February reading list: new-in architecture and design books

City of Permanent Temporality by ZUS

With non-conventional strategies, like crowdfunding, and radical methods, like the idea of “permanent temporary”: an open worksite to test new ideas, ZUS (Zones Urbaines Sensibles) studio in Rotterdam has pinpointed an original and effective method for reconsidering cities, beyond market crises and turbulence. One of their projects that is most representative of this innovative procedure dates to 2015: the il Luchtsingel, a walkway-bridge 400 metres long. The first infrastructure built thanks to crowdfunding (the campaign “I Make Rotterdam” launched in 2012 that collected contributions from over 8,000 supporters), the walkway bore another 18 city interventions in addition to connecting three neighbourhoods in Rotterdam that had been divided for years. Edited by the studio founders Elma van Boxel and Kristian Koreman, City of Permanent Temporality gathers in over 400 pages the diary of 18 years of urban activism applied to a city in constant transformation.

L'attrazione (L'aimant) by Lucas Harari
 
Set in the stone landscape of the Spas of Vals, L’aimant, the first graphic novel by Lucas Harari (Paris, b. 1990), is a thriller without a corpse, but also a tribute to architecture. L’aimant is a story about a young architecture student who, while researching for his thesis, begins investigating the mystery around the figure of Peter Zumthor. A few cold colours and a refined style are enough to render mysterious the famous building designed in the 1990s by the Swiss architect Peter Zumthor in a small valley in Grisons.

X-Ray Architecture by Beatriz Colomina  After years of research, the new book by Beatriz Colomina, X-Ray Architecture, explores the impact of medical theories and diagnostic technologies on the formation, representation and reception of modern architecture. In particular, it shows how early twentieth-century architecture was shaped by the prevailing obsession of its time: tuberculosis and its primary diagnostic tool, x-rays. While modern architects viewed architecture as a sort of medical tool to protect and improve the body, in parallel during those years x-ray technology was being developed. And while radiology revealed the insides of bodies, modern buildings showed their interior, inverting the relationship between private and public. Which new representation techniques of the human body and what new medical obsessions will influence the way in which we consider the architecture of the future?

Open Borders. In Defense of Free Movement by Reece Jones

Open Borders, edited by Reece Jones, presents 17 essays against reactionary nationalism written by anthropologists, geographers, activists and international relations experts exploring the advantages and benefits (for both sides) of free circulation of things and people in a world without frontiers. The first part of the publication is devoted to philosophical, legal and moral arguments in favour of open borders. The second part outlines the current situation of the European Union: from countries that have raised border walls to those that have adopted more inclusive policies, like Germany. Finally, the third part creates a dialogue between theorists and activists, like the group Calais Migrant Solidarity and No Borders Marocco.

Many Norths. Spatial practice in a polar territory by Lola Sheppard and Mason White As the Canadian geographer Louis-Edmond Hamelin writes, “There are many Norths in this North”. But there are even more dramatic changes (in the name of territorial sovereignty, rights of locals, exploitation of resources, economic interests) that have recently upset the balance of the Canadian Arctic, an immense land inhabited only by small isolated communities. What contribution can locals make in a world that is more and more globalised and how can architecture act as a bridge? What are the most valid tools and practices to operate in such a complex field? The study by Lateral Office, a Toronto-based studio founded by Lola Sheppard and Mason White in 2003, starts with this question. With drawings, maps, timelines, essays and interviews, the book explores the spatial practices in land negotiation, using the magnifying glass of city planning, of architecture, and a study of mobility and of resources.