Werewolf: The Architecture of Lunacy, Shapeshifting, and Material Metamorphosis

As climate, culture, and technology evolve and become increasingly unpredictable, architecture's stasis becomes more incongruous.

Werewolf explores an emerging but under-investigated branch of architecture that embraces the transformation of form, performance, and the responsiveness to environments and context. These ideas are studied through architectural precedents and framed by critical essays by Jesse Reiser, Greg Lynn, Jimenez Lai, Spyros Papapetros, Kari Weil, as well as the editors. The shift from passive buildings to reactive structures is now imperative, as climate change and political turmoil exacerbate the unpredictability of environments.

Werewolf expands on the architect's agency to critically address political, social, and environmental unrest. Revealing the cunning and agile ways in which architecture can negotiate rather than resist change, this book departs from the fixed Vitruvian man and uses the figure of the werewolf to propose a model where changes of state, mutation, and decomposition are conceptually fundamental.

Author: Caroline O'Donnell
Publisher: Applied Research & Design
Published: 02/08/2022
Pages: 450
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 2.10lbs
Size: 9.50h x 6.90w x 1.40d
ISBN: 9781951541132

About the Author
O'Donnell, Caroline: - Caroline O'Donnell is an architect, writer, educator, and principal of CODA. She is the Edgar A. Tafel Associate Professor and director of the M.Arch program at Cornell University, as well as author of Niche Tactics: Generative Relationships between Architecture and Site. O'Donnell specializes in ecological theory and material innovation, looking toward natural and local resources to produce meaningful environments.Ibarra, José: - José Ibarra is director of transformation and research of CODA. He is an assistant professor at the University of Virginia. Ibarra's interdisciplinary work focuses on the intersection between architecture and environmental uncertainty, looking at design tactics for remediation and justice that work across different temporal scales.Davidson Cynthia: - Cynthia Davidson is an architecture editor, writer, and critic based in New York City. She is the founding editor of Log: Observations on Architecture and the Contemporary City as well as the ANY series of conferences and publications. She was co-curator of the American Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennial in 2014.
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