Current Issue: Domus 969

In this issue

Architecture reincarnated

The words recycling and reuse may be in the DNA of Japanese culture, but they sank into oblivion with the rise of unbridled consumerism after World War II. In more recent times, however, a number of Japanese architectural and urban developments have displayed a reversal of this trend.

Cover

Ramak Fazel, the photographer of the cover image describes his experience at Arcosanti: “Wafting in the wind against an Arizona sky, these colourful flags provide orientation to an Arcosanti swimmer. One might imagine that his submerged ears drown the hum from the nearby Interstate 17. The two poles of Paolo Soleri’s American experience—Cosanti and Arcosanti—were separated by 67 miles of unforgiving concrete road navigable only by the private automobile. The swimming pool at Arcosanti provided respite from more than the summer heat”.

Editoriale: Nuotare nel paesaggio

Per questo Salone del Mobile, Domus ha colto l’opportunità di rivisitare, attraverso l’archivio di Ramak Fazel, amici vecchi e nuovi—Paolo Soleri tra questi—nella mostra “Analog Blast” allestita alla Casa degli Atellani.

Op–Ed: The Nationalist Library


Journal


Photoessay

Losk. Alina Schmuch, Franca Scholz

The sublime is now

Over the past quarter century, the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein has operated as a site of applied architectural experimentation, challenging world-famous architects to rethink industrial buildings. The latest addition to the campus is a warehouse by sanaa; while its scale is imposing, it succeeds in introducing an element of poetic sublimity to the industrial site.

Social sustenance

A stone’s throw from Tokyo Narita Airport lies an unusual food processing facility, the Koisuru-Buta Laboratory. It offers long-term employment to differently-abled individuals, it includes an on-site restaurant open to the public, and its headquarters were designed by Atelier Bow-Wow. Yoshimura Yasutaka reports on this new model of factory designed around its social agenda.

Engineering and tradition

A foray into the office of Junya Ishigami in Tokyo reveals new aspects of his design philosophy, intent on creating architectural experiences poised between engineering challenges and simple gestures.

Architecture reincarnated

The words recycling and reuse may be in the dna of Japanese culture, but they sank into oblivion with the rise of unbridled consumerism after World War II. In more recent times, however, a number of Japanese architectural and urban developments have displayed a reversal of this trend. We report here on two examples, one in Yokohama and one in Kurashiki.

Rebuilding communities

While the reconstruction in Japan proceeds at a slow pace, a group of architects has created a series of public buildings working directly with local communities, erecting kindergardens, community spaces and play centres near temporary housing zones. Although modest in size, these projects are profoundly appreciated by their users thanks to their spirit of sharing.

The Metabolist routine

Japanese Metabolism was more than just an architectural movement: it was a lifestyle. Two young Portuguese architects, who currently reside in Kisho Kurokawa’s Nakagin Capsule Tower, report on their daily 21st-century life in one
of the 20th century’s most iconic buildings.

Network: House in Chayagasaka

Starting from a central room, the house by Tetsuo Kondo grows organically with a series of differently shaped boxes.

Where cities talk to money

Sam Jacob reports from mipim, the annual real estate fair in Cannes where the mechanics of contemporary city-making are laid bare.

Design wars

Design, technology or marketing? Which factors most affect the success of consumer electronics? Samsung’s overtaking of Apple—in its smartphone and tablet sales—relaunches a debate involving the whole industrial design world. Justin McGuirk talked about the issue with the Korean giant’s design chief when they met at the Milan Furniture Fair.

Prêt à travailler: workaholic holograms

Holograms of human figures are appearing increasingly often in airports as virtual assistants. And they may also be introduced in various commercial activities, seeing as they work 24 hours a day without ever complaining. But, as Joanne McNeil inquires, what kind of empathy can these humanoids expect to establish with their users?

Sharjah New art maps

Laid out along a clear and articulate path within the city, the 11th edition of the Sharjah Biennial reintroduces a focus on the relationship between lifestyle and tradition, in an Arab emirate that considers art as infrastructure for the educational system.

Padiglione Crepaccio: Venice Art Biennale Edition

Harking back to the origins of the Biennale, when you could buy the art on show, the Crepaccio Pavilion—which Domus is supporting with a partnership project—will sell the works of ten young artists via the yoox.com online platform, raising the profile of artists excluded from the Venetian stage. Can a pavilion-as-provocation rewrite the rules of the contemporary art system?

Twin’Z concept car. In Lovegrove with Renault

Still at the concept stage—but potentially production-ready today—the all-electric city car designed by Ross Lovegrove for Renault is a graphic-organic sculpture. The result of applying parametric processes to car design, it disposes of the superfluous to take lightness and spaciousness to the extreme.

Rassegna

Kitchens.

Panorama


Cold Case

FAUP Porto.