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Pamphlet Architecture
War and Architecture
Pamphlet Architecture was begun in 1977 by William Stout and Steven Holl as an independent vehicle for dialogue among architects, and has become a popular venue for publishing the works and thoughts of a younger generation of architects. Small in scale, low in price, but large in impact, these books present and disseminate new and innovative theories. The modest format of the books in the Pamphlet Architecture Series belies the importance and magnitude of the ideas within.
40 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
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About the author
Lebbeus Woods
49 books28 followersLebbeus Woods was an American architect and artist.
Woods studied architecture at the University of Illinois and engineering at Purdue University and first worked in the offices of Eero Saarinen, but in 1976 turned exclusively to theory and experimental projects. He has designed buildings in Chengdu, China and Havana, Cuba. In 1988, Woods co-founded the Research Institute for Experimental Architecture, a nonprofit institution devoted to the advancement of experimental architectural thought and practice while promoting the concept and perception of architecture itself.
He was a professor of architecture at the Cooper Union in New York City and at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland.
The majority of his explorations deal with the design of systems in crisis: the order of the existing being confronted by the order of the new. His designs are politically charged and provocative visions of a possible reality; provisional, local, and charged with the investment of their creators. He is best known for his proposals for San Francisco, Havana, and Sarajevo that were included in the publication of Radical Reconstruction in 1997 (Sarajevo after the war, Havana in the grips of the ongoing trade embargo, and San Francisco after the Loma Prieta earthquake).
"Architecture and war are not incompatible. Architecture is war. War is architecture. I am at war with my time, with history, with all authority that resides in fixed and frightened forms. I am one of millions who do not fit in, who have no home, no family, no doctrine, no firm place to call my own, no known beginning or end, no "sacred and primordial site." I declare war on all icons and finalities, on all histories that would chain me with my own falseness, my own pitiful fears. I know only moments, and lifetimes that are as moments, and forms that appear with infinite strength, then "melt into air." I am an architect, a constructor of worlds, a sensualist who worships the flesh, the melody, a silhouette against the darkening sky. I cannot know your name. Nor you can know mine. Tomorrow, we begin together the construction of a city."
Woods, who envisioned experimental constructs and environments, has stated, "the interplay of metrical systems establishing boundaries of materials and energetic forms is the foundation of a universal science (universcience) whose workers include all individuals"
Woods studied architecture at the University of Illinois and engineering at Purdue University and first worked in the offices of Eero Saarinen, but in 1976 turned exclusively to theory and experimental projects. He has designed buildings in Chengdu, China and Havana, Cuba. In 1988, Woods co-founded the Research Institute for Experimental Architecture, a nonprofit institution devoted to the advancement of experimental architectural thought and practice while promoting the concept and perception of architecture itself.
He was a professor of architecture at the Cooper Union in New York City and at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland.
The majority of his explorations deal with the design of systems in crisis: the order of the existing being confronted by the order of the new. His designs are politically charged and provocative visions of a possible reality; provisional, local, and charged with the investment of their creators. He is best known for his proposals for San Francisco, Havana, and Sarajevo that were included in the publication of Radical Reconstruction in 1997 (Sarajevo after the war, Havana in the grips of the ongoing trade embargo, and San Francisco after the Loma Prieta earthquake).
"Architecture and war are not incompatible. Architecture is war. War is architecture. I am at war with my time, with history, with all authority that resides in fixed and frightened forms. I am one of millions who do not fit in, who have no home, no family, no doctrine, no firm place to call my own, no known beginning or end, no "sacred and primordial site." I declare war on all icons and finalities, on all histories that would chain me with my own falseness, my own pitiful fears. I know only moments, and lifetimes that are as moments, and forms that appear with infinite strength, then "melt into air." I am an architect, a constructor of worlds, a sensualist who worships the flesh, the melody, a silhouette against the darkening sky. I cannot know your name. Nor you can know mine. Tomorrow, we begin together the construction of a city."
Woods, who envisioned experimental constructs and environments, has stated, "the interplay of metrical systems establishing boundaries of materials and energetic forms is the foundation of a universal science (universcience) whose workers include all individuals"
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 29, 2024
کتاب پیشنهادی برای احیای شهر سارایوویی پس از خسارات ناشی از جنگ نوشته شد ٫شهر سارایوویی در زمان نگارش کتاب زیر آتش جنگ بود
کتابی کم حجم اما عمیق و آموزنده …
کتاب نگاهی هستی‌گرا و پست مدرن دارد و در مخالفت با ایدئولوزیگ‌ها و بازسازی ها و پاک‌سازی‌ها دست به احیا می‌زند و هیچ سختی و زخمی از تاریخ را که به شهر وارد شده را پاک نمیکند این سختی ها و زخم ها و دلمه ها هم بخشی از زندگی است …
«معماری و جنگ ناسازگار نیستند.
معماری جنگ است. جنگ معماری است.
من با زمانه خود، با تاریخ، با تمام قدرت‌هایی که در فرم‌های ثابت و وحشت‌زده خانه دارند، در جنگم.
من یکی از میلیون‌ها انسانی هستم که تطبیق پیدا نمی‌کنم، که خانه‌ای ندارم، خانواده‌ای ندارم،
دکترینی ندارم، جای ثابتی ندارم که آن را از آن خود بخوانم، آغاز و پایان شناخته شده‌ای ندارم،
مکان “مقدس و اصیلی” ندارم…»
«زمانی که هنر و زندگی یکی می‌شوند،نیاز به پنهان کردن واقعیت‌ها کمرنگ می‌شود. تا جایی که امر واقعی نه تنها زیبا بنظر می‌رسد، بلکه زیباست.»
«معماری نباید از ترکیب شدنِ خود با چیزی که فرومایه‌ترین شکلِ بیان انسانی یا همان نشانه‌ی زشت خشونت بوده است، بترسد. معماری باید یاد بگیرد که خشونت را تغییر بدهد، با وجودِ آنکه خشونت می‌داند که چطور معماری را تغییر بدهد»
کتابی کم حجم اما عمیق و آموزنده …
کتاب نگاهی هستی‌گرا و پست مدرن دارد و در مخالفت با ایدئولوزیگ‌ها و بازسازی ها و پاک‌سازی‌ها دست به احیا می‌زند و هیچ سختی و زخمی از تاریخ را که به شهر وارد شده را پاک نمیکند این سختی ها و زخم ها و دلمه ها هم بخشی از زندگی است …
«معماری و جنگ ناسازگار نیستند.
معماری جنگ است. جنگ معماری است.
من با زمانه خود، با تاریخ، با تمام قدرت‌هایی که در فرم‌های ثابت و وحشت‌زده خانه دارند، در جنگم.
من یکی از میلیون‌ها انسانی هستم که تطبیق پیدا نمی‌کنم، که خانه‌ای ندارم، خانواده‌ای ندارم،
دکترینی ندارم، جای ثابتی ندارم که آن را از آن خود بخوانم، آغاز و پایان شناخته شده‌ای ندارم،
مکان “مقدس و اصیلی” ندارم…»
«زمانی که هنر و زندگی یکی می‌شوند،نیاز به پنهان کردن واقعیت‌ها کمرنگ می‌شود. تا جایی که امر واقعی نه تنها زیبا بنظر می‌رسد، بلکه زیباست.»
«معماری نباید از ترکیب شدنِ خود با چیزی که فرومایه‌ترین شکلِ بیان انسانی یا همان نشانه‌ی زشت خشونت بوده است، بترسد. معماری باید یاد بگیرد که خشونت را تغییر بدهد، با وجودِ آنکه خشونت می‌داند که چطور معماری را تغییر بدهد»
January 18, 2016
Beautiful, passionate, and poetic. This book treads the so very thin line between the poetic and the rigorously conceived, building, ultimately, an argument for the generation of an architecture that is more than just democratic, that is a real response to the real dynamic world we inhabit. The renderings, which I just saw first hand at the Sfmoma, are spectacular, and represent a rare devotion to craft and poetic, heart and structure. Rip lebbeus woods.
January 3, 2013
One of the most important narratives for urban design and community-mindedness this millennium has to offer!
I recommend first reading a version without gazing upon the images, and then to read it again with the images in perspective.
I recommend first reading a version without gazing upon the images, and then to read it again with the images in perspective.
June 27, 2025
فکر می‌کنم چیزی که وودز اینجا سعی داره بهش اضافه کنه اینه که قبل از اینکه جایی که بمباران شده رو کاملا خراب کنید و دوباره بسازین، کمی وقت بدین و فکر کنین روش. شاید نیازی به پاکسازی کامل نباشه. این ساختمون‌ها مثل زخم‌هایی هستن که هرکدوم مراحل متفاوت بهبود رو نیاز دارن، دوای همه‌شون جراحی نیست. شاید با در نظر گرفتن این موارد، یه ساختمون مسکونی روی خرابه‌های قدیمی ساخته شد.
March 14, 2024
کتاب خوبی بود یه چیزی بیشتر از یه کتاب با موضوع معماری بود. معماری و کلا خلق کردن هر مدل سازه واقعا بی انتها و جادوییه. کتاب برای من مخاطب عام خوب بود نمیدونم برای کسایی که تخصصی معماری رو دنبال میکنن چجوریه.
کنار هم بمونیم همدیگه رو تنها نزاریم.
کنار هم بمونیم همدیگه رو تنها نزاریم.
March 9, 2025
“Freespaces are financed from below, those whose knowledge and ingenuity, energy and inventiveness have always fueled the engines of civilization, but who do so now, directly and resolutely, for themselves”
October 3, 2025
A fascinating (and personally agreeable) articulation on adapting spaces to post-war environments. Using destruction as a means to connecting history with the future, and the aspects of society that may spearhead such an idea.
April 10, 2019
Good writing, drawings are poorly reproduced. The text of this pamphlet is contained in other collections with higher quality graphics.
March 21, 2024
Bold and poetic. Instantly became a favorite. Definitely turning back to it after a while...
February 24, 2014
I was first introduced to Lebbeus Woods' work this past week, when, having some extra time on my hands, I visited the Broad Art Museum in East Lansing, Michigan. Woods, who was born in Lansing, and died in 2012, was an experimental architect whose sketches and theories, for me, overshadowed his actual buildings. The museum is currently holding an exhibition of his work, and if you're in the area, I encourage you to go see it. The museum itself was built by one of Woods' proteges, and is amazing.
In the pamphlet War and Architecture, published in 1993 by Princeton Architectural Press, the architect presents the idea that buildings and cities, after undergoing disaster, and especially after undergoing a war where bombings have destroyed or damaged the present architecture, should rebuild using the destroyed buildings as they are. In his sketches, he creates scars, mostly metallic, to cover over the damage in a way that you can still see, in the mind's eye, the damage underneath. He discusses the creation of freespace underneath these scars, and in the areas where debris has landed in the streets, making places of play and creative expression.
The sketches use buildings destroyed in Sarajevo, and are haunting, eerie, and futuristic. They were never built, but nevertheless they're inspirational. They make me want to write about a world in which such scars and free spaces exist. They are a reminder of what humanity has put itself through.
That was 1993. In 2014, imagine what such scars might do to heal Egypt, Iraq, Ukraine, Venezuela. Woods must have known that while the sketches would probably not be put in to play in his lifetime, there would never not be a need for them. Perhaps, there is a young architect out there right now, on the streets of these countries, who might be inspired by the work of Lebbeus Woods and, in some way, make these ideas a reality.
You never know. Woods, twenty years ago, predicts something very much like bitcoin in discussing how such projects would be financed.
In the pamphlet War and Architecture, published in 1993 by Princeton Architectural Press, the architect presents the idea that buildings and cities, after undergoing disaster, and especially after undergoing a war where bombings have destroyed or damaged the present architecture, should rebuild using the destroyed buildings as they are. In his sketches, he creates scars, mostly metallic, to cover over the damage in a way that you can still see, in the mind's eye, the damage underneath. He discusses the creation of freespace underneath these scars, and in the areas where debris has landed in the streets, making places of play and creative expression.
The sketches use buildings destroyed in Sarajevo, and are haunting, eerie, and futuristic. They were never built, but nevertheless they're inspirational. They make me want to write about a world in which such scars and free spaces exist. They are a reminder of what humanity has put itself through.
That was 1993. In 2014, imagine what such scars might do to heal Egypt, Iraq, Ukraine, Venezuela. Woods must have known that while the sketches would probably not be put in to play in his lifetime, there would never not be a need for them. Perhaps, there is a young architect out there right now, on the streets of these countries, who might be inspired by the work of Lebbeus Woods and, in some way, make these ideas a reality.
You never know. Woods, twenty years ago, predicts something very much like bitcoin in discussing how such projects would be financed.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews