Book Briefs #48
In this of "Book Briefs," — the series of occasional posts featuring short first-hand descriptions of some of the numerous books that publishers send to me for consideration on this blog — are six books in three pairs. Obviously, these briefs are not full-blown reviews, but they are a way to share more books worthy of attention than those that end up as long reviews.Two "Green" Books:Green Reconstruction: A Curricular Toolkit for the Built Environment edited by Reinhold Martin, Jacob R. Moore, Jordan Steingard | Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture | September 2022 | 7-1/4 x 10-1/2 inches | 266 pages | $0 (available as a PDF)The Buell Center describes Green Reconstruction as "an outline, an open work, for the repair of a world ravaged by three intersecting crises — of mutual care, of racial oppression, and of climate, all intersecting in turn with economic inequality." As the subtitle of the book makes clear, its aim is reworking education in the planning and design of the built environment so architects and urban planners could help in realizing ambitious proposals like the Green New Deal. The book is no less ambitious (Reinhold Martin, in a presentation of the book at the Buell Center in September, described the need to "redefine all professionals as public servants rather than as private entrepreneurs"), though it balances an overarching belief in the need for educational reform with three geographical case studies, or "a comparative object lesson" of three cities in "purple" states: Erie (PA), Greensboro (NC), and Buckeye (AZ). These color-coded chapters make up the bulk of the book and consist of stories that "can [hopefully] advance the conversation among students and professionals of the built environment regarding the tools, ideas, and methods needed to view climate-related challenges through the lens of justice."Material Reform: Building for a Post-Carbon Future by Material Cultures (Summer Islam, Paloma Gormley, George Massoud) with Amica Dell | MACK | October 2022 | 4-1/4 x 7 inches | 144 pages | $22 | AmazonMaterial Reform is one of a handful of new books that comprise the first collection of architecture titles published by MACK, the 12-year-old UK publisher known for books on art. They sent me a few, and given this book's portable size and breezy nature it was the first one I finished. Although it is a quick read, the subject is far from breezy, given that Material Cultures, a research and design practice based in London, aims to reorient architectural practice away from its destructive tendencies and toward biocentric materials, assemblies, processes, and — most importantly — thinking. The cover reveals the book's themes and chapters, where each predominantly one-word term is examined through short texts and photographs, the latter beautifully shot by Jess Gough. Things considered "green" — mass timber, etc. — are discussed frankly, cutting through the greenwashing and revealing that a dramatic, sweeping paradigm shift is necessary to even move in a direction that is truly sustainable. Highlighted terms in the text allow for cross referencing and refer to a helpful glossary. Also helpful is an annotated list of books that influenced Material Cultures in the making of their book. Material Reform is a reminder that powerful things can come in small packages.Two Tokyo Books:Emergent Tokyo: Designing the Spontaneous City by Jorge Almazán + Studiolab | ORO Editions | April 2022 | 5-3/4 x 8-1/4 inches | 250 pages | $24.95 | Amazon / BookshopTokyo, like New York, London and other world cities, can sustain nearly infinite approaches to documenting and analyzing its urban condition, thanks to its layers of physical history but also the enormous appeal of exploring those layers. This book by Jorge Almazán and Studiolab (the research and design unit led by him at Keio University), with editorial assistance by Joe McReynolds and Naoki Saito, tries to understand Tokyo by focusing on five types of urban conditions: yokochō alleys, zakkyo buildings, undertrack infills, ankyo streets, and dense low-rise neighborhoods. As the title indicates, these are places that emerged spontaneously rather than being planned. Each condition/chapter includes three case studies that are documented through diagrams, maps, photographs, isometrics (like the cover), and text — all thorough and complex yet clear and easy to follow. I have been to one such place: Golden Gai, a yokochō alley and perhaps the most popular case study in the book. The documentation of Golden Gai and the two other case studies in the chapter is brief but beautifully presented, especially the perspectival sections that are reminiscent of Atelier Bow-Wow. Beyond the documentation, the texts also feature "learning from" sections that find Almazán and Studiolab finding the beneficial traits that architects should emulate in their own designs — in Tokyo or elsewhere.Tokyoids: The Robotic Face of Architecture by François Blanciak |
Two "Green" Books:
Two Tokyo Books:
Tokyo, like New York, London and other world cities, can sustain nearly infinite approaches to documenting and analyzing its urban condition, thanks to its layers of physical history but also the enormous appeal of exploring those layers. This book by Jorge Almazán and Studiolab (the research and design unit led by him at Keio University), with editorial assistance by Joe McReynolds and Naoki Saito, tries to understand Tokyo by focusing on five types of urban conditions: yokochō alleys, zakkyo buildings, undertrack infills, ankyo streets, and dense low-rise neighborhoods. As the title indicates, these are places that emerged spontaneously rather than being planned. Each condition/chapter includes three case studies that are documented through diagrams, maps, photographs, isometrics (like the cover), and text — all thorough and complex yet clear and easy to follow. I have been to one such place: Golden Gai, a yokochō alley and perhaps the most popular case study in the book. The documentation of Golden Gai and the two other case studies in the chapter is brief but beautifully presented, especially the perspectival sections that are reminiscent of Atelier Bow-Wow. Beyond the documentation, the texts also feature "learning from" sections that find Almazán and Studiolab finding the beneficial traits that architects should emulate in their own designs — in Tokyo or elsewhere.
Tokyoids is like two books in one: a dense text of architectural theory and humorous photographs of building "faces" in Tokyo. The first starts with a long chapter analyzing the relationship between architecture and faces: spanning from the Middle Ages and Renaissance to the Bauhaus, Le Corbusier and Deleuze. It is not an easy text, but there are fascinating points to be gleaned. Ultimately, Blanciak states, "each era corresponds a specific way of producing architecture, which itself corresponds to a specific way of representing a face." The six moody chapters (Awe, Mirth, Pain, etc.) that follow include more text as well as "photographic evidence" that considers "nearly imperceptible bits and pieces that might reveal a truer image of Tokyo's built environment, if not of its robotic unconscious." The book's release in September happened to coincide with the opening of Hello, Robot: Design between Human and Machine at Vitra Design Museum, indicating that the time is ripe for studying the relationship between people and robots, between designers and machines.
Two Books About Books:
(This book is in German, which I can't read, but a PDF translated by DeepL enabled me to read Atli Magnus Seelow's lengthy, in-depth introduction to the German translation of Acceptera, which my comments focus on.)