Michael Hensel – författare

Emergence - the process by which new and coherent structures, patterns and properties ‘emerge’ from within complex systemsTraditional architecture starts from the premise that architectural structures are singular and fixed, and however well integrated are separate from their environment and context. Emergence requires that the opposite is true – that those structures are complex energy and material systems that have a lifespan, exist as part of an environment of other active systems, and develop in an evolutionary way.This book, based on the authors’ internationally renowned Emergent Technologies and Design course at the Architectural Association in London, introduces a new approach to the practice of architecture. The authors use essays and projects to demonstrate the interrelationship of concepts such as emergence and self-organisation with the latest technologies in design, manufacturing and construction.With projects from their course, and critiques and commentary from some of the world’s leading design theorists and practitioners, the authors of Emergent Technologies and Design have introduced a radical new way of understanding the way in which architecture is conceived, designed and produced.

Today architecture and other fields in the built environment face the steep task of answering complex questions pertaining to sustainability, performance, and adaptability. How are these disciplines to accomplish these difficult tasks at such an immense pace?How might architectural practice renovate itself accordingly?Worldwide it is becoming increasingly clear that different modes of research are emerging which are triggered directly by the need to renovate practice. One significant prevailing mode is what has come to be known as ‘research by design’. This book delivers an overview of this pluralistic domain. Bringing together a range of leading architects, architectural theorists, and designers, it outlines the developments in current practice from leading individuals based in the USA, UK, Australia, Japan and Europe. Edited by a recognized expert, this book exposes the undercurrent of research, which is taking place and how this will contribute to the renovation of architectural practice.

Today architecture and other fields in the built environment face the steep task of answering complex questions pertaining to sustainability, performance, and adaptability. How are these disciplines to accomplish these difficult tasks at such an immense pace?How might architectural practice renovate itself accordingly?Worldwide it is becoming increasingly clear that different modes of research are emerging which are triggered directly by the need to renovate practice. One significant prevailing mode is what has come to be known as ‘research by design’. This book delivers an overview of this pluralistic domain. Bringing together a range of leading architects, architectural theorists, and designers, it outlines the developments in current practice from leading individuals based in the USA, UK, Australia, Japan and Europe. Edited by a recognized expert, this book exposes the undercurrent of research, which is taking place and how this will contribute to the renovation of architectural practice.

The Space Reader provides a highly pertinent and contemporary understanding of space for a new generation of students and architects. It espouses a definition of space that is heterogeneous (an object or system consisting of a diverse range of different items). An example of heterogeneous space, for instance, is Manhattan where complex and multiple social and technological conditions are overlaid. (This is to be contrasted with highly centralised and ordered Modernist cities.) With the onset of globalisation and the Web, heterogeneneous space, with its emphasis on differentiation, is more relevant to the contemporary condition, which encourages the mixing of space, than a much more static conception of Modernist space. This book foregrounds spatial issues and the potential of heterogeneous space through a threefold strategy:1) Its compilation of seminal essays on the discourse of heterogeneous space. These are to include previously published key texts by Reyner Banham, Andrew Benjamin, Robin Evans, Jeff Kipnis and Henri Lefebvre, as well as new texts by important contemporary commentators, such as Mark Cousins, Werner Durth and Anthony Vidler.2) By commenting on these seminal texts and drawing links between them.3) By distilling from the first two efforts a contemporary outlook on a discourse of heterogeneous space that is of future significance.

Architecture is on the brink. It is a discipline in crisis. Over the last two decades, architectural debate has diversified to the point of fragmentation and exhaustion.  What is called for is an overarching argument or set of criteria on which to approach the design and construction of the built environment. Here, the internationally renowned architect and educator Michael Hensel advocates an entirely different way of thinking about architecture. By favouring a new focus on performance, he rejects longstanding conventions in design and the built environment. This not only bridges the gap between academia and practice, but, even more significantly, the treatment of form and function in design. It also has a far-reaching impact on knowledge production and development, placing an important emphasis on design research in architecture and the value of an interdisciplinary approach.Though ‘performance’ first evolved as a concept in the humanities in the 1940s and 1950s, it has never previously been systematically applied in architecture in an inclusive manner. Here Michael Hensel offers Performance-Orientated Architecture as an integrative approach to architectural design, the built environment and questions of sustainability. He highlights how core concepts and specific traits, such as climate, material performance and settlement patterns, can put architecture in the service of the natural environment. A wide range of examples are cited to support his argument, from traditional sustainable buildings, such as the Kahju Bridge in Isfahan and the Topkapí Palace in Istanbul to more contemporary works by Cloud 9, Foreign Office Architects, Steven Holl and OCEAN.

Horizontal gene transfer is a major driving force in the evolution of many bacterial pathogens. The development of high-throughput sequencing tools and more sophisticated genomic and proteomic techniques in recent years has resulted in a better understanding of this phenomenon. Written by leading experts in the field, this edited volume is aimed at graduate students and researchers and provides an overview of current knowledge relating to the evolution of microbial pathogenicity. This volume provides an overview of the mechanisms and biological consequences of the genome rearrangements resulting from horizontal gene transfer, in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, as well as overviews of the key mobile genetic elements involved. Subsequent chapters focus on paradigms for the evolution of important bacterial pathogens, including Salmonella enterica, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Staphylococcus aureus. The influence of socioeconomic parameters in the dissemination of transferable elements, such as antibiotic resistant genes in bacteria, is also discussed.

The current trend for constructing experimental structures is now an international phenomenon. It has been taken up worldwide by design professionals, researchers, educators and students alike. There exist, however, distinct and significant tendencies within this development that require further investigation. This issue of AD takes on this task by examining one of the most promising trajectories in this area, the rise of intensely local architectures. In his seminal essay of 1983, Kenneth Frampton redefined Critical Regionalism by calling for an intensely local approach to architectural design. Today, Frampton’s legacy is regaining relevance for a specific body of work in practice and education focused on the construction of experimental structures. Could this ultimately provide the seeds for a compelling and alternative approach to sustainable design?Contributors include: Barbara Ascher, Peter Buchanan, Karl Otto Ellefsen, David Jolly Monge, Lisbet Harboe, David Leatherbarrow, Areti Markopoulou, Philip Nobel, Rodrigo Rubio, Søren S Sørensen, Defne Sunguroðlu Hensel.Featured practices: Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Rintala Eggertsson, SHoP, Studio Mumbai, TYIN tegnestue.

Over the last few decades, Iranian architects have made a significant contribution to architectural design. This has, however, remained largely unrecognised internationally, as architects in Iran have had little exposure in publications abroad and the diaspora of well-known Iranian designers working in the West, such as Hariri & Hariri and Nader Tehrani of NADAAA, are not necessarily associated with their cultural background. Moreover Iran, or rather Persia, has one of the richest and longest architectural heritages, which has a great deal of untapped potential for contemporary design. The intention of this issue is both to introduce key works and key architects from a range of generations – at home and abroad – and to highlight the potential of historical structures for contemporary architecture. Features Hariri & Hariri, Nader Tehrani of NADAAA, Farjadi Architects, and studio INTEGRATE.Places the spotlight on emerging practices in Iran: Arsh Design Studio, Fluid Motion Architects, Pouya Khazaeli Parsa and Kourosh Rafiey (Asar).Contributors include: Reza Daneshmir and Catherine Spiridonoff, Farrokh Derakhshani, Darab Diba, Dr Nasrine Faghih and Amin Sadeghy, Farshad Farahi, Mehran Gharleghi and Michael Hensel.Looks at garden and landscape design as well as the urban fabric in Iran from a historical and contemporary context.Includes articles on the work of post-revolutionary architecture.