Aaron Betsky - Böcker

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).

Architecture matters. To our cities, to our planet, to our personal lives. How we design and what we build has an impact that usually lasts for generations. The more we understand the importance of architecture, and the thinking and decisions behind the buildings we create, the better world we will construct. Who better to guide readers into the rich and complex world of contemporary architecture than Aaron Betsky, former architect, author, curator and museum director, and today dean of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture. Combining his early experiences working and meeting cutting-edge architects with his frequent role as jury member selecting the world’s most prominent global architects to build icon for cities, Betsky possesses rare insight into the mechanisms, politics and personalities that play a role in how buildings in our societies and urban centres come to be. In some fifty themes and drawing from his own experiences and encounters with people and buildings around the world, he explores a broad spectrum of topics, from the meaning of domestic space to the spectacle of the urban realm. Accessible, instructive and hugely enjoyable, this book will open the eyes of anyone dreaming of becoming an architect, and bring a wry smile to anyone that already is.

50 Lessons to Learn from Frank Lloyd Wright presents the work and imaginings of this beloved architect in an accessible and compelling form. Here 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, and rich visuals, the authors share fifty lessons, or learning points, with an eye to Wright-designed houses and interiors, ranging from Inspired by Nature, Make a Room Flexible with Screens, and Creating Liveable Interiors with Textiles, to Learning from the East, Green Design and Seeking Harmony and Balance. Each lesson is accompanied by pearls of wisdom gathered from the master s trove of writings on architecture and design. This gorgeously designed volume offers an informal and yet richly detailed introduction to a seminal figure of architecture, world-famous for his romantic Fallingwater and magical Guggenheim Museum, and will be of much interest to the budding architecture enthusiast, to the interior designer, to those seeking ideas for their own homes, as well as to fans Frank Lloyd Wright looking for just the right book. Included are colour photographs, drawings, quotations from the writings, as well as newly commissioned diagrams and thoughtful analysis by the authors.

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.

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.

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.

In 2018, BLOX was opened on the waterfront in Copenhagen. Designed by the Dutch architecture studio OMA and funded by Realdania philanthropic association, BLOX is more than just a building. It is a mix of homes, offices, exhibition spaces, cafés and public areas with a vibrant urban life elements that, when taken together, form a new destination at Bryghusgrunden, one of Copenhagen s perhaps most challenging construction sites. BLOX also provides a framework for projects such as the Danish Architecture Centre s changing architectural exhibitions on Danish and international architecture, and for BLOXHUB an interdisciplinary, international innovation environment for sustainable urban development. Through interviews and essays, this book tells the story of the building s inception and foundational concept. It takes an extensive look at the many decisions and issues that arise in a project where ambitions of architecture, urban space and the life of the building always were extremely high from the birth of the concept in 2004 to its uses today. It is at the same time also a history of the development of Copenhagen s waterfront into one of the city s key recreational spaces. The book contains extensive photographic material, architectural drawings, process sketches and architectural models that illustrate BLOX as the architects conceived it when they designed this spectacular construction.