Bøger af O Hopkins

This issue of AD posits that this re-examination and redeployment of postmodernist approaches is the architectural attempt to reflect, grapple with and make sense of the current political and economic situation. The term 'ad hoc' is used to describe a resistance to stylistic conformity and predictability that embraces individuality, and which conceives architecture in a broader cultural space. As a mode of practice marked by stylistic divergence, the links, shared interest and continuities that exist among a range of architects are often overlooked. It will explore and provide a critical analysis of the design tactics and the strategies that inform them, and will investigate some key questions: What is it that has led architects to adopt tactics that have long been vilified within architectural culture? What connections exist between our present moment and the postmodern one, architecturally and in terms of the broader political shifts, in particular our present moment's return of the grand narrative - whether of populist nationalism, identity or climate change? What do these tactics represent, how do they reflect this situation, and what do they offer in articulating a position for architects and the public role of their profession?This issue brings together a range of architects and critical voices to reflect on these questions and offer some answers. Essays by historians and critics situate practice in relation to postmodernism and its legacies. Following these will be essays by architects situating their work in relation to the ideas posited by the thematic introduction, and the broader contexts in which it operates and proceeds. The issue will be completed by interviews with early career architects, reflecting on their work thus far, its influences, pressures and future directions.

Architects are facing a crisis of agency. For decades, they have seen their traditional role diminish in scope as more and more of their responsibilities have been taken over by other disciplines within the building construction industry. Once upon a time, we might have seen the architect as the conductor of the orchestra; now he or she is but one cog in a vast and increasingly complex machine. In an attempt to find a way out of this crisis, there is growing debate about how architects might reassert the importance of their role and influence. On one side of this argument are those who believe that architects must refocus their attention on the internal demands of the discipline. On the other are those who argue that architects must, instead, reacquaint themselves with what many still believe to be the discipline's core mission of advancing social progress and promoting the public good, and at the same time the scope of their traditional disciplinary remit. At root, this question is fundamentally about freedom, about whether architects still possess it - if they have ever done - and whether it is possible to find the professional, disciplinary and individual autonomy to be able to define the spheres of their own practice. Presenting a variety of views and perspectives, this issue of AD takes us to the heart of what freedom means for architecture as it adapts and evolves in response to the changing contexts in which it is practised in the 21st century. Contributors include: Phillip Bernstein, Peggy Deamer, Adam Nathaniel Furman, Kate Goodwin, Charles Holland, Anna Minton, Patrik Schumacher, Alex Scott-Whitby, Ines Weizman, and Sarah Wigglesworth. Featured architects: Atelier Kite, C+S Architects, Anupama Kundoo, Noero Architects, Umbrellium, and Zaha Hadid Architects.