Jürgen Mayer H. Livres

J. Mayer H. und Partner, Architekten focus on works at the intersection of architecture, communication and new technology. Recent international projects include Metropol Parasol, the redevelopment of the Plaza de la Encarnación in Seville, Spain; the Court of Justice in Hasselt, Belgium; and several public and infrastructure projects in Georgia, for example an airport in Mestia, the border checkpoint in Sarpi, and three rest stops along the highway in Gori and Locchini. Other exciting projects are coming up soon: the Karlsruhe 300 jubilee pavilion KA300 in the royal gardens; a parking garage façade in Miami, Florida; the FOM University and the Rhein740 residential high-rise in Düsseldorf; and VOLT, a new retail and experience complex in the heart of Berlin. From urban planning schemes and buildings to installation work and objects with new materials, the relationship between the human body, technology, and nature form the background for a new production of space.

Today, economic and ecological forces have finally collided and forced humankind to reassess its relationship to each. For architecture, this means facing its the weather, with its attendant forces of instability and unpredictability. The role of architecture has always been to demarcate an area away from these forces, in which humankind can regulate its own needs. Now, the worldwide sustainability movement calls for an architecture that does not resist but incorporates or accommodates atmospheric turbulence. Arium examines the curious relationship between weather and architecture, addressing instances where architecture has both brilliantly collaborated with and foolishly failed to anticipate weather patterns such as wind tunnels and heat exposure, and demonstrating that this relationship need not always be antagonistic. Begun as a research project under the direction of architect Jürgen Mayer H. from Berlin and urban designer Neeraj Bhatia from Toronto, Arium offers a revelatory in-depth look at this urgent topic through critical examinations by George Baird, Rodolphe el-Khoury, Robert Levit, Mason White, Henry Urbach, Filiz Klassen, Marc Kushner and Dirk Hebel.

J. MAYER H. Architects, founded in Berlin in 1996 by Jürgen Mayer H., has won a number of awards for their extraordinary work. In recent years, they have created a furor with attention-getting buildings such as the new commons for the Universität Karlsruhe or the AdA1 offices in Hamburg. In particular, Metropol Parasol, a gigantic structure for the market place in the heart of old Seville, has made J. MAYER H. Architects one of the offices most discussed by architecture critics. Edited by Henry Urbach and Cristina Steingräber, this is the first book to present the entire oeuvre of J. MAYER H., starting with research and moving through design to project development, and culminating in the actual building itself. A number of renowned authors, such as Rolf Fehlbaum, Andres Lepik, John Paul Ricco, Ilka und Andreas Ruby, Felicity D. Scott, Henry Urbach, und Philip Ursprung take a variety of approaches toward positioning the office's work in today's international architecture scene. (German edition ISBN 978-3-7757-2222-3) Exhibition schedule: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, February-May 2009