Revista Arquitectura Y Urbanismo (a+u) I 11/20 Inglés, Japón

Architecture and Urbanism (a+u). ISSN: 0389-9160

First published in January 1971, a+u – Architecture & Urbanism – is an architectural magazine in Japanese and English that provides information on architecture around the globe to a global readership. As Japan’s only monthly periodical dedicated to disseminating information on architecture around the world, a+u has been widely and actively read by the architecture community since its inaugural issue. The magazine’s research network extends around the globe, covering more than 100 countries. It features direct reporting on individual architects in various countries, and each issue is edited from a unique perspective to efficiently deliver the latest trends to readers. In addition, essays penned by architects, critics and historians help guide thinking on tomorrow’s architecture, greatly influencing the industry inside and outside Japan

Content

This is our first monograph featuring the work of NYC-based SO–IL. SO–IL spend a lot of their time thinking about boundaries in the built environment, the interfaces between them, and where our bodies fit in. Much like bodies, SO–IL’s work can sag, be pulled taut, and occasionally moves and “breathes.” It’s built in urban situations with confounding levels of structural complexity – socially, economically, politically, materially – and integrates into them, encouraging touch and consideration, instead of untangling from them. As described by Mohamed Sharif in the monograph’s opening essay, the family of work can put us at ease but also inspire a certain agency that comes from being social in it – the result of pulling back a chainmail mesh for another person, or lying on agricultural netting intended to offer respite to migrating birds.

Our editorial focus is on SO–IL’s experiments in sense engagement, which are explored through the material qualities of their work. As such, the monograph is loosely structured as a gradient from “soft and flimsy” to “hard and thick,” from skin and membrane to surface and mass. The body stays central in our reading