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Tent Poles in the ground is a collection of twenty-one texts by Stephen Bates. Like Papers (2001), Papers 2 (2007) and Papers 3 (2016), which were written in collaboration with Jonathan Sergison, co-founder of Sergison Bates architects, ‘Tent Poles’ testifies to the importance of writing as part of a form of practice that includes building and teaching.

The reflections included are part of the process of developing and testing ideas in Sergison Bates’s London studio and in Stephen Bates’s teaching studio at the Chair of Urbanism and Housing, TU München. Covering a range of themes, from domesticity to the city, landscape and the design process, they record both the fundamental principles that inform his approach to architecture and the shifts in thinking that have come about in 30 years of practice.

While these are personal reflections on buildings and spaces, they were inspired by discussions across the table in the London studio, with teaching colleagues and students in Munich, and meetings with interesting people from different creative disciplines. Like the making of buildings, thinking and writing about them, too, is always the result of a process of collaboration.

Interactive installation art is an important medium of artistic expression, generated alongside the development of technology and art throughout the 21st century. This book includes a number of interactive installation projects, dedicating particular attention to how designers convey their message.

Instead of accepting information passively, in an interactive installation the audience is encouraged to communicate directly with the art. This book is divided into three parts: immersive installation (environment), experimental installation (technology), and feedback installation (engagement). Featuring examples drawn from 3D-rendered images, photographs and video projects, this book will explain the relationship between art and technology, and explore some of the ways these fields can be combined. It is a high-quality and practical guidebook, to accompany any interactive installation art exhibition.

This book includes a cross-section of projects from outstanding global design agencies such as teamLab, Dem, and Random International. When placed in conjunction with testaments from practising designers, these examples provide a comprehensive introduction to interactive installation art.

Religion has always been a fundamental force for constructing identity, from antiquity to the contemporary world. The transformation of ancient cults into faith systems, which we recognize now as major world religions, took place in the first millennium AD, in the period we call ‘Late Antiquity’. Our argument is that the creative impetus for both the emergence, and much of the visual distinctiveness of the world religions came in contexts of cultural encounter. Bridging the traditional divide between classical, Asian, Islamic and Western history, this exhibition and its accompanying catalog highlights religious and artistic creativity at points of contact and cultural borders between late antique civilizations.

This catalog features the creation of specific visual languages that belong to five major world religions: Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam. The imagery still used by these belief systems today is evidence for the development of distinct religious identities in Late Antiquity. Emblematic visual forms like the figure of Buddha and Christ, or Islamic aniconism, only evolved in dialogue with a variety of coexisting visualizations of the sacred. As late antique believers appropriated some competing models and rejected others, they created compelling and long-lived representations of faith, but also revealed their indebtedness to a multitude of contemporaneous religious ideas and images.

Whether you want to convince your co-workers of your ideas in important meetings, or would do anything to have your presentations remembered forever, or want to stand out as a coach and have your ideas last forever in a company, you need to be able to visualize your ideas. Start to Draw is a hands-on guide discussing the positive aspects of drawing and visualizing your ideas in your work environment. It is an accessible, richly illustrated and bite-size book providing insight into why drawing works, how you can have a great impact on your own (and others’) professional work, and how you can end up with a more creative approach to your job.

Made in Cuba features 30 creative professionals, makers and entrepreneurs on the island. Writers and photographers Molly Mandell and James Burke dive into the remarkable DIY (do-it-yourself) culture that permeates every corner of the country. Fueled by limited trade with other parts of the world, this is not just pastimes or craft projects. It is simply an element of day-to-day existence and a testament to the self-reliance, resilience and creativity that is synonymous with Cuban people. The book offers deeply personal accounts of everyone from farmers living almost entirely from their land to artists restoring once-luminous neon signs and designers circulating an independent magazine with a USB distribution network. It also includes guest essays from the likes of singer and composer Daymé Arocena and writer Leonardo Padura. More than a tome on DIY solutions, Made in Cuba is an inside look into everyday life in the capital city of Havana and beyond.

As the first ever organized collection of Delhi’s maps, containing a chronology of magnificent ancient and modern hand-drawings as well as digital maps of the city, this book is as visually stunning as it is informative. Dr Guerrieri describes each map as an individual entity. She gives the maps unique and detailed focus, elaborating on their idiosyncrasies, aesthetic details, and rich historical relevance. The evolution of planning and architecture, which elegantly unfolds through the maps, mirrors the political, social, and historical progression of the capital. Maps of Delhi is both beautiful and stimulating, while also offering deeply insightful commentary that will be appreciated by the most discerning of scholars. It is an indisputable milestone for those wanting to research the capital. The book reveals, as A.G. Krishna Menon notes in the foreword, the charm of printed maps and the many pleasures and insights they offer when they are physically handled. It is a remarkable tribute to a remarkable city.

Jewel Changi Airport documents the creation of a remarkable addition to one of the world’s premier airports. The sinuous, faceted glass Jewel serves as Singapore’s new gateway to the world, and redefines what an airport can be. Brimming with terraced plantings, lush valleys, floating bridges, art installations, shops, restaurants, and a central waterfall, Jewel is a new type of destination: part public garden and part shopping and entertainment complex. Through photos, drawings, ephemera, essays, and interviews, the book provides detailed insights on how the project came to be – from its bold vision and concept to the innovative engineering, environmental, and construction strategies employed to make it a reality.

Moshe Safdie explains that probably more than half of his lifetime design work is unbuilt, and he considers his unbuilt work to be some of his most significant work. In this richly illustrated book, replete with detailed diagrams, sketches, models and studies, Moshe Safdie explains that for those who design in order to build, not succeeding in building is never a failure (there are many reasons why a project might not be built) because these designs are part of the evolution of an architect’s work. This volume is a fascinating journey through Safdie’s thoughts and career, and also a historical reference of the social and political forces at play at the time. Not only a treatise on Safdie’s unrealized concepts, this book is also a wonderful affirmation that there is valuable heritage in the unbuilt.

Includes a number of significant projects from around the globe, including the following:
Habitat Original Proposal, Montreal, Québec, Canada 1964; Habitat New York II, New York, New York, United States 1967; San Francisco State, College Student Union, San Francisco, California, United States 1967; Pompidou Centre, Paris, France 1971; Western Wall Precinct, Jerusalem, Israel 1972; Supreme Court of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel 1985; Columbus Center, New York, New York, United States 1985; Ballet Opera House, Toronto, Ontario, Canada 1987; Museum of Contemporary Art, Stuttgart, Germany 1990; Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory, Waxahachie, Texas, United States 1993; Incheon Airport, Incheon, Korea 2011; Jumeirah Gateway Mosque, Dubai, UAE 2007; National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China 2012.

Tectonism is the most advanced and most sophisticated contemporary architectural style. There are, to date, only relatively a few fully satisfactory built examples, and most of them are still of a relatively modest scale. It is the thesis of this book that tectonism, as defined and illustrated here, represents the future of 21st century architecture. This thesis is optimistic with respect to the long-term rationality of the discipline of architecture, i.e. with respect to its capacity to discern and ascertain, via its internal discourse, the superiority of tectonism, and to spread its influence and impact as global best practice accordingly. This optimism also extends to the rationality of the wider society, as represented through private clients, public clients, and through end-user acceptance, to be susceptible to the guidance it will receive from its architectural expert discourse. This optimism is based on a critical analysis and appraisal of architectural history. The avant-garde intuitions of the early modernists in the 1920s, backed up by sound theoretical arguments, did win over the discipline in the 1930s and 1940s, and spread its real impact on the global built environment throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. The current avant-garde intuitions within the movement of tectonism, although very different from modernism, are equally well thought through as the arguments in this book will attempt to demonstrate. — From the Introduction, by Patrik Schumacher

Whether you want to convince your co-workers of your ideas in important meetings, or would do anything to have your presentations remembered forever, or want to stand out as a coach and have your ideas last forever in a company, you need to be able to visualize your ideas. Start to Draw is a hands-on guide discussing the positive aspects of drawing and visualizing your ideas in your work environment. It is an accessible, richly illustrated and bite-size book providing insight into why drawing works, how you can have a great impact on your own (and others’) professional work, and how you can end up with a more creative approach to your job.

Companies face increasingly turbulent times. To what extent are the traditional strategy models still relevant to deal with this new environment? This new book presents how to analyze turbulent environments, how to build new strategies, and how to implement them. Through many case studies managers of large and smaller companies can learn how to successfully react to fundamental change. It covers these topics: 1. What is turbulence: disruption vs. disturbance. 2. Corporate foresight/sensing turbulence (incl. scenario analysis) 3. Choosing the right turbulence strategy 4. Implementing turbulence strategies

Tectonism is the most advanced and most sophisticated contemporary architectural style. There are, to date, only relatively a few fully satisfactory built examples, and most of them are still of a relatively modest scale. It is the thesis of this book that tectonism, as defined and illustrated here, represents the future of 21st century architecture. This thesis is optimistic with respect to the long-term rationality of the discipline of architecture, i.e. with respect to its capacity to discern and ascertain, via its internal discourse, the superiority of tectonism, and to spread its influence and impact as global best practice accordingly. This optimism also extends to the rationality of the wider society, as represented through private clients, public clients, and through end-user acceptance, to be susceptible to the guidance it will receive from its architectural expert discourse. This optimism is based on a critical analysis and appraisal of architectural history. The avant-garde intuitions of the early modernists in the 1920s, backed up by sound theoretical arguments, did win over the discipline in the 1930s and 1940s, and spread its real impact on the global built environment throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. The current avant-garde intuitions within the movement of tectonism, although very different from modernism, are equally well thought through as the arguments in this book will attempt to demonstrate. — From the Introduction, by Patrik Schumacher

We the Forest aims to ‘rewild the imagination’ by opening children’s eyes afresh to the wonder of forests through a meld of science and contemporary artwork. New scientific discoveries show that the interconnectedness of the forest runs deeper than we ever imagined. This title explores how all life in the forest is linked and our own human connection to and dependence on the forest.

Engaging text evokes the magic of forests – from how trees communicate to their superpowers of regeneration and protection of the planet – accompanied by commissioned illustrations. Interspersed throughout are arresting artworks inspired by forests from a wide variety of contemporary artists: learn to speak in ‘tree’ with Katie Holten’s tree alphabet, peer through Levon Biss’s lens to see what a giant beetle would look like, or witness the terrible beauty of forest fires in Jeff Frost’s photos. Interactive elements encourage the reader in their own creative projects.

When a city is pursuing high-speed development and putting massive infrastructure into construction and operation to enable rapid economic growth and efficient urban operation, it will see, quite possibly, increasingly scarce land and resources. And much of its space for people and life lost to economic development, and worse still, the degradation of the environment and the loss of nature… This disequilibrium has set us thinking: what is exactly the purpose of development? Or is it a choice that’s simply not worth making?

This book includes the research and design project “Shenzhen 2030: Balance is More” by Doreen Heng Liu with NODE Architecture & Urbanism at an invitation to Audi Urban Future Award 2012, as well as interviews and articles by experts and scholars in the field of architecture and urbanism. This project, which takes transportation infrastructures as the object of research and design, attempts to reinterpret, deconstruct and reconstruct Shenzhen’s highly efficient urban roads through an interdisciplinary approach. By establishing new supporting systems and reorganizing urban mobility, it tries to leave more possibilities of “leisure” for people and life within limited space and redefine a new balance between economy, society, and environment – a balance that sustains and brings more.

Text in English and Chinese.

A visual exploration between the work of acclaimed photographer Dirk Braeckman (1985) and symbolist painter Léon Spilliaert (1881-1946). The omnipresence of the color black, in its myriad shades and nuances, defines their works and adds a nuanced layer to their shared artistic expression. Braeckman’s black-and-white photographs convey a sense of stillness, and combine intimacy and distance to create a private, secluded world whose meaning remains undefined.

Text in English and Dutch.

All prints have value: instead of fussing over making the perfect gelatin silver print, for example, Bruno V. Roels realized that all printed versions of an image have value, and he decided to not show that one perfect print, but all of them, in one composition. Some of his compositions consist of hundreds variations of one single negative, all printed in the dark room. Photography is a mimetic art, it imitates life. But Roels pushes it further: when printing variants of one image; he creates a mimetic feedback loop. He uses the iconic image of a palm tree to prove his point. All palm trees look alike, and as a symbol the plants are highly recognizable. Because palm trees are so widely recognizable, he’s free to deconstruct his own notions of photography, while trying to get away from the “tyranny of camera viewfinders and rectangular boxes of enlarging papers”. Introduction for the book written by Simon Baker.

Text in English and Dutch.

Much of what is written about wine, whether in wine books, on bottle labels or in the Sunday supplements uses language that gives wine an air of mystery. While compelling and enticing for the consumer this can also lead to confusion regarding the science of wine as well as fear on the part of the inexperienced wine drinker of ‘getting wine wrong’. In The Cynic’s Guide to Wine Sunny Hodge strips wine back to its basic science and unravels the facts behind wine flavors, showing readers a clear path through the verbiage. The text takes in elements of horticulture, soil science, botany and sensory science as well as oenology and is provided in bite-sized chunks aimed at the curious non-scientist. This is a straightforward and eye-opening book for anybody who has ever wanted to question the stories told around wine but was afraid to ask. 

Super Strike presents a behind the scenes perspective of one of Japan’s leading graffiti writers and urban artists. Hailing from Hiroshima, Suiko’s art has allowed him to travel extensively and Super Strike is a rare glimpse into his personal life as he likes to spin tunes, go skateboarding and illustrate manga comics. Super Strike presents his artistic versatility, highlights the global demand for his work and presents a dialog between his Japanese heritage, his artistic influences and the communities he visits and collaborates with. Super Strike is a unique document that exists to educate and inspire.

Alejandro Merizalde began photographing in Venice in 2008. In his early visits he found the city stiflingly overcrowded, but during a brief winter trip a few years later, the overcast skies and foggy atmosphere allowed him to draw out Venice’s legendary beauty without the disruptions of mass tourism.
In 2013 he started experimenting with longer exposures to eliminate the distractions of human activity and enable him to concentrate on his architectural compositions. This shift in approach was gradual, but it helped him realize that he was no longer interested in recording iconic features like St Mark’s Basilica, the Bridge of Sighs and the gondola, to name a few. From then on, he dropped the predictable locations and buildings and trained his lens on the Venice lagoon and areas of the city where Venetians actually spend their lives.

Text in English, French and Italian.

Resilient Horizons: The Future of Landscape Architecture by ArquitectonicaGEO explores the transformative role of sustainable, resilient, and contemporary landscaped environments. These outdoor spaces, ranging from urban green spaces to large-scale ecosystem restorations, enhance the human experience and community well-being and combat the pressing challenges of climate change.

This insightful monograph showcases ten pioneering projects by the Miami-based firm that blend innovative design, biodiversity conservation, and climate resilience. The featured projects include the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), Port of Miami Tunnel, Lakeside Village at the University of Miami, and Brickell City Centre, among others. Full-color photography, site plans, and detailed narratives highlight the innovative approaches that ArquitectonicaGEO uses to address climate change and promote biodiversity, and how human-centric design provides enriching outdoor spaces
Resilient Horizons affirms ArquitectonicaGEO’s commitment to sustainability, resilience, and human-centric design, and demonstrates how thoughtful landscape architecture can transform not just spaces, but entire communities.