Metropolis magazine includes three Harvard Graduate School of Design publications among its “25 Architecture and Design Books to Read This Fall,” an annual feature. The three GSD honorees span the publications department’s diverse output, including an entry from its Studio Reports series, the latest installment in its Incidents series, and a striking book on the work of John Portman.
Retooling Metropolis: Working Landscapes, Emergent Urbanism is a Studio Report chronicling the eponymous Fall 2016 option studio led by Chris Reed. The studio investigated so-called the fringe landscapes up and down Houston’s Buffalo Bayou, with an eye to cultivating new landscape occupations and new forms of nascent urbanism.
The Houston Chronicle noted Reed’s studio earlier this year. Furthermore, following Hurricane Harvey’s August 2017 strike, the studio’s work and research took on new meaning.
Another GSD publications series earned representation with Atelier Bow-Wow’s The Incidents: Architectural Ethnography. The Incidents series was conceived as a way to capture and represent unique public lectures and other events held at the GSD. The fourth volume in the series, The Incidents: Architectural Ethnography recollects a January 2017 GSD event with Atelier Bow-Wow’s Yoshiharu Tsukamoto and Momoyo Kaijima.
In the event, Tsukamoto and Kaijima spoke with the GSD’s K. Michael Hays, reflecting on representation, occupation, and the democracy of architecture. They unfolded their concept of an “ecology of livelihood” wherein shadow-less figures, objects, and spaces coexist with construction details. The book captures this conversation and presents it in new, written form, inviting fresh interpretation.
In addition, Metropolis praised May 2017 release Portman’s America: & Other Speculations, edited by GSD dean Mohsen Mostafavi, for Mostafavi’s exploration of two of Portman’s domestic projects, “where building becomes environment and architecture and landscape fully merge,” Metropolis writes.
“Featuring additional commentary from K. Michael Hays and Portman himself, the text is engaging on its own,” Metropolis continues, “yet it yields ground to stunning photography by Andreas Gursky, Jordi Bernadó, and Iwan Baan.”
See the full Metropolis roundup via the magazine’s website, and learn more about the full portfolio of GSD publications on the School’s publications webpage.