Metamorphism: Transforming Materials in Architecture, Birkhäuser Architecture Publication, Book Image
Metamorphism: Transforming Materials in Architecture
Verlag Birkhäuser Publication: Architectural Book by Ákos Moravánszky
13 Feb 2018
Metamorphism: Transforming Materials in Architecture
New Publication: Metamorphism ? Transforming Materials in Architecture
By Ákos Moravánszky
The creative potential of the alchemical transformation of materials
?Today it is no longer possible to talk about materials in architecture in an exclusively technical and economic sense without addressing the question of their meaning and sensuality.? (Ákos Moravánszky).
Basel, 13 February 2018 – The complex biological process involving the exchange of chemical substances within an organism can also be applied to architecture: what is known as ?Stoffwechsel? (?material metamorphosis?) was the brainchild of the architect and art critic Gottfried Semper. He coined this term to describe the phenomenon that structural forms originally associated with one material technique can be transferred to other materials as ornaments, now liberated from their original function. Semper was one of the most influential architectural theorists of the nineteenth century ? and in Birkhäuser?s new book, his theory is the point of departure for a detailed examination of material transformation.

image courtesy of Birkhäuser
In his thoroughgoing analysis, author Ákos Moravánsky not only directs his att...