This is a new architecture for postwar Japan. Once there was a nation that went to war, but after they conquered a continent their own country was destroyed by atom bombs...then the victors imposed democracy on the vanquished. For a group of apprentice architects, artists, and designers, led by a visionary, the dire situation of their country was not an obstacle but an inspiration to plan and think - although they were very different characters, the architects worked closely together to realize their dreams, staunchly supported by a super-creative bureaucracy and an activist state...after 15 years of incubation, they surprised the world with a new architecture - Metabolism - that proposed a radical makeover of the entire land...Then newspapers, magazines, and TV turned the architects into heroes: thinkers and doers, thoroughly modern men. Through sheer hard work, discipline, and the integration of all forms of creativity, their country, Japan, became a shining example...when the oil crisis initiated the end of the West, the architects of Japan spread out over the world to define the contours of a post-Western aesthetic. Between 2005 and 2011, architect Rem Koolhaas and curator Hans Ulrich Obrist interviewed the surviving members of Metabolism, together with dozens of their mentors, collaborators, rivals, critics, proteges, and families. The result is a vivid documentary of the last avant-garde movement and the last moment that architecture was a public rather than a private affair.
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. Learn more. |
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Authors
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Product Description
About the Author
Rem Koolhaas is a co-founder of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture. Having worked as a journalist and script writer before becoming an architect, in 1978 he published Delirious New York. In 1995, his book S,M,L,XL summarized the work of OMA and established connections of contemporary society and architecture. Amongst many international awards and exhibitions he received the Pritzker Prize (2000) and the Praemium Imperiale (2003). Hans Ulrich Obrist (born 1968) is a curator, critic and historian. He is currently Co-director of Exhibitions and Programmes and Director of International Projects at the Serpentine Gallery, London. Obrist is the author of The Interview Project, an extensive ongoing project of interviews.
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By ly
Format:Paperback
Tells the fantastic story of the "last avant-garde in architecture", the deeply influential Japanese metabolism group through a series of interviews putting the movement into context. The interviews are done mostly by Koolhaas and Obrist.
Supplemented with pictures of the relevant projects, it tells the grand story of metabolism in and excellent and interesting way.
Sometimes, you wish for more facts about specific projects. There are also some shortcomings in graphical design i.e. hard to read texts due to color and placement close to the spine. This and cheap paper stops it from being a five.
However, it is an absolute must for anyone interested in Japanese architecture.
Supplemented with pictures of the relevant projects, it tells the grand story of metabolism in and excellent and interesting way.
Sometimes, you wish for more facts about specific projects. There are also some shortcomings in graphical design i.e. hard to read texts due to color and placement close to the spine. This and cheap paper stops it from being a five.
However, it is an absolute must for anyone interested in Japanese architecture.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is an excellent book - an incredibly well researched and indepth analysis of Metabolism. It is refreshingly full of plans, diagrams, photos and archive material (all clearly laid out). There is also an enjoyable commentary from Rem Koolhaas alongside the interviews (including a very personal and heartfelt review of Kisho Kurokawa by Charles Jecks) - I thoroughly recommend this.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Shipped to Spain, faster than expected. The book is a bit too specific and literal (mostly interviews) but as always, Koolhaas texts are sharp and revealing. Anyway, the subject itself and the selected projects are interesting enough, although they're not really analyzed but shown as the architectural context of the designers who are interviewed.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 10 reviews
4.6 out of 5 stars
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
