#books #architecture | Naked architecture

Naked architecture / Valerio Paolo Mosco

Skira, Milano : 2012

319 p. : il., planos

ISBN 9788857204727

Materias:

Arquitectura -- Estética.

Arquitectura -- Siglo XXI.

Biblioteca Sbc Aprendizaje A-72.013 NAK

OPAC Millennium 

An account of one of the most interesting phenomena of contemporary architecture: the return to the structure. Over the last ten years architecture would seem to have rediscovered engineering. Now that the post modern period has passed—in which the structure of buildings was camouflaged by coverings of every kind—architecture today seems to have undressed, almost as though wishing to show how it is made. The rediscovery in recent years of plastic form has brought about a closer relationship between architects and engineers. To this we must add the rise of new issues, such as that of environmental engineering, which has changed from being solely a technical and aesthetic practice into a movement in environmentally conscious architecture. If there is a phenomenon today that is able to hold together the various expressions of contemporary architecture, it is this return to the structure and the methods with which it is realized. Through its six thematic categories, this book provides an account of one of the most interesting phenomena of contemporary construction—the laying bare of architecture.

Saying that an architectural form is naked is a typical affirmation of everyday language that synthesises multiple characters and meanings through a metaphor. Anti-decorative architecture of modern tradition is naked, buildings under construction or ruined are naked, as are in general those whose bare, essential appearance is intended to give an impression of sincerity. Any architecture expressing an archaic or frugal or even at times primitive atmosphere may also be considered naked. Today, the return to nakedness in architecture may be interpreted as the symptom of the definitive crisis of post-modernism, of its masks and coverings that no longer represent a world with an ever-increasing need for “naked” essentialness.

Valerio Paolo Mosco, architect and critic, is author of Sessant’anni di ingegneria in Italia e all’estero (2010); Architettura contemporanea: Stati Uniti – East Coast (2009); Steven Holl (2009); Architettura contemporanea: Stati Uniti – West Coast (2008); Scritti di architettura (2006); Contemporary Public Space. Un-volumetric Architecture (2005, with Aldo Aymonino).

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Skira | Naked architecture