Architecture as Prototyping

This book is part of a collection of pocket-size books for the sixth edition of Lisbon Architecture Triennale, edited by the curators of this exhibition and published in partnership with Circo de Ideias.

Before architecture’s organising powers are triggered through the act of design, a building is no more than a formless accumulation of varying materials – the very same components that will eventually re-emerge with its demolition years later, when it becomes a bare mountain of formless matter. But architectural design can extend beyond a given form and start operating at the level of a redistribution of matter through design material cycles. This book brings together contemporary architectural practices and artists reflecting upon the art of designing cycles, addressing the past and present of construction, relationships to the geopolitics of extractivism, and possible futures for the building industry.