Expanded Practice: Howeler and Yoon Architecture / MY Studio - Softcover

Yoon, J. Meejin; Höweler, Eric

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1568988664 ISBN 13: 9781568988665

Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press, 2009

Synopsis

Rising stars in Boston's design scene, architects Eric Hõweler and J. Meejin Yoon have in a single decade developed a reputation for radical experiments in architectural form. Their design methodology—what they call an "expanded practice"—combines intense research with interdisciplinary experimentation. Hõwelerand Yoon's sensational, competition-winning lighting entry for the 2004 Athens Olympics exemplifies their fearless approach: without any prior experience in public space interactive design, the firm constructed a luminous, interactive soundscape installation at the base of the Acropolis. White Noise White Light featured a field of semiflexible fiber-optic strands that emitted white light and white noise in response to the movement of pedestrians. The project, an enormous success, enchanted a multitude of visitors who moved amidst the cilia of light. Expanded Practice presents twenty-nine recent projects by this young firm encompassing a broad range of scales and media. The projects, divided into distinct but often overlapping research themes, include a museum courtyard program inspired by the Voronoi cell-packing algorithm (PS1 Loop); an outdoor light installation featuring hovering cones that capture and interact with solar energy, rainwater, and sound (Hover); a garment designed to turn inside out as it unravels (Mõbius Dress); and a landscape design that weaves technology and texture into an integrated and interactive landscape (Tripanel). Packed with drawings, diagrams, and photographs of each project's design process, Expanded Practice provides an inspirational look into one of the most exciting young firms working in architecture today.

About this title

About the Author

J. Meejin Yoon is an architect, designer, and educator. She received a bachelor of architecture from Cornell University and a masters of architecture in urban design with distinction from Harvard University. She is an associate professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and founded MY Studio in 2000.

Eric Höweler is a registered architect with fourteen years of experience in practice. He is currently a design critic at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Review

"Howeler + Yoon Architecture is a multidisciplinary practice specializing in the integration of architecture, new technologies and public space. Their work has been widely published, exhibited, and awarded. Their recent books include: Expanded Practice, a monograph published by Princeton Architectural Press." -- Sarah Housley --Deezen

"Rising stars in Bostons design scene, architects Eric Howeler and J. Meejin Yoon have in a single decade developed a reputation for radical experiments in architectural form. Expanded Practice presents twenty-nine recent projects by this young firm encompassing a broad range of scales and media." --Books at manic distribution

"But what is striking about the over 25 projects collected in this monograph is how notions of beauty play a role in their designs, if not admitted by Yoon and Hweler. Aesthetic considerations extend from the process drawings to the renderings, the built product and the monograph itself. The diagrams in the last that diagram the various themes used to structure the book -- they gloss the book's cover, too -- have a certain beauty that is born from the representation of the objective and subjective traits of the contents; a fitting expression for a studio working at the intersection of technology and experience." --archidose

Boston architects Howeler + Yoon and Los Angeles digital designers, Squared Design Lab, have designed a conceptual structure for Boston, where an unfinished building would be covered in modular pods growing algae for biofuel." -- Sarah Housley --Dezeen Design Magazine

"The title `Expanded Practice' comes from how Höweler + Yoon Architecture / My Studio have named their design methodology. And in this book it's not just a title, as the book is really a guide on how this young firm conceives their projects rather than a mere catalog of works. Their works can't be grouped in types of buildings, instead their works are grouped in envelopes, natures, formats, interactions and media, as they range from a Möbius strip dress, to a responsive park. What caught me while reading this book is the effective use of technology developed by this practice, not just mere eye candy as we are used to. It clearly shows how the architects' experimentation with small electronic components could be derived into interactive spaces through a methodological work. And I have to repeat `metholodogy' as it is the most important part of this book, which makes it a learning tool instead of a construction catalog as we are used to on typical monographs." --Arch Daily

"The firm is still small, with four full-time members, but the scope of their interests has proven too big for just one name: Höweler + Yoon is for architecture projects, while MY Studio is for art commissions. While the artworks draw attention, the firm's architectural work is in demand, too, and shows a similar ethos of experimentation." --The Architect's Newspaper

"Architecture monographs used to adhere to a three-part forumula: professional photographs of recent buildings, project description by the firm's marketing department, and an essay by a big-name friend of the principal. But ever since Bruce Mau and Rem Koolhaas published the iconnoclastic S, M, L, XL in 1995, architects have been motivated to reinevent the monographic wheel. Howler + Yoon Architecture's new Expnaded Practice, for instance, presents not a series of building projects but a series of research projects, which in the case of this technologically deft Boston firm amounts to much the same thing." --Architect Magazine

Edition details

• Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1568988664
• ISBN 13: 9781568988665
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 208