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A few weeks ago we received the latest issue of Volume Magazine, a joint effort between Archis, AMO and the C-LAB. Continuing with their tradition of thematic issues with suggestive names, number 16 is called Engineering Society.
It relates somehow to Volume #14 (Unsolicited Architecture), on which the editorial analyzes the lost of relevance of modern architects because of their failure to adapt to a market driven society, urging them (us) to answer current society questions from the field of architecture.
On this issue, Arjen Oosterman starts with -yet another- incredible editorial, Planning Paradise, that analyzes how architects tried to impose their utopias in the past, without a direct relation with the end user of these projects. But now, we can certainly tell that society can´t no longer be made, and it´s actually being driven and shaped by the users as a consequence of democracy, and free market economy and politics. And this opens a new opportunity for architects, to be the ones that present new futures to this users, an opportunity lost long time ago in “our consumer society of commodity logic“.
Then, on a special section we find a great compilation of 20th century´s Utopian Architecture by Amir Djali. From the french Familistaire, Le Corbusier cities and housing projects, to Isozaki, Archigram and Superstudio utopias.
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An interview with Reinier de Graff (OMA) tells us the concepts behind OMA´s Gateway Project and the Waterfront City in the middle west.
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An article by Edwin Gardner on how Sim City has changed the game of planning reminded me when i was younger and played this game, before even knowing that architect´s were part of city planning or that i would become one.
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After commenting this issue and while remembering Volume #14, i noticed that it has been quite some time after i have read such a compelling writing. Current arch theory magazines haven´t been as clear and direct as Volume, who has been addressing important aspects of current practice in contemporary society.
Full contents of this issue:
- Planning Paradise – Oosterman, Arjen
- Principles of Great Stories – Lange, Dick de
- User City in a Voter World – Ernsten, Christian and Joost Janmaat
- Seeing Like a Society Interview with James C. Scott – Scott, James C.
- Operation Murambatsvina – Kwame, Desmond
- Engineering Trust – Duyvendak, Jan Willem
- The Space of Experience – Thompson, Bill
- Epistemological Attack! – Weizman, Eyal
- Amateur as Pioneer – Bunyan, Christian
- Disperse and Rule – Uitermark, Justus
- The Mighty Model – Heindl, Gaby and Drehli Robnik
- After Post, Ex, Neo, End and Re – Ernsten, Christian and Joost Janmaat
- Media Labs and Open Societies – Bullen, Andrew
- Designing Society: Peer 2 Peer – Bauwens, Michel
- 20th century’s Utopian Architecture – Djalali, Amir
- Up-Tempo Urbanism Interview with Reinier de Graaf – Graaf, Reinier de
- Packaging Utopian Sustainability – Lewis, Matt
- Chinese Dreams – Mars, Neville
- Manifesto or City Interview with Pier Vittorio Aureli – Aureli, Pier Vittorio
- Free Urbanism – Heester, Jeroen
- Slums and Slabs – Wassenaar, Steven
- 1 in 23 – Urban-Think Tank
- A Retroactive Lens on the Bijlmermeer – Vanstiphout, Wouter
- Smart Governance – Gerritsen, Erik and Jeroen de Lange
- Who’s in Control? – Oosterman, Arjen
- How Sim City Changed the Game of Planning – Gardner, Edwin
- A New Arena for Collective Activism – Hight, Jeremy
- Social Engineering in the Amsterdam Metropolis – Office for Social Engineering
- From the Volume Archive – Dool, Joos van den
You can buys this magazine here.