Pamphlet Architecture 30: Coupling: Strategies for Infrastructural Opportunism - Softcover

Mason White; Lola Sheppard; Neeraj Bhatia; Maya Przybylski

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1568989857 ISBN 13: 9781568989853

Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press, 2011

Synopsis

Participants in the Pamphlet Architecture 30 competition were asked to respond to the theme "Investigations in Infrastructure," and propose new directions for architecture, transportation, energy, cities, and agriculture at a continental scale. The winning entry, Coupling, imagined six daring projects: a high-speed rail system across the Bering Strait that also collects freshwater from the seasonal iceshelf; a decommissioned airport transformed into a geothermal data farm and agriculture site; thickening on/off ramps around "big box" stores into circular parking lots; a call toinclude landfills in the list of preserved open spaces; and a saline terminal lake turned into a water farm, recreational retreat, and habitat haven. Coupling argues that infrastructures behave as artificially maintained natural systems. Rather than a New Deal approach of massive engineering or iconic infrastructure, Coupling employs adaptable, responsive, small-scale interventions whose impacts are global in scale.

About this title

Review:

"In many respects Coupling defines an architectural vision (or one architectural vision) of the 21st century, merging an expanded view of the architect's role with the increased scope and opportunities that new data provides design practice. In a time when Daniel Burnham's addage of "make no small plans" seems almost naive in the wake of economic collapse, Coupling argues that going big or going home is the only way forward in a new landscape of information driven architecture." -- thefunctionality.com

"The 30th installment in this canonical series is thankfully a great one, authored by Lateral Office and InfraNet Lab, a design firm and its attendant research blog that I've been following for many years....It's a solid pamphlet, both practical and imaginative--made even more provocative by its implied feasibility--and a fantastic choice for the 30th edition of this long-running series." --BLDG BLOG

About this edition

• Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1568989857
• ISBN 13: 9781568989853
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 80