Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) was one of the most revolutionary technological visionaries of the 20th century. As an architect, engineer, entrepreneur, and poet, he was a quintessentially American self-made man. But he was also an outsider: a technologist with a poet's imagination who already developed theories of environmental control in the thirties (-more with less-) and who anticipated the globalization of our planet (-think global--act local-). In light of the reawakening interest in his works and thoughts, and of their growing importance for our technological world, it is time for a...

Architecture is increasingly understood as a field of practice that is inextricably embedded in ecologies and energy systems, and yet embodied energy--the various forms of energy required to extract raw matter, to produce and transport building materials, and to assemble a given building-- remains largely under-explored in its ramifications for both design and environment. As operational energy has declined as a proportion of buildings' total energy consumption, embodied energy has become an essential site for further speculation and innovation. Embodied Energy and Design: Making Architecture...

One of the greatest and most influential architects of Japan's postwar generation, Shinohara Kazuo (1925-2006) has remained virtually unknown outside the small community of devoted followers. As one of the leaders of architectural movement Metabolism, Shinohara achieved cult-figure stature with sublimely beautiful, purist houses that break away from Japan's postwar suburban architecture. Perhaps the most iconic of Shinohara's works, House of White (1964-66), rearranges a familiar design palette--a square plan, a pointed roof, white walls, and a symbolic heart pillar--to give the almost...