Nanoarchitecture

Book excerpt: John Johansen, now 85 years old, has been one of the preeminent architects in the United States for more than half a century. After studying under Walter Gropius (who became his father-in-law) at Harvard, he embarked on an extraordinary career marked by experimental domestic and public design. Since retiring from practice, Johansen has devoted himself to producing futuristic architecture that looks to the newest technologies science has to offer--from nanotechnology to magnetic levitation to material science--for its inspiration. Nanoarchitecture presents eleven of Johansen's most inspired visions. A floating conference center, an apartment building that sprouts from the earth and grows on its own, and a levitating auditorium all demonstrate Johansen's capricious yet thought-provoking ideas. Taken together, they offer an antidote to much of today's form-driven practice. The projects in Nanoarchitecture are presented through a series of idiosyncratic models, drawings, and computer animations suggesting what it would be like to inhabit these fantastic spaces. Nanoarchitecture is designed by the award-winning practice COMA."[Johansen] points toward the creation of a new vernacular, a new fabric of space and time in which modern experience can increase, expand, and deepen." --Lebbeus Woods