards the interior of the home, collapses a normal reading of interior space. The house is animated by the ever-changing outdoor atmosphere; expansive walls of sliding glass open to a dark pool that reflects and extends the environment near the ocean. Concrete, black stained Accoya wood, and coated aluminum plate are the only exterior materials as they are tough and long-wearing in harsh and everchanging environments.

Mohammad Foyez Ullah of Dhaka, Bangladesh, the founder of the award-winning architectural firm Volumezero, is a man who is at the pinnacle of the architectural profession in his own country. His architecture is recognizable for its pure, austere qualities and notable for its dignity and restraint. Volumezero is the largest architectural firm in Dhaka and continues the tradition of brick and concrete modernism brought to the country by Louis Kahn in the design of apartment buildings and residential compounds whose scale, intricacy, and fluidity respond to the realities of the city’s climate and culture. With great skill, they are able to translate the demands of the local environment into moments of beautifully articulated order in a chaotic urban environment of over twenty million people. Living in Dhaka explores how Foyez Ullah and his firm interact with the iconic city to produce stunning works of architecture.

The latest installment of the Oscar Riera Ojeda Publishers Masterpiece Series focuses on Oz House by the award-winning Stanley Saitowitz and Natoma Architects, built by Redhorse Constructors. This stunning residential property in Atherton, California, is based around interlocking volumes of concrete and glass in which a gravity-defying minimalist aesthetic is employed to ensure effortless functionality and make the best of the property’s stunning views over the San Francisco skyline. Featuring in-depth critical analysis, including of the often overlooked but crucial role of the constructor in facilitating ground-breaking architecture, as well as stunning photography, plans and diagrams, this book provides a comprehensive overview of a masterpiece of contemporary architecture.

Renny Ramakers is realizing projects that combine virtual technologies and social media with the craft of design to develop new social relations. For more than three decades, the Dutch art historian, critic, and curator has been changing the nature and purpose of design. As co-founder of the Droog Design collective, she has championed the notion of furniture and industrial design as a rethinking of today’s world. When Droog first exhibited at the Milan furniture fair in 1993, its assemblies of found materials and witty forms instantly changed the landscape of design. Since then, Ramakers has worked with makers and creators to move beyond slick objects and towards critical projects that open our eyes to our multifaceted realities while offering easy access and great joy to users.

Barcode is one of Oslo's, and even Norway's, most important architectural and urban projects of recent years. This book documents how a highly original competition-winning master plan, conceived by MVRDV, A-LAB, and DARK, has contributed to the transformation of Bjørvika and the Oslo Fjord. The author Hans Ibelings, architecture critic and lecturer, elucidates how the radical clarity of the master plan has provoked innovative architecture that mixes work, living, commercial, and leisure in a dense setting. With realizations by the three offices as well as by SJ arkitekter, Snøhetta, MAD arkitekter, and Lund Hagem, Barcode has become a showcase of 21st-century architecture. Richly illustrated with images, including a photo series exclusive to the book, Barcode - Instant City explores the transformation and the new burst of life at the border between the city and fjord.

The Spanish Colonial Revival style has been part of the aesthetic fabric of Southern California for over 100 years.While Spanish Colonial Revival landmarks are well known throughout the region, examples of such works in the Inland Empire have largely been forgotten. Myth and Mirage is the first comprehensive documentation of the substantial contributions to the Spanish Colonial Revival style in California’s Inland Empire region. Claiming ties between Southern California and Colonial Spain and Mexico, architects and designers helped to create romanticized perceptions of California. Adaptations of the style gradually became less accurately associated with Mission and Spanish Colonial style. Contemporary architects are now demonstrating an interest in an “authentic” style.