Koolhaasvobrist Project Japan Metabolism Talks

Metabolism was a movement launched in Japan that took inspiration for buildings and cities from biological systems. With interviews and commentary and hundreds of images, Project Japan unearths a history that casts new light on the key issues that both enervate and motivate architecture today.

First presented as a manifesto in the 1960s in Japan, "Metabolism" is a theory of architecture contending that "buildings and cities should be designed and developed in the same continuous way that the material substance of a natural organism is produced." From the time of Japan's postwar redevelopment to its period of rapid economic growth, the theory gave birth to grand visions of future cities, encouraged the realization of much experimental architecture, and also provided the foundation on which many of Japan's contemporary world-renowned architects and designers could build their careers. It is the most widely known modern architecture theory to have emerged from Japan. This exhibition is the first ever to pose the question of what significance Metabolism holds today. It draws on various documents and models to explore the thoughts and work of Tange Kenzo, which set the scene for the emergence of Metabolism, and the activities of the Metabolist architects and others during the 1960s up until Osaka's Expo '70, which in many ways was a showcase for the theory. It also represents an important opportunity to think about the necessity of archiving and preserving distinguished historical documents and records related to the movement.

Japan’s postwar urban imagination through the Metabolism architecture movement and visionary science fiction authors The devastation of the Second World War gave rise to imaginations both utopian and apocalyptic. In Japan, a fascinating confluence of architects and science fiction writers took advantage of this space to begin remaking urban design. In The Metabolist Imagination, William O. Gardner explores the unique Metabolism movement, which allied with science fiction authors to foresee the global cities that would emerge in the postwar era. This first comparative study of postwar Japanese architecture and science fiction builds on the resurgence of interest in Metabolist architecture while establishing new directions for exploration. Gardner focuses on how these innovators created unique versions of shared concepts—including futurity, megastructures, capsules, and cybercities—making lasting contributions that resonate with contemporary conversations around cyberpunk, climate change, anime, and more. The Metabolist Imagination features original documentation of collaborations between giants of postwar Japanese art and architecture, such as the landmark 1970 Osaka Expo. It also provides the most sustained English-language discussion to date of the work of Komatsu Sakyō, considered one of the “big three” authors of postwar Japanese science fiction. These studies are underscored by Gardner’s insightful approach—treating architecture as a form of speculative fiction while positioning science fiction as an intervention into urban design—making it a necessary read for today’s visionaries.

Propelled by the popular success of Rem Koolhaas, Dutch architecture is basking in critical and commercial success across the globe. This phone-book sized collection features all of the key players in Dutch architecture, presenting their work through detailed drawings and stunning photography. Super Dutch is graphic proof why this small handful of practitoners is shaping the future direction of architecture.

Since its original publication in 1978, Delirious New York has attained mythic status. Back in print in a newly designed edition, this influential cultural, architectural, and social history of New York is even more popular, selling out its first printing on publication. Rem Koolhaas's celebration and analysis of New York depicts the city as a metaphor for the incredible variety of human behavior. At the end of the nineteenth century, population, information, and technology explosions made Manhattan a laboratory for the invention and testing of a metropolitan lifestyle -- "the culture of congestion" -- and its architecture. "Manhattan," he writes, "is the 20th century's Rosetta Stone . . . occupied by architectural mutations (Central Park, the Skyscraper), utopian fragments (Rockefeller Center, the U.N. Building), and irrational phenomena (Radio City Music Hall)." Koolhaas interprets and reinterprets the dynamic relationship between architecture and culture in a number of telling episodes of New York's history, including the imposition of the Manhattan grid, the creation of Coney Island, and the development of the skyscraper. Delirious New York is also packed with intriguing and fun facts and illustrated with witty watercolors and quirky archival drawings, photographs, postcards, and maps. The spirit of this visionary investigation of Manhattan equals the energy of the city itself.

Even in a country where outstanding achievements have become almost a commonplace, the Japanese architect, Kisho Kurokawa, appears as both a remarkable and a remarkably successful man. With buildings in the United States and Eastern and Western Europe as well as in Japan, he has established an international reputation as a leading figure amongst the younger generation of architects. At the age of forty he already had thirty-five major buildings and seventeen books to his credit; four new towns are being built to his designs; he heads a company of over a hundred employees, he runs a think-tank and an urban design bureau and for variety he has his own television programme with a regular audience of some 30 million. Behind these statistics lies a prodigious vitality expressed in original and stimulating buildings. -- from book jacket.

S,M,L,XL presents a selection of the remarkable visionary design work produced by the Dutch firm Office for Metropolitan Architecture (O.M.A.) and its acclaimed founder, Rem Koolhaas, in its first twenty years, along with a variety of insightful, often poetic writings. The inventive collaboration between Koolhaas and designer Bruce Mau is a graphic overture that weaves together architectural projects, photos and sketches, diary excerpts, personal travelogues, fairy tales, and fables, as well as critical essays on contemporary architecture and society. The book's title is also its framework: projects and essays are arranged according to scale. While Small and Medium address issues ranging from the domestic to the public, Large focuses on what Koolhaas calls "the architecture of Bigness." Extra-Large features projects at the urban scale, along with the important essay "What Ever Happened to Urbanism?" and other studies of the contemporary city. Running throughout the book is a "dictionary" of an adventurous new Koolhaasian language -- definitions, commentaries, and quotes from hundreds of literary, cultural, artistic, and architectural sources.

When it was first published at the height of the boom in 2007, Al-Manakh arrived with little fanfare. But the title an innovative mix of history, photography, statistics and design quickly became invaluable to historians and other observers of the Arab Gulf. Now the compendium is back in a second edition that, over 500 pages, seeks to chronicle the Gulf states urban experience amid the global financial crisis. In a world buzzing with satellite aerials, news flashes and status updates, this second Al Manakh a special issue of Volume Magazine provides an essential and comprehensive guide to the Gulf region during turbulent times: the worldwide financial crisis. The credit crunch is a stress test for the different development models in the region as nations prepare for a post-oil economy. This transition provides several challenges: economic re-profiling, food security, environmental exposure, multiculturalism and demographic growth. Al Manakh delves into these challenges by profiling six cities in five countries bordering the Gulf (UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia). From this common ground, Al Manakh builds an inside-out perspective with local authors reflecting on their own situation and expectations. Guiding voices include editors Rem Koolhaas and Todd Reisz (OMA), Lilet Breddels and Arjen Oosterman (Archis/Volume), Daniel Camara and Mitra Khoubrou (Pink Tank), Ole Bouman (NAi). Al Manakh is for those seeking an alternating viewpoint on the growth of the Gulf not one just from the air, but one also on the ground. Al Manakh Gulf Continued will offer the public once again its overview of the Gulf cities, this time focusing on how, amid a quickly changing economic landscape, these cities are reexamining their methods and their relationships with the rest of the world. Tempered by economic slow-down but equipped with financial and development know-how, these cities are reaching out beyond their borders to export development and urbanization to parts of the world not yet participating in global urban investment. Al Manakh Gulf Continued will cover the geopolitical, technological, environmental and financial aspects of this ongoing transformation. Cities of Saudi Arabia and Iran are also added to the scope.