Situation normal... txt
Paul Lewis, Marc Tsurumaki, David J. Lewis.
- 79 p. ill. ;plans. ; 22 cm. book
- Pamphlet architecture 21 .
- Pamphlet architecture no. 21. .
Snafu -- Container building / site: Lower East Side through-block -- Eavesdropping / site: Exit Art / The First World -- Exquisite Corpse clothing store site: East 53rd Street -- Free lobby, Block 1290 / site: Manhattan Block 1290 -- Mies-on-a-beam / site: seagram building -- Pull of beauty / site: StoreFront for Art and Architecture / Collaborator: Peter Pelsinski -- Skyfill, landfill / site: Governors Island -- Slip space / site: StoreFront for Art and Architecture / collaborator: Peter Pelsinski -- Sportbars / site:Chelsea mid-block infill -- Video, filmplex / site: Cooper Square --
In this volume, the latest addition to the award-winning Pamphlet Architecture series, the authors examine common architectural forms (chairs, doors, and walls) and programs (a cinema, a health club, a skyscraper) in order to dissect and reconfigure them. In the process they create ten new projects that draw their power from an oscillation between the recognizable and the surreal. Cleverly undermining the conventions and norms of contemporary architectural design, the authors pose a direct challenge to the seemingly endless search for new styles, arguing instead that the greatest potential for architecture in the twenty-first century rests on an imaginative examination of what we take for granted. Designed by authors, Situation Normal... weaves together text, photographs, and drawings. An introductory essay establishes the theoretical and historical position of the book.