Rethinking the modular : adaptable systems in architecture and design / edited by Burkhard Meltzer and Tido von Oppeln.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Meltzer, Burkhard, editor.

Oppeln, Tido von, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Modular coordination (Architecture).

Modularity (Engineering).

Physical Description:

297 pages : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Thames & Hudson Ltd., 2016.

Summary:

The modular did not have to be invented: it can be found everywhere. We divide surfaces into grids, spaces into parts, and time into rhythmic units. Modular structures are also increasingly being recognized as a way of communicating, where the aim is not to construct a universal principle but to facilitate interplay between different systems. Building on the visionary design system that architect Fritz Haller and engineer Paul Scharer developed in 1965 for Swiss furniture company USM, 'Rethinking the modular' brings together specially commissioned essays and interviews with leading designers, architects and thinkers to present the wide-ranging importance and influence of modular design over the past fifty years. In revealing the broad possibilities created by balancing structure with flexibility, the timely publication redefines the place of modularity in modern design history, and offers a rich resource for designers today.

Contents:

Preface : notes on the 50th anniversary of USM Modular Furniture Haller / Alexander Schärer

Introduction : balancing the modular / Burkhard Meltzer, Tido von Oppeln

Back to the present / John Thackara

An open invitation to the grid / Thomas Lommée

There is always an alternative : systems and production / Nathalie du Pasquier, Catharine Rossi, Antonio Scarponi, Jerszy Seymour

The prospects and limits of connection / Rick Poynor

We don't live for a system : new perspectives for modular architecture / Wolf Magelsdorf

How, then, does one organize a city? : Fritz Haller's city system / Georg Vrachliotis

Working irrationally with a rational system / Allan Wexler

Squaring up to superstudio : grids, modularity and utopianism in Italian radical design / Catharine Rossi

It's more like a service / Bless

From functional object to icon : the changing face of the USM Haller system in advertising / Marino Stierli

Dynamic labyrinth (Seoul) / Rem Koolhaus, Hans Ulrich Obrist

I try to be architecture / Go Hasegawa

Wide minds / Alva Noë

Calling someone in China / Dimitri Bähler

Modularity and adaptation / Thomas Dienes, Jürgen Mayer H.

For a tree, modularity is not an issue / Lorenzo Bini

Appendix : a retrospective of USM Haller.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9780500292358

0500292353

OCLC:

940691546