SHoP Architects: Out of Practice

Description

An insider’s look into one of contemporary architecture’s most cutting-edge firms. SHoP’s striking projects and unique business model are captured in this thoughtful and inventively organized monograph.

Designed in a playful and intricate manner, SHoP: Out of Practice reflects the character and attitudes of the firm itself. Thirteen projects are shown in great detail, including the Barclays Center at Atlantic Yards, Brooklyn; a master plan for the East River Waterfront, New York; and Dunescape, winner of the annual MoMA/P.S.1 competition for a summer courtyard installation. Interspersed between the projects are thematic explorations of current issues in architecture: style, risk, innovation, sustainability, and more. Also included are five essays by the SHoP partners that offer the firm’s take on practice, politics, finance, technology, and sustainability.

In just over a decade, SHoP Architects have forged a unique body of work that deftly navigates the complex, interconnected world of today’s international architectural scene. Challenging the entire process of conventional design and construction, their works address issues of politics, sustainability, project finance and technology and prove to a generation of architects that beauty and technological proficiency need not be mutually exclusive.