Nanoarchitecture: A New Species of Architecture
book
concept and book design
John M. Johansen has always been fascinated by the achievements of technology. Since the late 1980s, he has dedicated himself to the building of models that develop visionary ideas about architecture and urban development. He began by building models using simple materials like plastic milk bottles, and later turned also to digital techniques: models of buildings, parts of cities and environments, not yet real, but realistic. He visualized a form of architecture that can adapt itself to what is needed and that can grow organically.
design The idea for the book about Johansen’s models for Princeton Architectural Press was to photograph the models as if they were animated, allowing the viewer to zoom in and zoom out, walk in and walk out, conveying the sensation of personally exploring each building. This concept allowed us to splice images together and then sequence them, almost as one would a comic book. We found a brilliant collaborator in Michael Moran, who photographed Johansen’s models in such a way that they, stripped of their actual size, perfectly represented the architect’s visionary world. In creating the Johansen exhibition, which succeeded the book, we choreographed beamed images of Moran’s dynamic photographs.
client Princeton Architectural Press, New York
collaborators
Mark Lamster, editor
Michael Moran, photographer
articles & links
Nanoarchitecture: A New Species of Architecture, store
Nanoarchitecture: A Discourse, article
