Synopsis
Beginning with a prologue by Steven Holl, this is an updated and enlarged selection of the articles and projects initially published in the Hybrids series of a+t magazine, this comprehensive overview of hybrid buildings in the 21st century seeks to uncover their potential and applications in the wider realm of architecture and urbanism. Along with a prologue by Steven Holl, written specially for this compilation, the book presents research on new prototypes conducted by Ińaki Ábalos, texts by Martin Musiatowicz, Javier Mozas, Aurora Fernández Per and others, plus exemplary works by Ábalos+Sentkiewicz, Herzog & de Meuron, Jean Nouvel, MVRDV, OMA, Stan Allen, RCR Arquitectes and more.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
From the Back Cover
The hybrid building is a specimen of opportunity which has the mixed-use gene in its gene code.
It turns against the combination of the usual programs and bases its whole raison d'etre on the unexpected mixing of functions. The hybrid is the consequence of a rant against tradition, giving typology the one finger salute.
It is an opportunist building, which makes the most out of its multiple skills, a key player which revitalises the urban scene and saves space.
The hybrid scheme proposes crossed fertilisation environments, where known genotypes are mixed and new genetic alliances are created. This way the personality of the hybrid emerges , as a celebration of complexity.
Hybridisation is associated with a certain form of grandeur, of gigantism, as mixing imposes grandesse. The hybrid surpasses the domains of architecture and settles into the urban scale. It is an artefact able to exercise centripetal force, a colossus counteracting the evil forces of dispersion.
The intimacy of private life and the sociability of public life dwell within the hybrid and produce constant activity, making it a building working full-time. It is not a disciplinary prototype but a concentration of interests, based not on tradition but rather on the future and the survival of which hinges on consensus.
This is Hybrid is a selection of the articles and projects published in the Hybrid series of the magazine a+t, running over four issues, during 2008 and 2009.
The prologue, written by Steven Holl specially for this compilation, puts forward the potential of hybrid buildings in the 21st Century.
About the Author
a+t research group is made up of the journalist Aurora Fernández Per and the architects Javier Mozas and Javier Arpa. Its aim is to spread their research on collective housing, density, mixed uses and public space through a+t architecture publishers.
The architect Alex S. Ollero is in charge of the illustrations and the design concept.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
