A few weeks ago we received the latest issue of Volume Magazine, a joint effort between Archis, AMO and the C-LAB. Continuing with their tradition of thematic issues with suggestive names, number 16 is called Engineering Society.
It relates somehow to Volume #14 (Unsolicited Architecture), on which the editorial analyzes the lost of relevance of modern architects because of their failure to adapt to a market driven society, urging them (us) to answer current society questions from the field of architecture.
On this issue, Arjen Oosterman starts with -yet another- incredible editorial, Planning Paradise, that analyzes how architects tried to impose their utopias in the past, without a direct relation with the end user of these projects. But now, we can certainly tell that society can´t no longer be made, and it´s actually being driven and shaped by the users as a consequence of democracy, and free market economy and politics. And this opens a new opportunity for architects, to be the ones that present new futures to this users, an opportunity lost long time ago in “our consumer society of commodity logic“.
Then, on a special section we find a great compilation of 20th century´s Utopian Architecture by Amir Djali. From the french Familistaire, Le Corbusier cities and housing projects, to Isozaki, Archigram and Superstudio utopias.
An interview with Reinier de Graff (OMA) tells us the concepts behind OMA´s Gateway Project and the Waterfront City in the middle west.
An article by Edwin Gardner on how Sim City has changed the game of planning reminded me when i was younger and played this game, before even knowing that architect´s were part of city planning or that i would become one.
After commenting this issue and while remembering Volume #14, i noticed that it has been quite some time after i have read such a compelling writing. Current arch theory magazines haven´t been as clear and direct as Volume, who has been addressing important aspects of current practice in contemporary society.
Full contents of this issue:
- Planning Paradise – Oosterman, Arjen
- Principles of Great Stories – Lange, Dick de
- User City in a Voter World – Ernsten, Christian and Joost Janmaat
- Seeing Like a Society Interview with James C. Scott – Scott, James C.
- Operation Murambatsvina – Kwame, Desmond
- Engineering Trust – Duyvendak, Jan Willem
- The Space of Experience – Thompson, Bill
- Epistemological Attack! – Weizman, Eyal
- Amateur as Pioneer – Bunyan, Christian
- Disperse and Rule – Uitermark, Justus
- The Mighty Model – Heindl, Gaby and Drehli Robnik
- After Post, Ex, Neo, End and Re – Ernsten, Christian and Joost Janmaat
- Media Labs and Open Societies – Bullen, Andrew
- Designing Society: Peer 2 Peer – Bauwens, Michel
- 20th century’s Utopian Architecture – Djalali, Amir
- Up-Tempo Urbanism Interview with Reinier de Graaf – Graaf, Reinier de
- Packaging Utopian Sustainability – Lewis, Matt
- Chinese Dreams – Mars, Neville
- Manifesto or City Interview with Pier Vittorio Aureli – Aureli, Pier Vittorio
- Free Urbanism – Heester, Jeroen
- Slums and Slabs – Wassenaar, Steven
- 1 in 23 – Urban-Think Tank
- A Retroactive Lens on the Bijlmermeer – Vanstiphout, Wouter
- Smart Governance – Gerritsen, Erik and Jeroen de Lange
- Who’s in Control? – Oosterman, Arjen
- How Sim City Changed the Game of Planning – Gardner, Edwin
- A New Arena for Collective Activism – Hight, Jeremy
- Social Engineering in the Amsterdam Metropolis – Office for Social Engineering
- From the Volume Archive – Dool, Joos van den
You can buys this magazine here.
