Synopsis:
The architecture of the West is well-known and recognisable across the world. The architecture of Southeast Asia, which is inspired by environment and a thriving and distinct culture, is a hidden pearl in the world of architectural design. In New Directions in Tropical Asian Architecture, author Philip Goad explores a region and an architecture that is complex and thriving. Featuring extended profiles of the regions most innovative and influential architects, this book covers a full complement of their recent projects in tropical Asia with plans, drawings, beautiful full-colour photographs and insightful text. Inspired by fresh agendas, such as simplicity and rethinking congregational spaces, the designs in this book dazzle with a bold new perspective. The 400 colour photographs in this book will put you in beach front scenes where the waves crash only inches from your feet; dreaming pool side at glamorous luxury hotels; relaxing in a gorgeous contemporary home; and finally, will bring you face to face with the most innovative architectural concepts in all of Asia.
Review:
"Display the unique work of some of the most interesting and influential architects in India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Java and Bali... " --Haven, Malaysia
"Eleven influential architects are profiled, many of them returnees to the region with an acute sense of where they came from ... " --PostMagazine, Hong Kong
"The rationale for an examination of new directions in tropical Asian architecture is not hard to find. First and foremost, it is simply overdue. Secondly, this book represents one step in opening up the region to greater scrutiny, to a greater embrace of its complexity. It provides documentation that will stimulate self-reflexive analysis, rather than analysis that is reliant on Western benchmarks of what is deemed to be good. And thirdly, the discourse which has recently arisen from this region has been mired in stereotype, and criticism has foundered on a singular focus on the 'tropical house' or 'tropical resort'." --Philip Goad, Professor of Architecture and Deputy Dean in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne
"It is Tropical Asia's ability to transform modern imperatives to suit its own ideological frameworks that makes its architecture exciting and different. In the post-national era, the new Asian citizen has left the dappled light of the tropical verandah for the reflected light of the shopping mall, the muted glow of the video arcade and the neon flicker of the city street. But how have the region's architects begun to programme, conceptualise, and design for this future? The works in this book go far in answering this question." --Anoma Pieris, Associate Professor in Architecture, Melbourne School of Design
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