Kisho Kurokawa: Metabolism in Architecture (1977)

A collection of essays on the emergence and continued theorization regarding the architectural movement known as Metabolism.

“This book is a collection of my most important works-in architecture and theoretical writing -from the period 1960 to 1975. I have chosen the title Metabolism in Architecture despite the fact that the Metabolist group, formed in 1960, now carries on virtually no activity as a group, and despite the many changes in my work and thought in the fifteen years since the Metabolist movement began. The word ‘metabolism’ nevertheless stands in order to secure a wider understanding of the concept and because there is value in using it in this extended sense. I was also led to select this title out of a desire to reflect upon and organize the relation between my writings and works of these fifteen years and Metabolist thought.

For the convenience of the reader the book is organized into four chapters. The architecture and writings are not in chronological order, although the date at which each work was designed or written is important to me. As we live in an international society with rapid communication in which we are constantly open to new influences the date for each piece indicates the spirit in which it was written.

Although I reject traditionalism, I attach great importance to the influence which the culture of one country may exert on another. It is my belief that the cultures of different countries will stand individually but together, allied with technology, to provide the future language of architecture. That modern architecture appears diffuse is proof that the cultures of different regions each contribute to the language of modern architecture, and as a result modern architecture will probably come to speak not with a lingua franca but with a complex and many-faceted language.” (from Preface)

Publisher Studio Vista, London, 1977
ISBN 0289707331, 9780289707333
208 pages
via ARG

Wikipedia
WorldCat

PDF (62 MB)

Philip Johnson, Mark Wigley: Deconstructivist Architecture (1988) [EN, ES, DE]

“This book presents a radical architecture, exemplified by the work of seven architects. Illustrated are projects for Santa Monica, Berlin, Rotterdam, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Paris, Hamburg, and Vienna, by Frank O. Gehry, Daniel Libeskind, Rem Koolhaas, Peter Eisenman, Zaha M. Hadid, Bernard Tschumi, and the firm of Coop Himmelblau” (from back cover)

Publisher Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1988
ISBN 087070298X, 9780870702983
104 pages

Review: Douglas Tallack (Paragraph, 1996).

Discussion: 25th anniversary debate (video, MoMA, 2013), report.
Analysis: Tina Di Carlo (PhD dissertation, 2016).
Commentary: Luke Fiederer (ArchDaily, 2017).

Exhibition
WorldCat

Deconstructivist Architecture (English, 1988, 20 MB)
Arquitectura deconstructivista (Spanish, 1988, 20 MB)
Dekonstruktivistische Architektur (German, trans. Frank Druffner, 1988, 20 MB)

Diana Agrest, Patricia Conway, Leslie Kanes Weisman (eds.): The Sex of Architecture (1996)

“This book brings together 24 provocative texts that collectively express the power and diversity of women’s views on architecture today. This volume presents a dialogue among women historians, practitioners, theorists, and others concerned with critical issues in architecture and urbanism.”

Publisher Harry N. Abrams, 1996
ISBN 0810926830, 9780810926837
320 pages
via Dubravka

Reviews: Nadir Lahiji & D.S. Friedman (AA Files 1999), Durham Crout (J Architectural and Planning Research 2000).

WorldCat

PDF (6 MB)