BOOK:Saving Space-Big ideas for small buildings, Taschen Publications
After 70% of the city of Rikuzentakata was destroyed by an earthquake in March 2011, Toyo Ito called on three young architects, Kumo Inui, Sou Fujimoto and Akihisa Hirata, to design a “Home for All”, a place in which residents could ‘gain peace of mind and nurture their energy for the city’s reconstruction. Philip Jodidio the writer of the book “Saving Space-Big ideas for small buildings” of Small Architecture series by Taschen Publications examines how over the years, talented architects have occasionally indulged themselves with the challenge of designing small but perfectly formed buildings. Today, with reduced budgets, many architects have turned in a more focused way to creating works that may be diminutive in their dimensions, but are definitely big when it comes to trendsetting ideas. Whether in Japanese cities, where large sites are hard to come by, or at the frontier between art and architecture, small buildings present many advantages, and push their designers to do more with less. A dollhouse for Calvin Klein in New York, a playhouse for children in Trondheim, pop-up stores for fashion stars, vacation cabins, and housing for victims of natural disasters are all part of the new rush to develop the great small architecture of the moment. The 2013 Pritzker Prize winner Toyo Ito but so are emergent architects from Portugal, Chile, England, and New Zealand. Alvaro Siza and Kazuyo Sejima (SANAA) display their eye for tiny detail alongside artists Doug Aitken and Olafur Eliasson.–Dimitris Lempesis
