Description

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Take an expansive and provocative tour of architectural theory and practice, exploring everything from basic concepts to speculative design and subversive interventions.

Universal Principles of Architecture illustrates in 100 concepts the importance, possibilities, challenges, and roles that architecture plays in shaping the world. This radical and perhaps surprising survey is divided into five sections:Archetypes, Methods, Conditions, Relationships, and Imaginaries. And, each of the five sections in the book introduces in 20 principles architecture at different scales and stages of the design process.
 
Through an inclusive and holistic approach, the book refers to initial design ideas, creative design approaches, reflections on the effects of the built and destroyed environments, and architectural desires and aspirations to transform the world and engage with the cosmos.

Because architecture is the converging point where many fields of knowledge, ideas, forms, approaches, methods, sensibilities, and materials meet, the book provides a flexible and dynamic space where the material, conceptual, and social take shape. 
 
Written, illustrated, and designed by critically acclaimed architects, educators, and authors Cruz Garcia and Nathalie Frankowski of WAI Architecture Think Tank, Universal Principles of Architecture combines accessible writing with otherworldly images like the ones they have displayed in exhibitions at the Centre Pompidou Metz, Museum of Modern Art New York, Neues Museum Nuremberg, and Museum of Art, Architecture, and Technology Lisbon.
 
The principles include:
 

• Figurative Archetypes
• Parasitic Architecture
• Diagramming
• Modelling
• Three-Dimensional Printing
• Carbon Neutral
• Biomimicry
• Inclusive Design
• Participatory Design
• AI Cities
• Queer Cartographies
• Intergalactic Architecture

Intended as an intergenerational and transdisciplinary reference volume, the book presents an ambitious overview of what architecture has been and can be in a world full of urgent challenges and abundant opportunities for social and ecological responsibility, and design creativity.

This book will challenge your preconceived notions of what architecture is and how it can be used.
 

The titles in the Rockport Universal series offer comprehensive and authoritative information and edifying and inspiring visual examples on multidisciplinary subjects for designers, architects, engineers, students, and anyone who is interested in expanding and enriching their design knowledge.

About the Author

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Founded by Puerto Rican architect, artist, curator, educator, author, and theorist Cruz Garcia and French architect, artist, curator, educator, author, and poet Nathalie Frankowski, WAI Architecture Think Tank is an internationally recognized studio invested in the development of new curricula and experiments that support public engagement with architecture. They are particularly interested in decolonization and anti-racist reconstruction of the role of architecture in the construction of new worlds. Garcia and Frankowski are Associate Professors at Iowa State University, where they are Design for Critical Futures Fellows in Activism and Emancipatory practice respectively, as well as faculty at the Advanced Architectural Design program at Columbia University. Their work has been part of the inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial and exhibitions at the Centre Pompidou Metz, Neues Museum Nuremberg, Museum of Modern Art New York, and the Museum of Art, Architecture, and Technology Lisbon. They are authors of Universal Principles of Architecture.

waithinktank.com

Cruz Garcia is a Puerto Rican architect, artist, curator, educator, author, theorist, and co-founder of WAI Architecture Think Tank together with Nathalie Frankowski.

Nathalie Frankowski is a French architect, artist, curator, educator, author, poet, and co-founder of WAI Architecture Think Tank together with Cruz Garcia.

Praise For…

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"In Universal Principles of Architecture, Nathalie Frankowski and Cruz García skillfully guide us through history and a transdisciplinary journey that challenges conventional design thinking and knowledge and evolves its application and relevance for the multitude. This ambitious volume redefines the language of architectural design, urging us to collectively embrace critical creativity in addressing the pressing social and ecological issues of our time. It is must-read for those seeking to reimagine and build more just, equitable, and sustainable communities."—Justin Garrett Moore, Humanities in Place Program Director, Mellon Foundation

"Universal Principles of Architecture is simply the most compact and comprehensive survey of the tricks, techniques, elements, and ideas every architect should know.  Written with pizzazz and presented with great clarity, this opinionated compendium of contemporary architecture packs a punch:  it shows us that other worlds —more beautiful, more just, and more sustainable ones— are not just possible, but must be built."
 —Aaron Betsky, Critic

"Many a universal concept has a subjectivity lurking with in it. In their principles of architecture Frankowski and Garcia embrace this, offering an expansive catalogue of the knowledge they have built up over the years. This work is an excellent entrance into architecture’s multiverse for new comers and old hands alike."—Jess Myers, Assistant Professor Syracuse University

"A timely, compelling and exquisitely illustrated guide to contemporary architectural ideas that will hold equal appeal across a wide generational spectrum. A lexicon that combines thoughtful conjectural definitions with occasional polemical provocations, the book offers a refreshing set of useful orientations within the rapidly morphing and frequently perplexing landscape of contemporary architecture."—Prof Mark Raymond, Director – Graduate School of Architecture, University of Johannesburg

"In this new book WAI Think Tank has generously provided a dictionary of terms so that we can construct, discover, refer to and extend important and urgent ideas on spatial justice. For this we give thanks."—Wolff Architects, Cape Town

"Like a dinner conversation with Garcia and Frankowski, Universal Principles of Architecture is at once challenging, expansive, and ultimately optimistic. I recommend it to a wide array of inquisitive learners: from a pre-college student considering a major in architecture, a student of architecture wondering what non-extractivist or post-domestic architecture might look like, to a discerning thinker in search of provocative questions. For us all, the book will surely challenge our preconceptions of what architecture is and whom it serves. With captivating collages that are both critical and playful, the book helps us imagine how architecture has been understood and, most importantly, what it could be now and in the future."—Aki Ishida, Associate Professor of Architecture, Virginia Tech

"Through this wonderful book Cruz García and Nathalie Frankowski provide a unique public pedagogical platform that expands the normative understanding of architecture as an inclusive discipline that coexists within a multitude of readings, traditions, memories and desires."—Francisco Javier Rodríguez, FAIA, Director University of Illinois School of Architecture

"Beautifully illustrated...especially and unreservedly recommended."—Midwest Book Review