Self-Sufficient Housing: 1st Advanced Architecture Contest [Paperback]

Lucas Capelli (Author), Vicente Guallart (Author), Iaac (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2006

The Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) presents a detailed selection of entries presented during its 1st Advanced Architecture Contest: Self-Sufficient Housing. Created for students and professionals to inspire changes in how new buildings are designed and constructed, the Self-Sufficient competition challenged participants to design a self-sufficient and ecologically oriented dwelling. In the early 20th century, the concept of dwelling was defined as a machine for living," a reference to a new way of understanding the construction of inhabitable spaces that characterized the Machine Age. Today, a century later, we face the challenge of constructing a sustainable or self-sufficient dwelling, a living organism that interacts with its environment, exchanging resources, and which functions as an entirely independent entity. The Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) has collected a selection of entries presented during its 1st Advanced Architecture Contest: Self-Sufficient Housing.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Nominated for RIBA 2007 INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARDS. 'A fascinating collection. A must read.' --RIBA International Book Awards

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Actar (December 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 849654043X
• ISBN-13: 978-8496540439
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #794,150 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nicely executed, March 4, 2008

By 

Mario Cipresso "deathbyarchitecture.com" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Self-Sufficient Housing: 1st Advanced Architecture Contest (Paperback)

This hand-sized publication chronicles the results of the 1st Advanced Architecture Contest sponsored by the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC). With the goal of stimulating social, technical and cultural progress, the international competition's intention was to be a precursor to more extensive research to be performed at the IAAC on the theme of the Self-Sufficient House.

As you can imagine, attracting 529 participants from 6 continents, the entries demonstrate an impressive diversity of ideas and development. The editors managed to locate each entry ideologically within the eight categories of 'Bio and Bug', 'Blow and Form', 'Common and Related', 'Modulated and Cost', 'Position and Site', 'Territorial and Community', 'Theory' and 'Wrapped'. Admittedly, the categories are nebulous at times and this may be due partly to the fact that many entries simply straddle multiple ideas and defy categorization.

The format and layout is easy-to-use and predictable with each entry presented on two pages with several entries earning additional pages where warranted. What is impressive about the work as a whole is the level of sophistication of the majority of the entries. Some are very diagrammatically and ideologically well-developed while others delve into the reality of the assembly and fabrication of the proposed systems. Because of the compact size of the publication and limited pages dedicated to each work, you sometimes get the impression that you're not seeing the entire picture as it relates to each work individually.

There are a wealth of ideas to be discovered here and IAAC should be commended on the quality of their dissemination of the information. Now, if only all competitions resulted in similar publications.