Emerging Ecologies: Architecture and the Rise of Environmentalism

Emerging Ecologies: Architecture and the Rise of Environmentalism – Emerging Ecologies: Architecture and the Rise of Environmentalism – In the 1960s, as Western notions of progress and endless growth gave way to concerns about industrial pollution, resource depletion and ecological limits, attitudes to the environment became social, political and ideological.

Published to accompany the first major study of the history of environmental thought in architecture, Emerging Ecologies : Architecture and the Rise of Environmentalism examines the role played by architects in defining our understanding of “nature” and “environment”, particularly during the rise of environmental discourse. This richly illustrated publication presents over 45 architectural contributions – from Eleanor Raymond and Mária Telkes’s groundbreaking work on solar houses, to Buckminster Fuller’s global resource management system, to Emilio Ambasz’s environmental symbolism – to explore the role played by designers in promoting ecological concerns and defining the very terms of this nascent field. With an introductory essay by curator Carson Chan and brief texts on each of the featured projects, Emerging Ecologies documents the proximity between ecology, design and the art of governing, allowing readers to take stock of historical milestones as architecture confronts today’s climatic emergencies.

Includes projects by : Emilio Ambasz, Ant Farm, Phyllis Birkby, Cambridge Seven Associates, Cosanti Foundation, Carolyn Dry, Eames Office, Environmental Communications, Howard T. Fisher, R. Buckminster Fuller, Anna and Lawrence Halprin, Wolf Hilbertz, Ralph Knowles, John C. Lilly, Ian McHarg, Synergetics Inc, NASA, New Alchemy Institute, Aladar and Victor Olgyay, Gaetano Pesce, Eleanor Raymond and Mária Telkes, Michael Reynolds, SITE, Glen Small, Eugene Tssui, O.M. Ungers