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Made by the Office for Metropolitan Architecture: An Ethnography of Design
Yaneva, Albena
1st ed. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers; 2009.
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Abstract
The book presents an ethnographic account of the design rhythm in the Office for Metropolitan Architecture. Written as a collection of short stories it draws on the mundane trajectories of models and architects at the OMA and shows how innovation permeates design practice, how everyday techniques and workaday choices set new standards for buildings and urban phenomena. In these stories of invention the "Eureka!" moments are missing. They are replaced by routine gestures of model making, recycling, assembling, recollecting, rescaling. This enquiry on architecture-in-the-making is based on participant observation in the office of Rem Koolhaas, extensive interviews with architects, and photo documentation on various projects: the Seattle Public Library, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the China Central Television (CCTV) in Beijing, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), la Casa da Musica in Porto, and others.
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- google books http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Made_by_the_Office_for_Metropolitan_Arch.html?id=Z4okIn5RvHYChttp://www.010.nl/catalogue/book.php?id=714
- the publishers website http://www.010.nl/catalogue/book.php?id=714
- RIBA President's Award for Outstanding University-located Research for the project An Ethnography of Architecture (the books: The Making of a Building, 2009 and Made by the Office for Metropolitan Architecture: An Ethnography of Design, 2009): The jury said: 'This type of sociological and anthropological research into design practice is significant for architecture, adding a new perspective to the way we understand architectural processes. The two books are enjoyable to read, linking through hypertextual narratives an impressive quantity of historical information and technical data, stories and anecdotes, theoretical research and empirical observations.' Excerpts from reviews of Made by the Office for Metropolitan Architecture: An Ethnography of Design, 2009: “This book is an important experiment in describing and understanding architecture and design, precisely because of the significance Yaneva allocates to day-to-day practice: designing is largely a mundane activity, and this book is almost revolutionary in analyzing that.” Robbert van Strien in Items #1 2010 “Yaneva arrives at convincing conclusions that can indeed make you look at the work of OMA in another way. The way in which models are used and qualities and characteristics are ascribed to them is hilarious. Yet Yaneva convincingly concludes that the model can have a mind of its own.” Joost Zonneveld at Archined, 23 March 2010 “Finally, an ethnography of design! Banham would be pleased to read Yaneva’s ethnographic account of the ‘tribe’ of architects housed in their ‘tribal longhouse’ on the Heer Bokkelweg.” Edwin Garner at Archis.org, 29th March 2010. “In her book, Made by the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, Albena Yaneva reveals how an interest in the latter, the processes of making and the mechanisms by which ideas and models can migrate within an office environment, has informed some of the most influential architecture of the 21st Century so far.” Blueprint, OMA Remakes Architecture” by Adrian Friend, February 23, 2010.