The architecture acts in and upon the city through mediums of code-building codes, zoning codes, civil, social, environmental codes,etc. It should be less considered the simple design of objects – it is more the configuration of multiple and differentiated codes into new sequences and relations. The code is a systematic arrangement of relationships that specifies the legitimate and illegitimate function of the objects and behaviors. The contemporary city is one dense mesh of codes, overlapping into frantic dialogue. Whatever the design begins from –  politics, economics and finance, the codes always exist in advance.

Unlike in a conventional design method, this design project required to encode and test whether the intended code worked properly or not. In order to encode the specific code, the group of GSD Harvard students, authors of this project, researched Tokyo city. Unlike other cities, Tokyo has evolved based on train transportation system, and it has diversified local culture at every station. The interesting fact is that Tokyo still has a form of livable city, despite his very dense populated condition. Read the rest of this entry »

(IN)FORMAL L.A.: The Space Of Politics
Victor J. Jones
Perfect Bound
136 pages

(IN)formal LA: The Space of Politics

Often portrayed as a confluence of cars and movies, this book traces another course to uncover Los Angeles’ primal sources of creation – land and opportunity. Within the endless sprawl there reside flurries of uncodified spatial configurations that no high-definition map or satellite image can accurately capture nor present. (IN)formal LA explores a range of unique spatial practices and pedagogies through the lens of politics in Los Angeles. While this book articulates growing skepticism in current design discourse and education, it also provides a spatial awareness that is culturally rooted, socially responsive and vitally connected to the city. Composed of essays, photos, projects and interviews, (IN)formal LA embraces the quirky, celebrates the wide and embellishes the close range to expose the complex social organizations within this contemporary urban network. (IN)formal LA serves as both a textbook for classes in art and architecture, urban design, planning and theory in addition to responding to the increasing interest in the study of Los Angeles by scholars in other fields. The book provides an extended overview of the range and variety of urban issues that are critical to understanding present-day Los Angeles.

“As hard as it is to wrap the mind around the urban mosh pit known as Los Angeles, it is always comforting to think someone has given a knowing push toward deciphering its DNA. Victor Jones’s compilation of critical essays and native observations does just that. Every L.A. explorer needs a copy in his or her back pocket.” — Craig Hodgetts, partner of Hodgetts+Fung and professor of architecture, University of California, Los Angeles

“What form will the contemporary city, with all its fugitive qualities, continue to take? This book, with Los Angeles as the backdrop, tackles the question head on, adding ideas and dimension that will be relevant to the debates concerning all emerging cities.” — Michael Maltzan, principal of MMA and architect of Innercity Arts, Los Angeles

“The studio at the heart of this book, and the essays that circle around it, show how architectural practice and pedagogy can open up a space of possibility for more democratic and just forms of political life to emerge if we are willing to embrace and build upon their fragile yet persistent reverberations.” — Aron Vinegar, Director of Art History and Visual Culture, University of Exeter, UK and author of I AM A MONUMENT: On Learning from Las Vegas

Victor J. Jones is assistant professor of architecture at the University of Southern California. His research lies at the intersection of architecture, infrastructure and community building within cities.

(IN)fotmal LA: The Space of Politics

(IN)formal LA: The Space of Politics

(IN)formal LA: The Space of Politics

(IN)formal LA: The Space of Politics

(IN)formal LA: The Space of Politics

(IN)formal LA: The Space of Politics

BIG Architects won the competition for designing the Museum of Human Body in Montpelier, France. Le Cité du Corps Humain, as the project title is in French, is conceived as a confluence of the park and the city – or the nature and architecture – bookending the Charpak Park along with the Montpellier city hall. The urban pavement and the parks turf flow together in an embrace, while forming pockets of terraces, overlooking the park and elevating islands of nature above the city.

The form of the museum resembles the seismic fault line, and the architectural crusts of planet earth are lifted and mingled in order to form an underlying continuous space of niches and caves, lookouts and overhangs. The series of singular pavilions weave together to form a unified institution, almost as individual fingers united together in a grip. Read the rest of this entry »