Heimlich Manœoeuvers by Kari Jormakka
3: Durability and Ephemerality, plus Books on History and Theory
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The creation of place, of cities, buildings, and landscapes, has traditionally been conceived of as a conservative art, as the creation of lasting artifacts that embody the achievements and ideals of a civilization. But given the volatility of our age, and indeed the widespread perception that one era is ending and another beginning, we thought it timely to explore this idea—to explore the twin themes of durability and ephemerality. How are attitudes to the durability of artifacts changing? How is the built environment itself changing as a result of evolving ideas? Has durability become more valued as a hedge against the unease of rapid change? Or has it become less valued, perceived as irrelevant, nostalgic, unnecessary? How do such attitudes influence the styles in which we design buildings and landscapes? How do they influence the perceived role of the public and private realms? How do economic factors, e.g., the globalization of capital, the economics of real estate development,the costs of materials, figure in this? These are some of the questions we posed to contributors, who answer them in various ways in the essays that follow.
Articles
Table of Contents
Essay
“It’s the Economy, Stupid!”
Luis Fernández-Galiano
20th-Century American Ruins
Camilo José Vergara
Enduring (Post)modernism
Angelika Schnell
High Tech and such Misnomers
Demetri Porphyrios
Intimations of Durability
Kenneth Frampton
Of Books, Bridges, and Durability
Henry Petroski
Temporary Contracts
Ellen Dunham-Jones
The Curse of Durability
Alexander von Hoffman
The Durability of Reputation
Gavin Stamp
The Euclidian Piazza
Marvin Trachtenberg
The Interpretative Imperative
Sandy Isenstadt
The Rugged Steed
Thomas J. Campanella
The Theory and Practice of Impermanence
Edward Ford
Webs of Steel
T. Kelly Wilson
What Goes Up, Must Come Down
Botond Bognar
Review
Architecture after Modernism by Diane Ghirardo
Liane Lefaivre
Differences by Ignasi de Solà-Morales
George Baird
Heimlich Manœoeuvers by Kari Jormakka
Mark Mulligan
Inside Architecture by Vittorio Gregotti
Richard Ingersoll
Reconstructing Architecture edited by Thomas A. Dutton and Lian Hurst Mann
Andrew Herscher
Thirteen Ways by Robert Harbison
Thomas Fisher