Based on documentation originating in the environmental sciences, history of science, philosophy and art, Architecture of Nature explores the materiality and the effects of the forces at play in the history of the earth through the architect's modes of seeing and techniques of representation. This book presents the research work developed for the past eight years in the Advanced Research graduate studio "Architecture of Nature/ Nature of Architecture," created and directed by Diana Agrest at the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture of the Cooper Union. Architecture of Nature departs from the traditional approach to nature as a referent for architecture and reframes it as its object of study. The complex processes of generation and transformations of extreme natural phenomena such as glaciers, volcanoes, permafrost, and clouds are explored through unique drawings and models, confronting a scale of space and time that expands and transcends the established boundaries of the architectural discipline.

This well-illustrated text is the result of a research project begun in the 1950s, which relates forms of architecture - and even more, the rules and ideas that have charcterized architectural production down the centuries - with the forms of nature.

Winner of the 2006 Alice Davis Hitchcock Award! The word 'nature' comes from natura, Latin for birth - as do the words nation, native and innate. But nature and nation share more than a common root, they share a common history where one term has been used to define the other. In the United States, the relationship between nation and nature has been central to its colonial and post-colonial history, from the idea of the noble savage to the myth of the frontier. Narrated, painted and filmed, American landscapes have been central to the construction of a national identity. Architecture and Nature presents an in-depth study of how changing ideas of what nature is and what it means for the country have been represented in buildings and landscapes over the past century.

The Return of Nature asks you to critique your conception of nature and your approach to architectural sustainability and green design. What do the terms mean? Are they de facto design requirements? Or are they unintended design replacements? The book is divided into five parts giving you multiple viewpoints on the role of the relations between architecture, nature, technology, and culture. A detailed case study of a built project concludes each part to help you translate theory into practice. This holistic approach will allow you to formulate your own theory and to adjust your practice based on your findings. Will you provoke change, design architecture that responds to change, or both? Coedited by an architect and a historian, the book features new essays by Robert Levit, Catherine Ingraham, Sylvia Lavin, Barry Bergdoll, K. Michael Hays, Diane Lewis, Andrew Payne, Mark Jarzombek, Jean-Francois Chevrier, Elizabeth Diller, Antoine Picon, and Jorge Silvetti. Five case studies document the work of MOS Architects, Michael Bell Architecture, Steven Holl Architects, George L. Legendre, and Preston Scott Cohen.

"The relationship between contemporary architecture and nature is fundamental to today's creativity. Some architects reject nature or imagine that they can create an artificial world of their own - while others are seeking new ways, aided by science and the computer, to chart new directions for the buildings of tomorrow. From ecologically-oriented designs to the most astonishing new forms, this book shows how essential nature remains to architecture."--BOOK JACKET.

Painstakingly researched and illuminating account of the making of the Fred C. Robie home. Revealing family documents, excerpts from a 1958 interview with Fred Robie, and 160 black-and-white illustrations.

As organic as the materials with which they are built, these creations allow the living landscape to naturally overtake each structure until it finally decomposes."--BOOK JACKET.

This book uncovers the guiding principles behind Tsui's evolutionary approach to explore the many design lessons that can be learned from nature and share the impressive results of their application to architectural projects.

The first monograph on the Japanese-born, Sydney-based architect, celebrated for his innovative holistic approach to design, nature, and urbanism. Koichi Takada is part of a new generation of architects striving to bring nature back into the urban environment—an approach he developed after living in Tokyo, New York, and London. His architecture reconnects people to the natural environment, drawing inspiration from organic forms and local contexts. This elegant volume showcases a series of Takada’s recent projects, illustrating the unique way his talent connects the natural and the designed, and how it has evolved over the last ten years. Beautiful photographs of buildings and interiors juxtapose against sketches and images of nature—illustrating the aesthetic inspirations behind the designs and the way they embody light, air, and even sound. Philip Jodidio’s texts guide readers through the range of spaces that span from the interiors of the award-winning National Museum of Qatar in Doha and Urban Forest in Brisbane, the “greenest residential building in Australia,” to striking buildings in Sydney, Melbourne, Los Angeles, China, and the construction of a new space in Tokyo. This unique architectural journey will inspire readers to see architecture with a new mindset.