Subnature: Architecture's Other Environments (9781568987774): David Gissen: Books
"Another book that engaged me on my hiatus from blogging is one I picked up on somewhat of a whim as it looked like a fascinating read. I wasn't disappointed, as 'Subnature: Architecture's Other Environments' by David Gissen, quickly became impossible to put down. The reason? It really tackles some interesting terrain that is definitely at the fringes of architecture and landscape, which typically addresses the realms purity and order, whether in terms of materials or the messy nature in cities." --Landscape and UrbanismPrinceton Architectural Press * Subnature
"Gissen defines subnatures as conditions within our cities that are often deemed filthy, fearsome, and uncontrollable. He defines 12 subnatures in three categories: Atmospheres include dankness, smoke, gas, and exhaust; Matter contains dust, puddles, mud, and debris; and Life includes weeds, insects, pigeons, and crowds. For each subnature Gissen traces the changing historical views, looks at the current attitudes towards it, and presents contemporary projects that question and consider alternatives for incorporating the subnature into architectural design. In some cases the views over time have done a complete 180, pointing to the way nature is defined socially, not objectively or scientifically. Not surprisingly the projects are today's avant-garde, mostly hypothetical, research-based, installations, or unrealized. They are examples of how Gissen's path of exploration is not unprecedented; it is tapping into more widespread reconsiderations of today's fairly uncritical acceptance of sustainability." --Archidose
"Just the idea of exploring the design implications of Atmospheres include dankness, smoke, gas, and exhaust; Matter contains dust, puddles, mud, and debris; and Life includes weeds, insects, pigeons, and crowds gets me salivating. I've yet to read this, but Gissen seems to have tapped into the world of Dross, rust, derive and other relevant under-appreciated aspects of our material culture." --Archinect
"The exhilarating and at times unsettling work featured in Subnature suggests an alternative view of natural processes and ecosystems and their relationships to human society and architecture." --One Half of the Worlds Population, Approximately 3 Billion People on Six Continents, Lives or Works in Buildings Constructed of Earth
We are conditioned over time to regard environmental forces such as dust, mud, gas, smoke, debris, weeds, and insects as inimical to architecture. Much of today's discussion about sustainable and green design revolves around efforts to clean or filter out these primitive elements. While mostly the direct result of human habitation, these "subnatural forces" are nothing new. In fact, our ability to manage these forces has long defined the limits of civilized life. From its origins, architecture has been engaged in both fighting and embracing these so-called destructive forces. In Subnature, David Gissen, author of our critically acclaimed Big and Green, examines experimental work by today's leading designers, scholars, philosophers, and biologists that rejects the idea that humans can somehow recreate a purely natural world, free of the untidy elements that actually constitute nature. Each chapter provides an examination of a particular form of subnature and its actualization in contemporary design practice.
