AA shares with you its books selection: architecture, urbanism, art, essays, exhibition catalogues… 

 

La matérialité de l’architecture, by Antoine Picon

Is architecture overstated? It scarcely whispers to the average listener. Glaringly loud for specialists, it remains virtually inaudible for others. Antoine Picon tells a short story of architecture offering scholarly insights. He makes sure to distance himself from the postmodern goals that consider architecture to be an art form composed to address the desire of architects, who cross swords with “the blind obstinacy of matter”, to express themselves effectively. This is therefore an important essay for anyone who touches on the “material aspect” of architecture and searches for an “ornament” that cannot be laid claim to without dishonouring modern and contemporary thinking.

Antoine Picon, Éditions Parenthèses, mars 2018, 16,5 x 24 cm, 144 p., illus., 22 €

Concevoir à grande échelle, by Mathieu Mercuriali

The fantasy of grandeur! Utopian and dystopian mega-structures first. Bigness, business and hyper projects to follow. In this book, Mathieu Mercuriali, architect and urban planner, studies several Paris projects, from the Samaritaine to Maine-Montparnasse, not to mention the Macdonald warehouse, elaborating on his “large-scale” ambitions, including the transformation of Gare de Lyon into a “mega-project”.

Mathieu Mercuriali, Éditions B42, mars 2018, 19 x 26,9 cm, 192 p.,illus., 24 €

Historical versus Modern: Identity through Imitation? by Barbara Engel

Words such as restoration, reconstruction and pastiche can frighten critics. Yet the work edited by Barbara Engel presents different cases in which “the identity” of a city or region is manipulated for urban and architectural purposes. From the recent reconstruction of the historic centre of Frankfurt to the “antiquisation” of Skopje, including the fake souks of Dubai and the new old towns of China, the book looks at the question in an encyclopaedic, scientific and disinterested manner.

Barbara Engel (dir.), Jovis, février 2018, 17 x 24 cm, 224 p., illus., 29,95 €

Le Parc planétaire, la fabrication de l’environnement suburbain, by Émeric Lambert

Suburbs are the subject of all manners of criticism. Once again, the historiography turns its back on the arrival of new cities. In this quagmire of remarks, Émeric Lambert brings some necessary insight on “the creation of the suburban environment”. Taking the example of Sénart, a few kilometres to the southeast of Paris, he illustrates how the utopia results in paperwork, planning and building opportunism.

Émeric Lambert, l’œil d’or, janvier 2018, 13 x 21 cm, 272 p., 18 €

An article to read into the last issue 424 of L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui, available in library and in our online shop !