In this explorative monograph, Not Neutral: For Every Place, Its Story, internationally-renowned, award-winning architecture and design firm Rios Clementi Hale Studios evokes a dialogue between reader and designer about the increasing importance of celebrating and experiencing cities that are reflective of its cultures and ethnography. The monograph artfully showcases three decades of the firm’s work with commentary about its overarching philosophy and approach to each project from the voices of its leadership.
Chronicling the firm’s process and work through a series of supporting essays, the firm’s leadership articulates how the team identified unique qualities and memories embedded in each location to make the design tell that story. Each essay is accompanied by photographs and renderings of completed and soon-to-be-completed projects.
Headquartered in Los Angeles, Rios Clementi Hale Studios designs spaces that define the culture of the city. The team’s work extends throughout Southern California and to cities throughout the country and abroad. From the award-winning Grand Park in Downtown Los Angeles to the in-progress Flower Mart in San Francisco, Rios Clementi Hale Studios seeks to discover a project’s unique qualities and endeavors to design a space that tells the story of its people, culture, and history. With globalization spreading across the planet, the unique qualities that once existed within those individual places are gradually disappearing. As a result, it is Rios Clementi Hale Studio’s mission to harness the opposite mentality when approaching its projects and instead “make the world not neutral.”
Foreward by David C. Bohnett 5
NOT Neutral by Frances Anderton 6
For Every Place, Its Own Story by Mark Rios 8
Selected Projects 10
1 Nature in the City 14
The Wild by Greg Kochanowski 17
Global Gardens by Jesse Chisari 25
2 Dreaming Cities 58
Remapping the Grid by Greg Kochanowski 61
Mapping the City by Bob Hale 66
3 Get Together 124
The Mensch in the Garden by Samantha Harris 127
Sampling by Sebastian Salvado 149
4 Both/And 156
Second Natures by Abigail Feldman 159
A Good Story by Jennifer Schab 177
Cultivating the Atypical by Naseema Asif 187
Making Room for the Mountain Lion by Brent Jacobsen 195
5 Building Blocks 210
Cleavage, Morandi and Place by Bob Hale 213
You Are Here by Ben Toam 253
6 Let’s Eat 260
Plates: The Stories of Our Lives by Mark Rios 263
Concentric Circles of Experience by Aimee Less 285
7 Welcome Home 292
A Diverse Legacy by Jon Black 295
Three Lessons by Huay Wee 347
8 Verde 354
Verde Que te Quiero Verde by Elisa Read 357
Garden Variety by Samantha Harris 367
Sweet Dream by Carolyn Sumida 377
9 Kit of Parts 404
Pit of Arts by Frank Clementi 407
The Art of Kits by Chiaki Kanda 449
10 Wishing & Praying 456
Narrative Landscapes by Michael Sweeney 459
Count the Stars by Aimee Less 475
11 Working Together 486
At Home in the Office by Mark Motonaga 489
Designing Ourselves by Matt Richmond 507
AstroTurf by Julie Smith-Clementi 517
Creation Myths by Andy Lantz 527
12 Sing, Laugh, Dance 530
Together at Last by Mark Motonaga 533
The Stream of Warm Impermanence by Frank Clementi 551
13 Patterns in the Wild 562
Assimilation and Concoction by Jon Black 565
The Story of Place by Julie Smith-Clementi 582
Authors 598
Collaborators 599
Awards 600
Publications 602
Image Credits 609
Index 610
Title
Not Neutral: For Every Place, Its StoryAuthor
Rios Clementi Hale StudiosPublisher
AMMO BooksPublication year
2017Binding
HardcoverLanguage
English
