What do outer space capsules, submarines, and office buildings have in common? Each is con- ceived as a closed system: a self-sustaining physical environment demarcated from its surroundings by a boundary that does not allow for the transfer of matter or energy. Contemporary discussions about global warming, recycling, and sustainability have emerged as direct conceptual constructs related to the study and analysis of closed systems. From the space program to countercultural architectural groups experimenting with autonomous living, this publication documents a discipli- nary transformation and the rise of a new environmental consensus in the form of a synthetic naturalism. It presents an archive of 39 historical living prototypes from 1928 to the present that put forth an unexplored genealogy of closed resource regeneration systems. Prototypes are presented through unique discursive narratives with historical images, and each includes new analysis in the form of a feedback drawing that problematizes the language of environmental representation by illustrating loss, derailment, and the production of new substances and atmospheres.

About the Author
Lydia Kallipoliti is an architect, engineer, and scholar with a PhD from Princeton University and a SMArchS from MIT. She is an Assistant Professor and the Co-Director of the Master of Science Program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, as well as the principal of ANAcycle thinktank in Brooklyn, New York.


Book Information
ISBN 9783037785805
Author Lydia Kallipoliti
Format Paperback
Page Count 352
Imprint Lars Muller Publishers
Publisher Lars Muller Publishers