Beyond Architecture: Imaginative Buildings and Fictional Cities (Hardcover)

~ R. Klanten (Author), L. Feireiss (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Beyond Architecture is the first publication of its kind to document the creative
exploration of architecture and urban propositions in the contemporary arts.
Presenting experimental projects from an array of creative contexts, the book
features a multitude of groundbreaking approaches. It demonstrates how not
only architects and designers but also artists are taking architecture as a starting
point for experimentation.
The projects collected in this book range from performance, installation art and
crafted sculptures to architectural models, alternative ideas for living spaces
and furniture, as well as illustration, painting, collage and photography. Through
stunning photographs and complementary texts, these visionary concepts reveal
the hidden creative potential for architecture and urban environments in inventive
ways.
The interplay between architecture and visual culture will certainly pave the future
aesthetic and shape the development of architectural practices and urban landscapes
in the decades to come. Beyond Architecture is not only an essential
and inspiring reference for architects, but for anyone interested in visual culture.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Die Gestalten Verlag; illustrated edition edition (February 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3899552350
• ISBN-13: 978-3899552355
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 9.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #198,750 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars new vistas in urban architecture, March 30, 2009

By	Henry Berry "Henry Berry" (Southport, CT) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Editor Feireiss's reference to Alice in "Alice in Wonderland" being led by a white rapid into a different world is apt. For "[t]his book sees itself as a portal into an unpredictable and marvelous realm" of experimental and futuristic architecture.

The direction to the more than 100 artists whose works are shown might have been, "Let your imagination run wild." Only a few are architects. From such a bevy of graphic, commercial, and fine artists working in a neighboring field of art, yet one in which the purposes, scales, and challenges are radically different from architecture, come ideas and works which have the intriguing blend of habitability and exoticism of cities in science-fiction movies.

The works range from the dystopian to the utopian; from rough immediacy to sterile remoteness; from the everyday to the visionary. Most of the works are individual buildings or clusters or parts of a city's network such as bridges and transportation sites. Some are chairs and tables and other objects for interior design. All, even the ones referring to the familiar and proletarian, seek to revise and in most cases enlarge the necessities and possibilities of architecture.