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The Making of a Building : a pragmatist approach to architecture

Yaneva, Albena

1st ed. England: Peter Lang; 2009.

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Abstract

How do architects learn about a building-to-be? How does a building emerge and gain reality in the model shop, in scaling, in option making, in architects' - and engineers' - discussions, in public presentations? What does it mean to design? What does it mean to add a building to the city? Drawing on rare ethnographical material of architects at work at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) of Rem Koolhaas in Rotterdam in the period 2001-4, this book offers a novel account of the social and cognitive complexity of architecture in the making. The author dismisses both stylistic periodization and socio-political constructivist methods as being inadequate to the task of understanding the dynamic process of how architects generate design through space and materiality, instead showcasing the potentials of the pragmatist approach as a research tool in the field of architecture. Offering a new way of understanding architecture as practice that takes place within the interactive networks of human and non-human actors, the book also tells the intriguing story of the extensions of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.

Bibliographic metadata

Type of resource:
Content type:
Authored or edited book:
Type of book:
Author(s) list:
Publication date:
Book edition:
1st
Place of publication:
England
Publisher:
Abstract:
How do architects learn about a building-to-be? How does a building emerge and gain reality in the model shop, in scaling, in option making, in architects' - and engineers' - discussions, in public presentations? What does it mean to design? What does it mean to add a building to the city? Drawing on rare ethnographical material of architects at work at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) of Rem Koolhaas in Rotterdam in the period 2001-4, this book offers a novel account of the social and cognitive complexity of architecture in the making. The author dismisses both stylistic periodization and socio-political constructivist methods as being inadequate to the task of understanding the dynamic process of how architects generate design through space and materiality, instead showcasing the potentials of the pragmatist approach as a research tool in the field of architecture. Offering a new way of understanding architecture as practice that takes place within the interactive networks of human and non-human actors, the book also tells the intriguing story of the extensions of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.
Book ISBN:
9783039119523
Total pages:
227
Reprint edition:
reprinted in Jan 2012
Related website(s):
  • Peter Lang publishesr http://www.peterlang.com/index.cfm?event=cmp.ccc.seitenstruktur.detailseiten&seitentyp=produkt&pk=52852
  • pdf of the book www.peterlang.com/download/datasheet/52852/datasheet_11952.pdf
General notes:
  • RIBA President's Award for Outstanding University-located Research for the project An Ethnography of Architecture (books: The Making of a Building, 2009 and Made by the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, 2009). The judges said: 'This type of sociological and anthropological research into design practice is significant for architecture, adding a new perspective to the way we understand architectural processes. The two books are enjoyable to read, linking through hypertextual narratives an impressive quantity of historical information and technical data, stories and anecdotes, theoretical research and empirical observations.'

Institutional metadata

University researcher(s):

Record metadata

Manchester eScholar ID:
uk-ac-man-scw:4b1663
Created:
26th August, 2009, 19:27:08
Last modified by:
Yaneva, Albena
Last modified:
12th March, 2014, 11:29:49

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