Architecture As Mechanism For Building Community

Giancarlo Mazzanti was invited this year by the Wouter Mikmak Foundation to lecture in the Designers of the Future series because of the exceptionally engaged character of his architectural practice, wherein he demonstrates that it is also possible to situate social values at the core of architectural design. He aims to empower transformations and build community, focusing on adapting architecture to make it capable of changing behaviour. It is Mazzanti's belief that architecture's worth is based not only on itself but also on what it produces, on its capacity to perform rather than on its capacity to represent. Topical perspectives are illustrated with exemplary case studies.

Informality through Sustainability explores the phenomenon of informality within urban settlements and aims to unravel the subtle links between informal settlements and sustainability. Penetrating its global profile and considering urban informality through an understanding of local implications, the authors collectively reveal specific correlations between sites and their local inhabitants. The book opposes simplistic calls to legalise informal settlements or to view them as ‘problems’ to be solved. It comes at a time when common notions of ‘informality’ are being increasingly challenged. In 25 chapters, the book presents contributions from well-known scholars and practitioners whose theoretical or practical work addresses informality and sustainability at various levels, from city planning and urban design to public space and architectural education. Whilst previous studies on informal settlements have mainly focused on cases in developing countries, approaching the topic through social, cultural and material dimensions, the book explores the concept across a range of contexts, including former Communist countries and those in the so-called Global North. Contributions also explore understandings of informality at various scalar levels – region, precinct, neighbourhood and individual building. Thus, this work helps reposition informality as a relational concept at various scales of urbanisation. This book will be of great benefit to planners, architects, researchers and policymakers interested in the interplay between informality and sustainability.

This book argues that interior architects have a responsibility to practice their profession in collaborative ways that address the needs of communities and of to be the agents of social justice and cultural heritage. The book is divided into three sections, based on three pivotal themes — community engagement, social justice and cultural heritage. Each section has chapters that put forward the principles of these themes, leading into a variety of fascinating case studies that illustrate how socially sustainable design is implemented in diverse communities across the world. The second section includes four concise case studies of community housing issues, including remote-area indigenous housing and housing for the homeless. The third section offers two extensively researched essays on design and cultural heritage — a case study of the development of a redundant industrial site and a historical study of gendered domestic interiors. The book appeals to a wider audience than the design community alone and challenges mainstream interior design/interior architecture practitioners nationally and internationally to take a leading role in the field of socially responsible design. The issues raised by the authors are relevant for individuals, communities, government and non-government organisations, professionals and students. “In the twenty-first century we seem to have entered into a new world of knowledge discovery, where many of the most exciting insights come not from the authority of a traditional discipline, but from the dialogue that happens at the hubs and intersections of thought — the arenas where different disciplines and approaches, different schools and habits of thinking, come together to collaborate and contend. This collection is a good example of this, and I hope the book will be widely read and its lessons learned and applied.” Tim Costello, Officer of the Order of Australia, Chief Executive, World Vision Australia.

Leon Krier is one of the best-known—and most provocative—architects and urban theoreticians in the world. Until now, however, his ideas have circulated mostly among a professional audience of architects, city planners, and academics. In The Architecture of Community, Krier has reconsidered and expanded writing from his 1998 book Architecture: Choice or Fate. Here he refines and updates his thinking on the making of sustainable, humane, and attractive villages, towns, and cities. The book includes drawings, diagrams, and photographs of his built works, which have not been widely seen until now. With three new chapters, The Architecture of Community provides a contemporary road map for designing or completing today’s fragmented communities. Illustrated throughout with Krier’s original drawings, The Architecture of Community explains his theories on classical and vernacular urbanism and architecture, while providing practical design guidelines for creating livable towns. The book contains descriptions and images of the author’s built and unbuilt projects, including the Krier House and Tower in Seaside, Florida, as well as the town of Poundbury in England. Commissioned by the Prince of Wales in 1988, Krier’s design for Poundbury in Dorset has become a reference model for ecological planning and building that can meet contemporary needs.

This book explores the tangled texture of the art world, a curious and mysterious space. In 60 essays, drawn from around the globe, it reveals new dimensions about how artists make their art, resist censorship and retain an independent, creative spirit. The essays ask and answer several crucial questions: How do artists in Europe, the United States, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin and South America find space to live and work? How do artists follow their talent to make and exhibit original art in a politicized world where artistic freedom is often limited? How do smaller artistic venues survive the economic pressures and competition in the art market? Focusing on under-the-radar subjects, the reports, interviews, and essays illuminate the pain and pleasures of artistic production and the challenges faced by artists, curators, and gallerists.

The themes of this "Arcjitecture Annual" focuses on how the materials, design, construction and running of a building can affect the environment.

Community-Built: Art, Construction, Preservation, and Place describes community-built practices through several international and cross-disciplinary case studies.

Occupying Architecture focuses on the importance of the user of architecture. It emphasises the cross-currents between design, theory and use, and the need for a wider cross-cultural approach to architecture. Beginning with the architect, the book proceeds to explore models for architectural practice that actively engage the issue of use, and concludes with examination of the user. The authors draw on illustrations and examples from London, Las Vegas, Barcelona and Bruges to discuss how and why architecture ignores the user. The apparant contradictions between the 'producer' and the 'product' of architecture are highlighted before the activities of the architect and the actions of the user are explored. This book illustrates that architecture is not just a building: it is the relation between an object and its occupant.