domus 954 on newsstands now

With the first issue of 2012, Flemish architects Jan De Vylder, Inge Vinck and Jo Taillieu use the Domus cover as an open field of action cleared of preconceived images. An homage to the blank sheet, empty space and silence, the cover of Domus 954 imparts the possibilities of a notebook to the magazine. From there we travel to a new convention center by José Selgas and Lucía Cano in Cartagena that lights up the waterfront of the Spanish city. Then we cross the bridge built by Turenscape in an urban park in the suburbs of Harbin in northeast China, and we meet Piera Gandini, recipient of the lifetime achievement award in the latest edition of the Compasso d'Oro, and explore the universe of literary references in the shelves of her library. And in her regular column devoted to the current states of design practice, Paola Antonelli expounds on sustainable design and wonders if one needs to renounce humor and pleasure in the name of environmental responsibility.

Contents:

Cover 954
Jan De Vylder, Inge Vinck and Jo Taillieu use the Domus cover as a field of action cleared of preconceived images and open to all. A homage to the blank sheet, empty space and silence, it transfers to the magazine the features of a notebook.

Editorial
Joseph Grima

Op-ed: Notes from an occupation
Benedict Clouette, Marlisa Wise

Mixtapes: Rio de Janeiro
Curated by Daniel Perlin

Journal
Edited by Elena Sommariva

Photoessay
Francesco Mattuzzi, Startrucks

With little or nothing
Three houses recently built around Ghent, in Flanders, combine ancient ways and new experimentation: a design approach that processes all elements of the context into a poetic blend of contents. Interview by Francesca Picchi. Photos by Filip Dujardin

A new glow in boomtown
A city, a region and a country that staked every resource on real-estate development is today faced with an unprecedented economic collapse. Along the Cartagena waterfront, two architects—José Selgas and Lucía Cano— have lit up an architecture-antidote against the gloom of the crisis. Text by Mario Ballesteros. Photos by Iwan Baan. Edited by Laura Bossi

Textile fractals
With its mobile architecture of translucent textile mantles, Petra Blaisse's studio Inside Outside has created spaces with their own autonomous and public identity within two new high-profile buildings. Edited by Laura Bossi

Nature as infrastructure
His landscape designs are not merely parks. Kongjian Yu, founder of Turenscape, demonstrates how nature can be a cost-free service provider in an urban context. Ecology, he claims, is a synonym of economy. Interview by Ethel Baraona Pohl. Photos by Kongjian Yu. Edited by Laura Bossi

New South China Mall. Too big to fail
Six years after the world's largest shopping mall opened in the province of Guangdong, China, over 99% of its shops remain empty. And yet the mall continues to expand. Text and photos by Grégoire Basdevant. Edited by Rita Capezzuto

24 hours Museum: Vezzoli vs Koolhaas
In Paris, architecture and art are merged into the Prada Foundation's latest project: a total and timed artwork staging a tonge in cheek entertainmentcum- reflection on museums. Francesco Vezzoli tells the story. Edited by Loredana Mascheroni

Network: Rainforest Center
Eduardo Tejeira Davis

Network: Tastefull OniricaLab
Elena Sommariva

The maverick modernism of James Walter
Industrial designer by training, James Allen Walter cared less about fame than about retaining total control over the remarkable buildings he designed—a compulsion that led him to build many of them with his own hands. His legacy: 32 profoundly singular residences dotted around California. Text by Katya Tylevich. Photos by Alexei Tylevich. Edited by Elena Sommariva

Pocket cathedrals
For Roland Barthes, the Citroen DS 19 represented the modern equivalent of the Gothic cathedrals. Could today's smartphones be the cathedrals of the Facebook generation? In the first article of a new series on the design of everyday technology, interaction designer Dan Hill reviews the Nokia N9 and asks: is it enough to turn around the Finnish giant's waning fortunes? Text by Dan Hill. Edited by Rita Capezzuto

Grafting furniture
JIJ'S, a new furniture collection by architecten de vylder vinck taillieu, takes inspiration from counterfeits, copies and the practice of grafting, combining anonymity with citations of the great masters. Text by Francesca Picchi. Photos by Filip Dujardin

A Pro-student chair
The new chair by Grcic for the German company Flötotto represents an innovative case study for a product type that is often overlooked. The fruit of two years' work, it focuses on ergonomics, functionality and material research. Text by Loredana Mascheroni. Photos by Alberto Sinigaglia

States of Design 09: Green Design
Sustainability is commonly perceived as the antithesis of indulgence. But is environmental responsibility really all about renouncing enjoyment, lightness and humour? A new breed of designers is finding ways to combine ideological commitments with life's pleasures, revealing an untapped realm of opportunity at the convergence between greenness and gratification. Text by Paola Antonelli. Edited by Francesca Picchi

The sky is the limit
In early December, in an experimental performance at the frac Centre in Orléans, a swarm of drones autonomously assembled a scale model of a proposed new residential megastructure. The designers of the installation, Gramazio & Kohler and Raffaello D'Andrea, define this new frontier of robotic fabrication as 'airborne architecture'. Edited by Rita Capezzuto

Network: Artificial Topography
Salvator-John A. Liotta

Network: Ball-Nogues: Yucca Crater
Katya Tylevich

A letter from Los Angeles
An unprecedented region-wide initiative led by the Getty Center has transformed the Los Angeles area into a huge five-month art festival. Pacific Standard Time, which involves over 60 institutions, shows how history may be a form of resistance. Text by Massimiliano Gioni. Edited by Loredana Mascheroni

Unpacking my library: Piera Gandini
In the latest round of Compasso d'Oro prizes, the Lifetime Achievement Award placed the spotlight on Piera Gandini, one of the most important yet less-known figures in the world of design This intriguing personality's multifaceted interests range from philosophy and literature to economics, history and poetry. Interview by Gianluigi Ricuperati. Photos by Ramak Fazel. Edited by Rita Capezzuto

Rassegna: Lighting
Edited by Loredana Mascheroni

Panorama
Edited by Guido Musante

Horoscope: Capricorn
Text by Dan Graham. Edited by Elena Sommariva

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