Saturday, July 27, 2013

An Architecture of the Ozarks - The Works of Marlon Blackwell



An Architecture of the Ozarks - The Works of Marlon Blackwell
Essays by David Buege, Dan Hoffman, Juhani Pallasmaa

GRAHAM  FOUNDATION  FOR  ADVANCED  STUDIES  IN  THE  FINE  ARTS, CHICAGO
Princeton Architectural Press | 2005 | English | 176 pages.


"I live, practice, teach, and build in northwest Arkansas, in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. It's a place considered to be in the middle of nowhere, yet ironically close to everywhere. It is an environment of real natural beauty and, simultaneously, one of real constructed ugliness. Abandonment, exploitation, erasure and nostalgia are all aspects of this place and are conditions as authentic as its natural beauty and local form. This land of disparate conditions in not just a setting for my work -- it is part of the work. By choosing to live and work here -- to call it home -- I've been able to get beyond the surface of things, to turn over the rock and discover the complex and rich underbelly of my place -- its visceral presences and expressive character -- that so informs and sustains my efforts. I am working from the conviction that architecture is larger than the subject of architecture." --Marlon Blackwell 

Marlon Blackwell is a passionate polemicist. He's also a very gifted architect. The projects in this first monograph on the "radical ruralist," as touted by the Royal Institute of British Architects, offer a new architectural language that at once celebrate the vernacular and transgress the boundaries of the conventional. The results are -- we can't help it, there's no better word -- beautiful. Incisive essays by David Buege, Dan Hoffman, and Juhani Pallasmaa and lush photography by Tim Hursley, Richard Johnson, and Kevin Latady explore Blackwell's projects, including his widely acclaimed Keenan TowerHouse, the award-winning Moore HoneyHouse, 2Square House, and Flynn-Schmitt BarnHouse, studios, and institutional buildings.


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