Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #765789 in Books
• Published on: 2002-06-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 126 pages

Synopsis
The allure of mobile, portable architecture is worldwide and centuries old, from the desert tents of the bedouin to the silvery capsules of the Airstream trailer. This text explores the ever-growing range of possibilities of portable, demountable, and mobile structures. Jennifer Siegal brings together the work of contemporary designers of dynamic, active structures, whose work ranges from the microenvironment of a house that literally attaches to your body to the city-scaled macroenvironment of London's Millennium Dome, from the interior of a Boeing jet to an entire mobile community whose living units plug into a framework of flexible communal space, and from the practical design of transportable office space to the whimsical design of Pink Floyd's "The Wall" stage set. All of the designs celebrate the lightness, transience and practicality that mobile architecture makes possible. The volume includes work by Office of Mobile Design, LOT/EK, Vito Acconci, Doug Jackson/LARGE, Mark Fisher, Michael Fox, FTL Happold, Festo, and Lawrence Scarpa. Using colour images, text and detailed drawings, the contributors reveal their working methods.

Customer Reviews

Mobile: The Art of Portable Architecture
If the book were a person, I'd expect to be greated by some aging long haired hippy with a degree in art and design, who'd found a suit somewhere and decided to use it to presnet some ideals he's had for a while. This on its own is absolutely fine, 'alternative' design meeting movable architecture is a good topic, but this book seems to fall short of achieving it.

For one, there are too many case studies. Its all about the designs that have already been done, when actually I'd be more excited to read about the theories and reasons behind why I should wear my house like a snail, and how my life would be richer for it. How do these designs benefit the people, the communties, 'Life in General'? Why should I put my effort into this? What are the uses, demands, wants and needs for the designs? What contexts are the designs or uses intended for?

For the case studies that are present, the book also lacks on information about the intended life-span, sustainability (and eventual disposability) issues, requirements (for example, an inflatable is hardly well suited to a desert... where do I plug it in?) and details on the brief for each design.

As a coffee table or ideas book, this is ok-verging-on-good; if this is the books intention then we want MORE case studies and a greater variety of use, site and context behind the designs. However, as an inspirational book we need more theory and reasoning. The book doesn't have enough of either, so I'm wondering what the meaning of this book really is....