The title “Expanded Practice” comes from how Höweler + Yoon Architecture / My Studio have named their design methodology. And in this book it’s not just a title, as the book is really a guide on how this young firm conceives their projects rather than a mere catalog of works.
Their works can’t be grouped in types of buildings, instead their works are grouped in envelopes, natures, formats, interactions and media, as they range from a Möbius strip dress, to a responsive park.
What caught me while reading this book is the effective use of technology developed by this practice, not just mere eye candy as we are used to. It clearly shows how the architects’ experimentation with small electronic components could be derived into interactive spaces through a methodological work. And I have to repeat “metholodogy” as it is the most important part of this book, which makes it a learning tool instead of a construction catalog as we are used to on typical monographs.
More information about this book after the break.
Rising stars in Boston’s design scene, architects Eric Höweler and J. Meejin Yoon have in a single decade developed a reputation for radical experiments in architectural form. Their design methodology—what they call an “expanded practice”—combines intense research with interdisciplinary experimentation. Höweler and Yoon’s sensational, competition-winning lighting entry for the 2004 Athens Olympics exemplifies their fearless approach: without any prior experience in public space interactive design, the firm constructed a luminous, interactive soundscape installation at the base of the Acropolis. White Noise White Light featured a field of semiflexible fiber-optic strands that emitted white light and white noise in response to the movement of pedestrians. The project, an enormous success, enchanted a multitude of visitors who moved amidst the cilia of light.
Expanded Practice presents twenty-nine recent projects by this young firm encompassing a broad range of scales and media. The projects, divided into distinct but often overlapping research themes, include a museum courtyard program inspired by the Voronoi cell-packing algorithm (PS1 Loop); an outdoor light installation featuring hovering cones that capture and interact with solar energy, rainwater, and sound (Hover); a garment designed to turn inside out as it unravels (Möbius Dress); and a landscape design that weaves technology and texture into an integrated and interactive landscape (Tripanel).ÊPacked with drawings, diagrams, and photographs of each project’s design process, Expanded Practice provides an inspirational look into one of the most exciting young firms working in architecture today.
- Princeton Architectural Press
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press, New York Authors: J. Meejin Yoon and Eric Höweler Editor: Becca Casbon Designer: Omnivore
Language: English Cover: Paperback Pages: 208 Illustrations: 300 color illustrations and 45 black & white illustrations Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.6 x 0.9 inches ISBN: 978-1-56898-866-5
Index
Expanded Practice / J. Meejin Yoon and Eric Höweler Reimagining Propinquity / Andrew Payne and Rodolphe El-Khoury
Envelopes: Knot a Loop / Möbius Dress Inner Liner / Three degrees of felt Tangent Surfaces / PS1 Loop Surface Inflections / Loop Chairs Body Wrappers / Trio
Natures: Live Media / Pixel Field Cubic Yards / Outside in loft Inflected Easement / Cliff Street House Allée / Bridge House
Formats: Quatro Libri / Travel reports – Paratactics – Hybrid Cartographies – Absence Post-Nuclear Packing / Triple House Interlocked Zoning / Building 2345 Double Helix / Hayden Sro Multiple Spans / Net X-Ings Parallel Process / Sky Courts
Interactions: Incorporating Boundaries / Defensible Dress Body Contortions / Entasis Touch Sensitive / Hi Fi Performing Production / Hover Activated Fields / White Noise White Light
Media: Net Resolution / Low Rez White Out / White House White Screen Mediascape / Media Spill Split Personalities / Meadowlands Infra Green / Unsolicited small projects for the big dig
The Superproducers / Filip Tejchman Watching it Grow / Brooke Hodge
Project Credits Selected Bibliography and Exhibitions Biographies Acknowledgements
