This monograph of work and projects by Venezuelan-born, Swiss-based architect Christian Kerez seeks to elucidate his particular approach, which emphasises how architecture does not exist in and of itself, but is rather a reflection of a practice of questioning, and of working with the unexpected.
Describing architecture as an “adventure” and an “intellectual work” through which existing rules and conventions are broken, Kerez employs a design process in which he makes use of models and renderings to thoroughly study and develop space and structure based on the various building requirements of his projects. He does not adhere to preconceived notions and instead begins with the essences for each project to formulate fresh concepts and ideas while seeking to define a new order. Kerez simplifies the complex and reduces buildings to their primary ideas and principles that serve as the generators of an infinite variety of schemes in a process that he describes as “intellectual minimalism”, which lends the spaces that he creates with greater freeness and richness.
At its core, the things we take for granted must be seen again, in a new light. Architecture critic Erwin Viray delves into this kind of reasoning in a conversation with Kerez, while the book beautifully presents examples of his designs, among them, a high-rise in Zhengzhou, the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, social housing in Paraisópolis and a school building in Munich.
This publication relates to the exhibition the 'Rule of the Game', which was on display in the TOTO GALLERY in 2013
This monograph of work and projects by Venezuelan-born, Swiss-based architect Christian Kerez seeks to elucidate his particular approach, which emphasises how architecture does not exist in and of itself, but is rather a reflection of a practice of questioning, and of working with the unexpected.
Describing architecture as an “adventure” and an “intellectual work” through which existing rules and conventions are broken, Kerez employs a design process in which he makes use of models and renderings to thoroughly study and develop space and structure based on the various building requirements of his projects. He does not adhere to preconceived notions and instead begins with the essences for each project to formulate fresh concepts and ideas while seeking to define a new order. Kerez simplifies the complex and reduces buildings to their primary ideas and principles that serve as the generators of an infinite variety of schemes in a process that he describes as “intellectual minimalism”, which lends the spaces that he creates with greater freeness and richness.
At its core, the things we take for granted must be seen again, in a new light. Architecture critic Erwin Viray delves into this kind of reasoning in a conversation with Kerez, while the book beautifully presents examples of his designs, among them, a high-rise in Zhengzhou, the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, social housing in Paraisópolis and a school building in Munich.
This publication relates to the exhibition the 'Rule of the Game', which was on display in the TOTO GALLERY in 2013
