Perspecta 45: Agency Kurt Evans, Iben Falconer & Ian Mills (Eds.)
9 x 12 in / 208 pp. / softcover $22 Â PURCHASE
Architecture has always been intimately intertwined with its social, political, and economic contexts; major events in world history have had correspondingly dramatic effects on the discipline. The Great Depression, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and Hurricane Katrina, for example, were all catalysts for architectural response and resulted in a diversification of the architect’s portfolio. Yet far too often, architects simply react to changes in the world, rather than serving as agents of change themselves.
Perspecta: The Yale Architectural Journal is a student-edited peer-reviewed academic journal published by the MIT Press and Yale School of Architecture, Yale University since 1952. This issue, Perspecta 45: Agency – edited by Kurt Evans, Iben Falconer & Ian Mills; designed by Zak Jensen & Mylinh Trieu Nguyen – takes a broader view, using the concept of agency to explore the future of architecture. The retreat from liability, the barricade of theory, and the silos of specialization have generated a field that is risk-averse and reactive, rather than bold and active. Instead of assuming that architects can only throw up their hands in despair, the editors of this issue of Perspecta invite them to roll up their sleeves and get to work. Prominent architects, scholars, and artists investigate how architects can become agents for change within their own discipline and in the world at large.
Contributors include Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen, Nader Tehrani, Ines Weizman, Jaime Lerner, Urban-Think Tank, Stefano Boeri, Peter Eisenman, Michael Osman, Darryl Collins, Vann Molyvann, Enrique Ramirez, Rania Ghosn, Victor van der Chijs, Bjarke Ingels, Jan Kempenaers, Andrew Shanken, Keller Easterling, Timur Galen, Perspecta 45 & Pierluigi Serraino, Thomas Auer, Joshua Vanwyck & Erik Olsen, Preston Scott Cohen, and Ariane Lourie Harrison."
The MIT Press, 2012.
