Practiceopolis: Stories from the Architectural Profession

Name: Practiceopolis: Stories from the Architectural Profession
Brand: Taylor & Francis
SKU: 9780367425449
Price: 70.99 NZD
Availability: InStock

By Yasser Megahed

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Summary

Practiceopolis: Stories from the Architectural Profession is a graphic novel set in an imaginary city that embodies the contemporary architectural world. Through exaggerated, quasi-realistic stories, it highlights the everyday challenges, value conflicts, and political tensions between architects and other construction industry members. The narrative probes the ideologies shaping architectural practice and culminates in a dystopian conclusion, inviting readers to question established norms within the profession.
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Format: Paperback / softback

$70⁹⁹

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Practiceopolis: Stories from the Architectural Profession

$70⁹⁹

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book is ideal for architects, architectural students, and professionals interested in architectural theory, contemporary practice, and critical reflection on the construction industry. It also appeals to readers who appreciate graphic novels with intellectual and satirical depth.

This is a graphic novel about the contemporary architectural profession, in which it acts as the protagonist in the form of an imaginary city called Practiceopolis. The author has created a world into which any architect, student or professional, will instantly recognise, provoking the reader to challenge themselves and the profession.

Description

This is a graphic novel about the contemporary architectural profession, in which it acts as the protagonist in the form of an imaginary city called Practiceopolis. The novel narrates quasi-realistic stories that exaggerate the architectural everyday and the tacit, in order to make them prominent and tangible. They depict and dramatise the value conflicts between the different cultures of practising architecture and between the architectural profession and other members of the building industry as political conflicts around the future of Practiceopolis.

The book uses the metaphorical world of Practiceopolis to provoke big questions about everyday routines in the profession that practitioners may take for granted, and to examine different ideologies at work among architects and other members of the construction industry. The novel ends in the tradition of dystopian worlds common in a certain strand of graphic novels.

By vividly illustrating and narrating the critical issues he interrogates, the author has created a world which any architect, student or professional, will both instantly recognise and simultaneously reject, provoking the reader to challenge themselves and the profession at large.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

"This engaging book is hard to place. It is a graphic novel with serious intent: to survey and critique contemporary ways of practising architecture. At the same time, it questions the idea of practice, as it operates in both a globalised construction industry and the industry of cultural commentary. So this is a professional practice textbook. But it is also a theory book. And a satire on architects and architecture. Meanwhile, it shows how cartooning and storytelling can yield methods for architectural research. Practiceopolis will be of interest to architects, to students of architectural design, practice, and theory, and to anyone who wants to think about what it means to construct buildings in the twenty-first century." - Adam Sharr, Professor of Architecture, Newcastle University

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780367425449

Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 31 July 2020

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Routledge

Illustration: 250 Halftones, black and white; 250 Illustrations, black and white

Audience: Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Width: 174.0mm

Height: 246.0mm

Weight: 680g

Pages: 286

Collections

Arts & Culture Non-Fiction Yasser Megahed

About the Author

Yasser Megahed is Senior Lecturer at Leicester School of Architecture, De Montfort University. He holds a PhD by Design degree from the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Newcastle University, as well as MSc and BArch degrees in Architecture from Cairo University. His research is focused on interrogating cultures of contemporary architectural practice through practice-based methodologies, bridging design research, professional practice research and history and theory of architecture, in addition to a special interest in the use of Design Fiction as a tool for communicating architectural ideas. Yasser worked as an associate architect at Design Office, UK, where he was one of the concept team for the £25 million refurbishment of the Armstrong Building, Newcastle University – shortlisted for the RIBA North East Award 2019. Previously he worked as a senior architect at Architecture and Urbanism Group, Cairo, where he was involved in several projects and winning architectural competitions covering different building typologies in Egypt and the Middle-East.