During the twentieth century’s Great Migration, the Hickmans were one among many African Americans families looking for affordable housing in Chicago. … [Read more...]
Bruno Taut: The City Crown (1919)
Second part of our series of posts on Bruno Taut, after "Bruno Taut: The Earth is a Good Dwelling (1919)" This is a translated version of part of … [Read more...]
Hans Hollein’s Alles Ist Architektur (1968)
“Everything is architecture“, Hans Hollein announced in the 1968 (1/2) edition of the “Bau“ journal. As correctly explained by Ethel Baraona, he was … [Read more...]
Confusion of Tongues: The Construction of the Tower of Babel
1 And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of … [Read more...]
Ettore Sottsass jr., Mobile and Flexible Environment Module, 1972
In 1972 Ettore Sottssas Jr. imagines a domestic environment composed of a networked system of grey plastic containers, equipped with sliding wheels … [Read more...]
“Ekümenopolis: City Without Limits” (a Documentary Film About Istanbul )
"If cities are a reflection of the society, what can we say about ourselves by looking at Istanbul? What kind of city are we leaving behind for future … [Read more...]
The Diesel Era Lithographs of Louis Lozowick (1920’s to 1940’s)
The Diesel era immortalized in the powerful lithographs of Louis Lozowick (December 10, 1892 – September 9, 1973). Born in the Russian Empire, … [Read more...]
“House Taken Over”, by Julio Cortazar, (1944) illustrated by Juan Fresan (1969)
Thanks to writer China Miéville (author of very good "The City & the City") and to his article about the "50 Sci-Fi & Fantasy Works Every … [Read more...]
Hoppla Kultur (50 pictures to the glory of our time) by A. Paul Weber
Ambiguous figure in German history and art, Andreas Paul Weber, prominent lithographer, draftsman and painter, was imprisoned during the Nazi regime … [Read more...]
Grant Wood and Regionalism (Visions on Rural Life and Work)
Together with John Steuart Curry and Thomas Hart Benton, Grant Wood was one of the three major figures of American regionalist art movement of the … [Read more...]
Salaryman 6 – A Modern Tale of Overwork in Japan
Salaryman #6, a short 2002 movie, is a tale of modern life in Japan. A man is seen sprawled on the floor in an office; his colleagues help him to his … [Read more...]
Pierre-Antoine Marraud, Proposal for a Dystopian Architecture
Some days ago I've been invited as part of the final jury for Pierre-Antoine Marraud (a former student of our atelier at ESA) diploma. This is his … [Read more...]
A Collection of Italian Board Games (Mostly 19th to 20th Century)
Kindly offered by the artist and architect Maurizio Cilli through his facebook account and mostly based upon the Game of the Goose. This collection … [Read more...]
Mark Lombardi’s Narrative Structures and Other Mappings of Power Relations
(...) the great question today is the question of globalization, the question of the unity of the world. Globalization proposes to us an abstract … [Read more...]
Mas Yendo Speaking of Himself
Two days ago Socks featured the work of Mas Yendo. Thanks to Stefano Massa (@doctorcrowd on Twitter) we can update the post with a video interview of … [Read more...]
Mas Yendo: Machines for Living in The End of Times
“What I speculate in my work is that new technologies will play an important part in how architects embrace new ideas. The advancement of seemingly … [Read more...]
About Metropolis
Metropolis is probably the film that set a standard for 20th century science fiction. The futuristic urban dystopia depicted by Austrian director … [Read more...]
“Utopia”, “The Mediatory City” and “The Struggle for Housing”: Three Issues by Gruppo Strum (1972)
Low popular culture and social activism blend together in this magazine of three issues by Gruppo Strum, commissioned by Moma in 1972. The three … [Read more...]
dOCUMENTA13: Francis Alÿs’ REEL/UNREEL (2011)
"On the 5th of september 2001, the taliban confiscated thousands of reels of film from the Afghan Film Archive and burned them on the outskirts of … [Read more...]
dOCUMENTA 13: News From Nowhere, by Moon Kyungwon & Jeon Joonho, [a Retrospective from the Future]
News from Nowhere is probably the most ambitious art-project of Kassel's dOCUMENTA 13. Presented in three forms: a film, an installation, a … [Read more...]
Otto Dix, Der Krieg (The War) – 1924
First World War was such a traumatic experience for Otto Dix, (he served as a machine-gunner in the Western front from 1914 to 1918) that he later … [Read more...]
There’s nothing you can do about it: Short history of the Architect and the Robot, by Gérard Courtieux (1969)
From one of the most impressive issues ever of L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui (Nouvel Environnement de l'Homme, 145/1969), a revealing article about the … [Read more...]
Across the Space Frontier, (1952)
A 50's publication on the space age, before 'real' space age was even started. Among the illustrations and cutaways of space stations, rockets and … [Read more...]
Mother, do you think they’ll drop the bomb? Post-apocalyptic depictions of 80’s Nuclear Paranoia
"Thinking that perhaps some terrible calamity was imminent—a nuclear catastrophe, or a sudden epidemic after a research-laboratory accident—and that … [Read more...]
