Part aphorism and part manifesto, this book by Canadian architect Reza Aliabadi (RZLBD) references his ideas and thoughts about space. He suggests 'the empty room' as the very essence of architecture, and 'the spatial experience' as its highest mandate. Reza revisits architecture not as the walls that enclose the space but rather the space in-between the walls. What he calls an "anti-architecture" of invisible voids. Today architecture has fallen short as a discipline and has instead converted into an industry, part of the commercial establishment. Accordingly it has given up its capacity to offer contributions and has been reduced to being a service. It has become all about a form-making exercise and dressing it up with a fashionable skin. What matters most, is the look of it, and the contest to keep that look relevant in the media as long as possible. It submits itself to a sick competition for visibility. The more awes it creates, the more viral it becomes. What used to be an autonomous discipline and a source of inspiration, stimulation, and motivation now has become the subject of entertainment, speculation, and show business. Now, it is necessary or rather urgent to pause, take a moment, go inward, search for the essentials, and hope to rediscover |