Criticism

The Summer 2011 (vol. 13 no. 2) issue of the Nexus Network Journal features eight papers that resulted from the eighth international, interdisciplinary conference entitled "Nexus 2010: Relationships between Architecture and Mathematics, held in Porto, Portugal, in June 2010. This is the second issue of this volume that contains papers presented at the conference. In the spirit of interdisciplinarism that characterises the NNJ, the presentations range in time from the historical to the contemporary; in scale from the level of the individual building to urban design; in subject matter from pure architectural theory to building practice; and in themes from geometry and perspective to music. The aim of the NNJ is to provide a wide panorama of the relationships that exist between the disciplines of architecture and mathematics, and this issue captures those relationships in all their richness and variety.

Der Zürich Atlas richtet sich an ein breites Publikum mit Interesse an den Dynamiken der Stadtentwicklung und legt das Beziehungsgeflecht zwischen der Zürcher Stadtform und urbanen Codes offen. Basierend auf kollaborativen Forschungsprojekten der Accademia di architettura in Mendrisio und der ETH Zürich zeigt er anhand diverser historischer Fallstudien von 1900 bis heute auf, dass sich die im Wandel befindlichen physischen und sozialen Bedingungen der Stadt auf die Entwicklung regulatorischer, rechtlicher und normativer Rahmenbedingungen auswirken. Und dass diese urbanen Codes den Status quo nicht nur bestätigen und aktuelle Konflikte regeln, sondern auch Visionen für die Stadt artikulieren.

Die Arbeit an seiner Bunker-Archäologie machte Paul Virilio (1932-2018) zu dem Autor, als den man ihn heute kennt. Als er in der zweiten Hälfte der 1950er Jahre begann, die verlassenen Bunker- anlagen aus dem Zweiten Weltkrieg entlang der französischen Atlantikküste zu fotografieren, war er als Kunst-Glaser tätig. 1966 trat er in der Zeitschrift architecture principe, deren Mitheraus- geber er war, erstmals mit seinen Fotografien an die Öffentlichkeit. Damals interessierten ihn vor allem die architektonischen Aspekte dieser Kriegsbauten. Er las die Bunker als "Vorboten einer neuen Architektur", die er mit dem Begriff der Kryptischen Architektur zu fassen suchte. 1975 zeigte das Centre Pompidou in seiner Gründungsphase Virilios Bunker-Archäologie erstmals in einer Ausstellung. Parallel dazu erschien sein bahnbrechendes Buch, in dem alle Motive seines philosophischen Denkens bereits angelegt sind: militärischer Raum und Kommunikationskrieg, Täuschung und Beschleunigung, akribische Lektüre der Gegenwart und Lust an philosophischer Spekulation. Auch knapp 50 Jahre nach seiner Erstveröffentlichung bleibt die Bunker-Archäologie ein Werk voller Bezüge zur Gegenwart. Anlässlich einer Ausstellung im Centre Pompidou erscheint eine Neuedition in deutscher, englischer und französischer Sprache.Paul Virilio (1932-2018), französischer Philosoph, Urbanist und Kritiker der Mediengesellschaft. Zu seinen wichtigsten Werken zählen Krieg und Kino. Logistik der Wahrnehmung (1984) und Rasender Stillstand (1990).

Die Arbeit an seiner Bunker-Archäologie machte Paul Virilio (1932-2018) zu dem Autor, als den man ihn heute kennt. Als er in der zweiten Hälfte der 1950er Jahre begann, die verlassenen Bunker- anlagen aus dem Zweiten Weltkrieg entlang der französischen Atlantikküste zu fotografieren, war er als Kunst-Glaser tätig. 1966 trat er in der Zeitschrift architecture principe, deren Mitheraus- geber er war, erstmals mit seinen Fotografien an die Öffentlichkeit. Damals interessierten ihn vor allem die architektonischen Aspekte dieser Kriegsbauten. Er las die Bunker als "Vorboten einer neuen Architektur", die er mit dem Begriff der Kryptischen Architektur zu fassen suchte. 1975 zeigte das Centre Pompidou in seiner Gründungsphase Virilios Bunker-Archäologie erstmals in einer Ausstellung. Parallel dazu erschien sein bahnbrechendes Buch, in dem alle Motive seines philosophischen Denkens bereits angelegt sind: militärischer Raum und Kommunikationskrieg, Täuschung und Beschleunigung, akribische Lektüre der Gegenwart und Lust an philosophischer Spekulation. Auch knapp 50 Jahre nach seiner Erstveröffentlichung bleibt die Bunker-Archäologie ein Werk voller Bezüge zur Gegenwart. Anlässlich einer Ausstellung im Centre Pompidou erscheint eine Neuedition in deutscher, englischer und französischer Sprache.Paul Virilio (1932-2018), französischer Philosoph, Urbanist und Kritiker der Mediengesellschaft. Zu seinen wichtigsten Werken zählen Krieg und Kino. Logistik der Wahrnehmung (1984) und Rasender Stillstand (1990).

Architects, historians, and theorists have had a weird obsession with fascist architecture since postmodernism. Why? And who are the antifascist architects? What does antifascist architecture look like? Antifascist Architecture is the first attempt at creating a working definition of antifascist architecture after academia has spent decades fetishizing fascist architecture. Brilliant scholarship has of course been presented about anti-colonial architecture, liberation architecture, and so forth. Yet antifascist architecture is an avenue that remains to be explored. This book does just that, offering a kaleidoscopic, peripatetic bricolage of architects who heroically aligned themselves with antifascist struggles, buildings made in the name of antifascism, and a call to arms for antifascist utopian futures. It is written for students and practitioners of architecture, but also activists and scholars in the social sciences who are interested in antifascist history, theory, and practice.

Totems brings together ten texts by architect, historian, and critic Irénée Scalbert. Written between 2001 and 2025, they reflect nearly three decades of critical engagement with architecture and its cultural contexts. Ranging in length and register-from concise meditations to extended analytical essays-the collection captures the evolution of Scalbert's thinking as a critic, teacher, and participant in architectural discourse. Organized thematically into sections on buildings, cities, and the environment, Totems traces a loosely autobiographical arc. Earlier pieces echo Scalbert's formative years in London during a period of architectural ferment are marked by the work of James Stirling and Norman Foster, influential figures from Europe such as Aldo Rossi, as well as his close association with a generation of contemporaries including Peter St John (Caruso St John Architects), and Tom Emerson and Stephanie Macdonald (6a architects). Later texts expand outward, both geographically and conceptually, as Scalbert brings a speculative and at times personal lens to questions of urbanism, nature, and meaning in contemporary architecture.

Convivium: Food Systems at the Limit invites readers on a journey through the intricate networks that feed the world. Exploring how food production shapes landscapes, cities, and everyday life, the book uncovers the architecture of our global food systems. From greenhouses and fishing ports to farms and feed-crop fields, it shows how architecture and territory respond to the pressures of global food production and consumption. Through a rich interplay of essays, photography, and research, Convivium highlights the environmental, political, and social challenges that define what and how we eat. It asks pressing questions that link ecology and culture, science and design: How do tomatoes connect to salmon? How do barns shape animal lives? And how does soy from Brazil end up feeding livestock in Europe? Twelve thematic fields structure the book. Contributions on tomatoes, strawberries, salmon, tropical fruit, cows, bulls, octopuses, carp, shrimp, soy, grain, and worms reveal a complex web of trade routes, technologies, and labor relations. Different perspectives demonstrate how food production is linked to climate change, migration, and the transformation of rural and urban spaces. By following these stories, Convivium exposes the hidden infrastructures, economic systems, and spatial consequences of industrial agriculture and global supply chains. This volume brings together architecture, science, politics, and economics to offer fresh perspectives on how we produce, move, and consume food. Richly illustrated, it combines analytical insight with visual storytelling. It invites readers to rethink the systems behind everyday meals-to see how food shapes the world we inhabit and to imagine more sustainable and equitable ways of living together. With contributions by Grace Abou Jaoude, Betina Albrecht, Maximilian Atta, Andjelka Badnjar, Sepp Braun, Giulia Bruno, Jean-Marc Caimi, Niklas Fanelsa, Neal Haddaway, Nikolai Huber, Nicole Humi¿ski, Diego Inglez de Souza, Natalie Judkowsky, Nikos Katsikis, Kees de Klein, Andres Lepik, María D. López Rodríguez, Jan Müller, Víctor Muñoz Sanz, Sofia Nannini, Raj Patel, Valentina Piccinni, Stefan Pielmeier, Olga Pindyuk, Réka Rozsnyói, Tiago Saraiva, Katrin Schneider, Johannes Schwartz, Gent Shehu, Rafael Sousa Santos, Carolyn Steel, Amelie Steffen, Sinan von Stietencron, Dániel Szalai, André Tavares, Mark Titley, Öykü Tok, and José Luis Vicente Vicente.

This book presents the first comprehensive overview of Holger Kleine’s architectural fantasies, created since 2021 and previously published only in scattered form. His hand drawings are part of a centuries-old tradition of imaginary architecture: works realized in the act of drawing, not intended to be built. The drawings, grouped into four cycles, explore themes of body and space, light, geometry, and antinomy – fundamental realities inherent in every spatial creation. As such, they are contributions to a drawn phenomenology<BR> of architecture. The drawings have other shared properties: all of them are atmospherically dense, drawn with layers of colored pencil, employ a parallel-projection method, and explore the possibilities of sequencing architecture in a field of nine squares. Further layers of meaning are formed through literary references. Each cycle has its starting point in an idiosyncratic reading of a literary masterwork: the biblical Genesis, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Marcel<BR> Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, and Robert Musil’s The Man Without Qualities. Kleine’s drawings do not illustrate scenes or episodes in these works: rather, they function as what he calls »archimorphoses«, transforming themes, methods and motifs from literature into the realm of architecture. Through this critical-poetic process, the drawings explore different linguistic possibilities of text and image, literary fiction and drawn fiction, without getting caught up in simplistic correspondences.<BR> The book’s accompanying essays, written by architectural theorists, practising architects, art historians, and philosophers, interpret Kleine’s drawings from the disciplinary perspectives of their authors.

The architecture of the two Lucerne-based architects preserves the identity of established townscapes and settlements through its careful integration into the built environment and complements them with quality and care. This is achieved thanks to their finely tuned sense of what is appropriate in each place and for each task. Text in German.<BR><BR>The buildings by Durrer Architekten possess a certain self-evidence, as if they had always been there. Their complexity only becomes apparent at second glance. The architecture of the two Lucerne-based architects with roots in Obwalden preserves the identity of established townscapes and settlements through its careful integration into the built environment and complements them with quality and care. This is achieved thanks to their profound knowledge of architectural history and their finely tuned sense of what is appropriate in each place and for each task.<BR> <BR>This monograph presents a body of work that mediates between tradition and the present and understands architecture as a responsible, sustainable cultural practice, characterized by a finely tuned sense of scale, attitude and significance.<BR> <BR>Text in German.

Gibt es eine architektonische und städtebauliche Agenda hinter der Politik extrem rechter Kräfte? Diese Leitfrage durchzieht Right-Wing Spaces (Rechte Räume) dessen Essays zwischen 2015 und 2020 entstanden und viele aktuelle Diskussionen vorwegnahmen. Ergänzt um ein neues, ausführliches Vorwort, das die Entwicklungen im internationalen Raum beleuchtet, wird in den erstmals gesammelt auf Englisch vorliegenden Texten deutlich: Architektur hat sich weltweit zu einem Schlüsselmedium der autoritären Rechten sowohl aus dem völkischen und geschichtsrevisionistischen wie auch dem libertären Spektrum entwickelt. Begleitet wurde diese Entwicklung von einer Niedrigzinspolitik der größten Zentralbanken, die in Folge der Weltfinanzkrise 2008 implementiert wurde und zu einer rapiden Erhöhung der Bauproduktion sowie zu einem Paradigmenwechsel weg von der Architektur als Nutzungs- hin zur Assetform führte. - Politisch hochaktuelles internationales Thema - Englische Übersetzung der vielbeachteten Texten von Stephan Trüby zur politischen Dimension von Rekonstruktionen - Fortsetzung der Diskussion um die Dimensionen des Antisemitismus und Rassismus in Architektur und Architekturausbildung

Zurich Atlas and Zurich Primer: two books about urban planning and city development. Fully illustrated with 350 images and 90 plans.<BR><BR>The Zurich Atlas is aimed at a broad audience interested in the dynamics of urban development and reveals the network of relationships between Zurich’s urban form and its urban codes. The Zurich Primer addresses urban growth and transformation in relation to urban codes and proposes densification scenarios for the city of Zurich in the context of the projected population increase.

The British architect Tony Fretton has long been renowned for a minimalist language with its own distinctive vocabulary. The two volumes of this definitive monograph cover four decades of work by Tony Fretton Architects. <BR><BR>The British architect Tony Fretton has long been renowned for a refined, minimalist language with its own distinctive vocabulary. His award-winning projects combine innovation with a deep understanding of place, culture and community. The practice first gained international recognition with the Lisson Gallery (1990) as well as the Red House in London (2001). Other well-known works include Two Apartments in Groningen (2001), the Fuglsang Art Museum in Lolland (2008), Anish Kapoor’s house in London (2008) or the British Embassy in Warsaw (2009).<BR> <BR>The two volumes of this definitive monograph cover four decades of work by Tony Fretton Architects. The first volume, Buildings, comprises a text by Christoph Grafe while in the second volume, Projects, essays by Benjamin Machin, Mark Pimlott and Irina Davidovici contextualise the oeuvre. The elegant and restrained graphic design of the publication reflects Fretton’s rational, unembellished style.<BR> <BR>The separate volume Photographs (978-3-03761-384-9) acts as a companion to this monograph, presenting a selection of Fretton’s photographs between 2010 and 2025.

German edition of the renowned Swiss female architect.<BR><BR>This book is a very personal form of architectural autobiography. It is aimed at engaging with the complex, multifaceted nature of considerations and experiences on which the architecturally robust works of Aita Flury are based.<BR> <BR>In 12 essays, Aita Flury discusses the underlying principles of her design work, striving to grasp the architectural material in the sense of self-assurance and an examination of her experiences. The buildings and projects resulting from these thought processes are presented with a high density of images and plans, thereby mutually enhancing their significance through their interaction. A dialogue section with articles by the architects Roger Boltshauser, Axel Fickert, Jonathan Sergison and Andrea Wiegelmann, as well as the engineer Jürg Conzett, reflect a “close” external perspective and bind the works into architectural discourse.<BR> <BR>Text in German.

SHIFT: Architecture in Times of Radical Change is published in conjunction with the sixth Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB 2025) under the artistic direction of Florencia Rodriguez. In a world defined by crisis and uncertainty, where architects are researching, relearning, and reimagining, the volume marks not only a change in direction but also presents provocative inquiries about a redefinition in the substance and fundamentals of the field. It is an invitation to think with others, to project with intention, and to set new grounds for the interpretation and design of our built environments. In the same spirit, the book unfolds the many faces of SHIFT through collective, multilayered, and multidimensional conversations, visual essays, and manifestos. CAB 2025 participants' voices are brought to print through a transcript of a five-hour conversation marathon that tackled topics such as new realism, the magic in the ordinary, pleasures in the urban, and the need to critically shift architecture's language, as well as a repository of manifestos exploring other possible worlds. Beyond the exhibition, SHIFT: Architecture in Times of Radical Change also calls upon practitioners from different fields to discuss the current state of education in architecture schools, the challenges of material culture, the future of housing, and exhibitions as devices for change.

Athens as a Project is an interdisciplinary publication at the intersection between architecture and photography with a wider reference to contemporary art and urban history. With a particular focus on current metropolitan phenomena and the transformation of cities, it presents the findings of decade-long research project conducted by Platon Issaias on Athens and the specifics of Greece's urban environments that contribute to broader a discussion of the complex politics of urban development in the Mediterranean and the Global South. Partnering with photographer Yiorgis Yerolymbos, Issaias offers original and unique perspectives on the city of Athens, its architecture, recent history, and contemporary life. Texts, architectural drawings and photographs form an Atlas of Athens encompassing exemplary projects, atmospheres and everyday practices-that go beyond the effects of the economic crisis of the 2010s and the ongoing pandemic.PLATON ISSAIAS (*1984, Athens) is Head of Projective Cities, an MPhil programme in Architecture and Urban Design at the Architectural Association. He is a founding member of Fatura Collaborative, a research and design collective established in 2009. <BR><BR>YIORGIS YEROLYMBOS (*1973, Paris) studied photography and architecture in Greece and the UK. His photography has been published internationally. Most notably, he captured the ten-year development of Renzo Piano's Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre, in the stunning photographic essay Orthographs.