Bøger af Giaime Botti

This book compiles a curated selection of texts authored by architects and scholars hailing from Asia, Europe, and North America. Their research, often intertwined with practical applications, delves into the intricate relationship between material culture, technology, and architecture within the broader cultural and social milieu. Three keywords¿construction, materials, encounters¿serve as the organizing framework for the book, guiding readers through a diverse array of case studies and experiences where these elements intertwine seamlessly. Indeed, these terms are intricately interwoven, reflecting the inseparability of technology from culture.The first part of the book delves into the poetics and theoretical underpinnings of construction, drawing from the works of various designers across China, Japan, and India. The subsequent section navigates the terrain of construction materials, exploring their evolution, manufacturing processes, and utilization, with a particular focus on diverse timber products and bamboo. The final part of this compilation embarks on a journey through historical encounters between the East and West spanning over a century. It meticulously investigates the exchanges, misunderstandings, and innovations catalyzed by these interactions. Collectively, these texts offer a profound and original perspective on the myriad experiences and challenges associated with the intricate interplay between technological advancements, tectonic preferences, and socio-cultural dynamics within the architectural landscape of the Asia-Pacific region.

This book offers a unique glance into the process of globalisation of the architectural practice during the last three decades through the lenses of innovative methodologies in architectural history based on quantitative data. Focusing on the golden age of globalisation (1990-2019), it investigates the transnational work of more than one thousand architectural firms of different business models from Europe, North America, and the Asia-Pacific in a broad sample of emerging markets: Mainland China, South-East Asia, India, the Persian Gulf, Sub-Saharan Africa, Russia and Kazakhstan, and Latin America. In the book, different thematic geographies are presented to explore the global scope of the contemporary profession, examine significant projects and the structural conditions behind them, and reveal the debates that such works generated. Understanding the global agency of design firms in emerging markets also becomes a way to study different market conditions, modes of production, and architectural trends comparatively and to highlight the shifts that occurred in the profession over the last few decades. The use of quantitative methodologies produces a novel and updated narrative on contemporary architecture in emerging markets grounded in quantitative data rather than in preassumptions and purely qualitative interpretations. Richly illustrated, this book is further enhanced by an ample set of maps, graphs, and tables to visualise data better.