Books
In the Steps of Itsuko Hasegawa
A rare bird in the contemporary architectural scene is OFFICE. Few architects have managed to combine practice and theory with acumen, but for Kersten Geers and David Van Severen – as for their admired Rossi and Venturi – they are inseparable, and the same care put into drawing the basic geometries of their plans goes into examining historical types and forms. After regularly contributing to the magazine San Rocco, they have for years now been publishing the results of their courses and research under the label Office without Office.
Even fewer, when laying down their thoughts, instead of issuing pamphlets on their work, opt to reflect on others’ teachings. Hence, with their ‘out of the office’ undertakings, and following professors like Moneo or Eisenman, the Belgians (in an editorial team formed by Geers and Jelena Pančevac) unravel some of their unexpected influences. And having upheld the Van Eycks and revisted De Carlo, they rediscover the syntax of Itsuko Hasegawa’s Shonandai Cultural Center.
But most exceptionally, instead of brainy texts or graphic analyses, the glance of an accomplice suffices. Here they rely on images by Stefano Graziani which, far from documentalistic intentions, show the everyday reality of a project with no equal. The result is a visual journey (accompanied only by two texts and a handful of diagrams) that give a close look at the novel approach of a pioneer who materialized Ledoux’s dream long before others claimed the credit. And who defines this accidental canon a bit more.
