Parasite Paradise: A Manifesto for Temporary Architecture and Flexible Urbanism

by Jennifer Allen, Ivan Nio, Gijs van Oenen

Parasites are flexible and temporary structures, designed by artists or architects, that feed off of existing infrastructure. Parasite Paradise documents 23 projects that respond on their own terms to new and unforeseen demands. Many of these parasites have settled in the government-designated "Vinex" district of Leidsche Rijn near Utrecht, turning a district almost exclusively concerned with dwelling into a more urban entity. What do these small, mobile architectural interventions mean for our strictly regulated society and for the planning of architecture and urbanism? What sense (or nonsense) is there in mobile architecture from a historical perspective? How much of it is art and how much is architecture? Parasite Paradise encourages us to consider a new approach to planning, one where not everything is fixed beforehand. This makes it required reading for architects, urban planners, and artists whose concern is designing urban space. With projects by Shigeru Ban, Atelier van Lieshout, Vito Acconci, Alicia Framis, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster & Martial Galfione, Kathrin B+hm & Stefan Saffer with Andreas Lang, Attila Foundation, Winter/H+rbelt, and others.

190 pages, Paperback

First published February 2, 2004