Steven Holl: Luminosity / Porosity

by Steven Holl

Twenty-one works and projects are thoroughly explored in this publication which in the words of Steven Holl aims to ""investigate aspects of porosity and light, the fusion of architecture, urbanism and landscape and ultimately the fusion of matter and spirit"". This well documented publication features alongside better known buildings, recent projects such as the 'Sail Hybrid' project, Belgium, the 'Swiss Ambassador's Residence', Washington and the 'Nelson Atkins Museum of Art', in Missouri, USA.

Paperback

Published January 6, 2006

About the author

Steven Holl (born December 9, 1947) is an American architect and watercolorist, perhaps best known for the 2003 Simmons Hall at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the celebrated 2007 Bloch Building addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri,[1] and the praised 2009 Linked Hybrid mixed-use complex in Beijing, China.

Holl graduated from the University of Washington and pursued architecture studies in Rome in 1970. In 1976, he attended graduate school at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London and established his offices New York City. Holl has taught at Columbia University since 1981.

Holl's architecture has undergone a shift in emphasis, from his earlier concern with typology to his current concern with a phenomenological approach; that is, with a concern for man's existentialist, bodily engagement with his surroundings. The shift came about partly due to his interest in the writings of philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty and architect-theorist Juhani Pallasmaa.