Thom Mayne recently sent us his latest book, Combinatory Urbanism: The Complex Behavior of Collective Form. MIT Professor of Urban Design and Landscape Architecture, Alan Berger, hails this book as “nothing short of a tour de force and should be required reading for landscape urbanists and landscape architects. Students and general audiences of design and planning will find it difficult to go back into their disciplinary silos.” The twelve projects featured in this book “were generated over a ten-year period. They are assembled here for the first time as a single collection of our urban work. Ranging from sixteen acres–the World Trade Center–to fifty-two thousand acres–the New New Orleans Urban Redevelopment–these proposals are situated on different parts of the architecture-to-urban-design-scale continuum. Each project inhabits an ambiguous in-between territory in which physical scale exceeds architecture but the manifestation still requires architectural qualities in order to make sense in its context.”

We recently received a monograph of Cebra’s work. This young firm is energetic, pushes the boundaries, goes after competitions, and has been successful in pushing many projects into reality. We are fan their work and have featured Cebra 16 separate times here on archdaily. Additionally, David Basulto, co-founder of ArchDaily, has become good friends with Mikkel Frost through an email correspondence interview that took place over the 4 months. The interview is prominently featured in the introduction of the book and makes for an interesting read.

We recently received one of the limited editions (n=500) of eVolo Skycrapers. At 1224 pages (9″ x 11.5″ x 2.5″), it is less of a coffee table book than it is an actual table. The book grew out of the 2006 eVolo Skyscraper Competition. “The contest recognizes outstanding ideas that redefine skyscraper design through the implementation of new technologies, materials, programs, aesthetics, and spatial organizations. Studies on globalization, flexibility, adaptability, and the digital revolution are some of the multi-layered elements of the competition. It is an investigation on the public and private space and the role of the individual and the collective in the creation of dynamic and adaptive vertical communities. Over the last six years, an international panel of renowned architects, engineers, and city planners have reviewed more than 4,000 projects submitted from 168 countries around the world. Participants include professional architects and designers, as well as students and artists. This book is the compilation of 300 outstanding projects selected for their innovative concepts that challenge the way we understand architecture and their relationship with the natural and built environments.”

Our friends from Studio Gang Architects recently sent us their new book Reverse Effect. ”The culmination of a yearlong collaboration between Studio Gang Architects and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Reverse Effect is dedicated to exploring the importance of the Chicago River and the possibilities for its 21st-century transformation. Both an information-rich resource and a catalyst for action, this book’s diverse content, perspectives, and visions illuminate potential trajectories for the future of our city.”

We recently received KieranTimberlake’s newest book, Inquiry. Instead of listing one project after the next, as in most monographs, this book is organized around ten gerunds: bending, coupling, filtering, inserting, offsetting, outlining, overlapping, puncturing, reflecting, and tuning. This is a lovely and informative way to view their work. The reason behind the book’s organized is explained by Karl Wallick in the preface. Wallick writes, “Architecture is not exactly whole: we remember instances, elements, and details, but rarely are the experiences and sensations in architectural experience comprehensive. The context of what we do as architects is also fragmentary, even as it seeks to be resolved comprehensively. Rather than insisting on the totality of complete works, architecture might be better understood as an infinite matrix of detailed moments.”

The Exploratorium is an interactive science museum that is moving from its current home of 40 years near the park-like Presidio to a prominent waterfront site in downtown San Francisco. The project involves the renovation of two decrepit piers, and the removal of a large parking lot/loading dock on pilings to provide net zero energy buildings (LEED Gold) and 2 acres of newly accessible public open space to accommodate large scale outdoor exhibits.

Landscape architect: Østengen & Bergo AS landscape architects MNLA Location: Lørenskog, Norway Architect: L2 architects AS Design: Collaboration between architect and landscape architect Budget: 1,630,000 Euro Project Area: 1,8 daa Project Year: 2011 Photographs: Østengen & Bergo landscape architects AS

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Pedro Kok

We recently received a book from Caramel Architekten. We previously featured four of their projects if you would like a taste of their work (click here). The book is presented in both German and English and offers a wonderful insight into their inspiration and range of work. Project Description: Caramel architectural office was founded by the architects Gunter Katherl (1965), Martin Haller (1966), and Ulrich Aspetsberger (1967) in 2002. The office s motto is: For each project anew! Most construction contracts result from successful bids for both national and international competitions. Some projects were also awarded with prizes, e.g. reklameburo , Einfamilienhaus h , the Kaps farm extension, or the temporary info shop for European Capital of Culture Linz 09. As one of the major offices and no longer as a young architectural office but with a noticeable number of high scale buildings Caramel Architects coin the Austrian architectural landscape.

We recently had the pleasure of having Steven Ehrlich visit our office and give a talk about his work. He is as personable as his work is fascinating. He left us with a recently published book of his work titled Steven Ehrlich Houses. We have featured two of the houses that are covered in the book if you would like a preview of what the book has to offer. (Ehrlich Architects’ projects houses and more) The book, of course, offers a far more in-depth look at the projects including a title page for each project with photographs of what inspired the design. As a world traveler who lived in west Africa for 6 years, Ehrlich’s inspirational photographs are captivating and clearly illustrate the driving force behind each project.

The 3-1 Zone of Government Building in Sejong City is a symbolic gate of the central administration town. The Urban Gate, where nature and citizen are together, and the Urban Plaza, which anybody can freely use, are planned for here. It is designed as a comfortable and cozy resting place shaped after nature. It will be used for various events including festivals and various culture and art activities. In terms of urban scale, the linear shape of existing master plan had been maintained.

Vallo Sadovsky Architects recently sent us their latest book, Urban Interventions. We have featured one of Vallo Sadovsky Architects’ projects before, BA_LIK. That project gets to the heart of what this book is about. Small urban interventions can completely transform and revive a space and city. This book is filled with writings and examples that expand on that idea. “The proposals in these pages are, with few exceptions, practical solutions to real urban problems, most of them having to do with the creation of place or connecting disparate places together, by shifting the perception of the value of a piece of open space or mending a neighborhood from the effects of a multilane freeway. Some of the most inspiring are also the most modest, replacing lost trees with potted plants that provide seating for rest or perhaps a conversation with a neighbor,” writes John Peterson.

Take a look inside after the break.

For those of you that enjoyed our post on the Covington Farmers Market you might enjoy visiting an exhibition that features Jeff Goldberg’s images and the students’ bass wood models of the project at The Virginia Center for Architecture in Richmond, Virginia. The exhibition, ”Design 2011: A Retrospective of Winning Work”, will be held from October 20, 2011 – January 8, 2012.

Additionally, design/buildLAB has been invited to give a lecture to coincide with the exhibit. The lecture, ”Teaching Practice”, will be held at the Richmond Convention Center on Thursday November 3rd from 10:45-12:15. For more information visit: http://www.virginiaarchitecture.org/ae_index.html

More images of the project after the break.

Jon Piasecki recently received a 2011 Honor Award from ASLA for his Stone River project. The magic of this project lies in the details. You need to watch the video (after the break) to appreciate the painstaking effort and attention to detail that went into this project.

Video, project description, and more photographs after the break.

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Landscape Artist: Jon Piasecki Location: New York Collaborators: Rob Davis Text: Jon Piasecki Photographs: Jon Piasecki, John Dolan, David Borden

We featured this project while it was in progress back in June. MiAS Arquitectes recently sent us the photographs of the completed building. Check out more photographs after the break.

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Architects: MiAS Arquitectes / Josep Miàs Location: Barcelona, Spain Project Area: 9,000 sqm Photographs: Adrià Goula

Architects: Studio 8 1/2 Location: Plovdiv, Bulgaria Project Year: 2011 Photographs: Courtesy of Studio 8 1/2

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“In the more recent past, it is the architecture of minimalism that has provided the most explicit and significant contribution to the reciprocal relationship between fashion and architecture. In many ways the abstraction and literal emptiness of minimalism has been the ideal setting for the valorization of fashion–a technique not dissimilar in its impact to the exotic settings of nineteenth-century department stores, both ultimately leading to the construction of desire…We are now at a period when the luxury retail store has become a crucial forum for architecture. A previously off-limits relationship has now found mutually beneficial common ground. Through the realization of numerous projects, the Architecture Department at Louis Vuitton has been involved in establishing this new territory, and continues to pursue the exploration of architecture in a continually changing present.”–Mohsen Mostafavi

David Bainbridge, founder of the Passive Solar Institute, recently sent us his book Passive Solar Architecture. The book is a great introduction for anyone interested in passive solar architecture. The content is kept simple and straightforward. It allows any novice to become familiar with the main concepts and techniques used in the field. The authors, Bainbridge and Ken Haggard, have also provided a free-downloadable lab manual that students can use to learn concepts and techniques through a hands-on approach.