Testify! / the consequences of architecture

A skateboarding school in Kabul; a children’s community center in southwest Chicago; project row houses in Houston; an open-air library in Salbke-Magdeburg, Germany; colorful murals in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro: what difference do civic architectural projects like these make to the daily lives of the people who use them? In Testify! The Consequences of Architecture, editor Lukas Feireiss gathers 30 examples of community-centered architectural projects from all five continents, to demonstrate how architecture can transform the quality of our lives. This is architecture that reveals unexpected possibilities for growing food in urban environments, for creating healthy and sustainable environments, nourishing social networks and establishing real estate value based on new revenue models. Each project is presented with full-color illustrations; texts that concisely analyze the project in terms of context, mission and realization; and an interview with a community member who makes regular use of, or occupies, the relevant building. As sustainability issues intensify the public stake in the built environment, Testify! brings good news from the frontlines of contemporary architectural practice. Among the firms contributing are 2A+P/A (Italy), Atelier d’Architecture Autogérée (France), DHK Architects (South Africa), Architektur + Netzwerk (Germany), Arup Foresight (USA/UK), Cinema Jenin (Palestine), Alejandro Echeverri Arquitectos (Colombia), Haas & Hahn (Netherlands), Li Xiaodong Atelier (China), AT103 (Mexico), DAAR (Palestine), Ecologicstudio (UK), IAN+ (Italy), Studio Gang (USA), Project Row Houses (USA) and Senseable City Laboratory (USA).

As the number of useful volumes dedicated to humanitarian architecture increase, this attractive collection of 30 worldwide success stories deserves to hold a place of special merit.
Even the seemingly simplistic act of painting geometric murals on hillside slums of Rio de Janeiro leaps from these pages as a moving testimony to how the smallest of design interventions in impoverished cities reaps immediate rewards in terms of quality of life. An edifying and rousing upbeat read. (Norman Weinstein ArchNewsNow.com)