The Invention of Wessex: Thomas Hardy as Architect

2018-02-13T14:08:00-05:00

There is a good case for listing Thomas Hardy amongst the greatest of all conceptual architects — the prophet, well before the fact, of a particular type of speculative, imaginary architectural project which would boom a century later.

The 19th-century author Thomas Hardy has never been considered much of an architect. Yet as Kester Rattenbury shows, his creation of Wessex was an architectural project - one that drew on the ideas of his time, but also predicted some of the most inventive architectural work of our own age. Hardy saw rural England through an experimental, modern frame, and his Wessex Project was as radical in its time as Learning from Las Vegas and Delirious New York were in theirs.

Rem Koolhaas to deliver keynote on day 3 of AIA National Conference

2016-02-17T18:31:00-05:00

If you're planning to head to this year's AIA National Conference in Philadelphia, you're in for what should be a great talk: Rem Koolhaas, renowned founder and principal of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), has just been announced as the keynote speaker for the third day of the conference.

The aptly-titled talk, "Delirious Philadelphia", is described as a "a kick in the pants from Koolhaas" in the announcement. Besides riffing on the title of his seminal 1978 book, scant information on the specifics of his address is given, with organizers instead favoring copy like: "Explore your imagination and share ideas that catch fire—with inspiration from one of the world’s most visionary collaborators."

The 2016 annual AIA National Conference will be held this year from May 18-21 in a "171,000 sq ft temporary built environment" in Philadelphia. The other keynote addresses will be given by the actor Kevin Spacey and the architect Neri Oxman of MIT's Mediated Matter research group...

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The Invention of Wessex: Thomas Hardy as Architect

Rem Koolhaas to deliver keynote on day 3 of AIA National Conference