Delayed Space: The Work of Homa Fardjadi and Mohsen Mostafavi

The current trend in architectural practice and criticism toward interstices and extremities in theory has in some circles ruled out a discussion of actual buildings. Excluded from such discourse is the “middle ground” of architecture: the space of a building itself as the site for actions. The work of Homa Fardjadi and Mohsen Mostafavi forces a reconsideration of this middle ground as more than the site of daily functioning, as “that which instigates the activities it also contains and presents.” Their presentations, vertiginous enfoldings of line, saturated montages, and ephemeral performances are designed to delay and extend the experience of space. Projects featured in Delayed Space include a competition entry for Evanston, Illinois, the Ackerman residence, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, urban design proposals in the former Soviet Union, and a gasworks project in Athens, Greece. In addition to an essay by the architects, the book includes a forward by Peter G. Rowe, essays by K. Michael Hays and Robin Evans, and a commentary on the Ackerman residence by the owner, renowned art historian James Ackerman. In-depth project descriptions are beautifully illustrated throughout.

Harvard Graduate School of Design and Princeton Architectural Press