Highly respected by her peers and hugely influential on the subsequent generation of artists, the British artist Helen Chadwick produced a wideranging body of work in a variety of media, which shifted from early institutional and architectural critique to operatic installations, and to photographic projects and sculptures. Stephen Walker looks behind this apparent variety, identifying a consist…
Constancy permits the evolution of types and characteristics to be identified, even in widely spread locations. It helps trace the origins of structures, despite later modifications. And change allows one to trace the effects of difference in environment, fashion, cultural ideas and economic influences. Change and constancy operate together, although one may or other may dominate at a particula…
Known for - and even overshadowed by - his brutal and spectacular building cuts, Gordon Matta-Clark's oeuvre is unique in the history of American art. He worked in the 1970s on the boarders between art and architecture and his diverse practice is often understood as an outright rejection of the tenets of high modernism. Stephen Walker argues instead for the artist's ambivalent relationship with…
Palermo – the capital of Sicily – is a destination with a difference. The city is a treasure trove of original monuments and works of art, combined with architecture of grand proportions. Yet it also has a grittier side, shown by the continuing influence of the mafia. Jeremy Dummett here provides a concise overview of Palermo's long history, together with a survey of its most important monu…
The Balyan family were a dynasty of architects, builders and property owners who acted as the official architects to the Ottoman Sultans throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. Originally Armenian, the family is responsible for some of the most famous Ottoman buildings in existence, many of which are regarded as masterpieces of their period – including the Dolmabahçe Palace (built between 18…
In tenth-century Iraq, a group of Arab intellectuals and scholars known as the Ikhwan al-Safa began to make their intellectual mark on the society around them. A mysterious organisation, the identities of its members have never been clear. But its contribution to the philosophy, art and culture of the era - and indeed subsequent ones - is evident. In the visual arts, for example, Hamdouni Alami…
Levine, Grengs, and Merlin marshal a compelling case to shift to accessibility-oriented planning, providing much needed conceptual clarity as to what accessibility is and is not. But their book also represents a major step toward transforming accessibility from a vaguely defined aspiration into concrete measures that can guide planning decisions. â• Journal of the American Planning…
This two-volume set describes a flexible and adaptive system-based methodology and associated guidelines for the management and allocation of community-based WELF resources. Over the next 50 years, rapid population, urbanization, and economic growth worldwide will create unprecedented demands for water, energy, land, and food (WELF) resources. The discussion on how to meet human needs for WEL…
This two-volume book describes a flexible and adaptive system-based methodology and associated guidelines for the management and allocation of community-based WELF resources. Over the next 50 years, rapid population, urbanization, and economic growth worldwide will create unprecedented demands for water, energy, land, and food (WELF) resources. The discussion on how to meet human needs for WE…
An unprecedented survey of the origins and evolution of Chinese architecture, from the last millennia BCE to today Throughout history, China has maintained one of the world's richest built civilizations. The nation's architectural achievements range from its earliest walled cities and the First Emperor's vision of city and empire, to bridges, pagodas, and the twentieth-century constructions of…