Architecture and Micropolitics: Four Projects by Farshid Moussavi Architecture, 2010-2020

Architecture and Micropolitics deconstructs two widespread prejudices: that architects nowadays are no longer important for the overall construction process, and that design is a linear process with a fully formed architectonic vision from the outset. Farshid Moussavi, a renowned architect and professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, shows how the specific character of contemporary architecture involves enriching the pragmatic aspect of creating architecture with random elements and subjective factors, in order to achieve the potential for changing our circumstances and the architecture that surrounds us. Thus, the micropolitics of our everyday lives becomes the basis for our built architecture. Moussavi illustrates this process with the help of four of her buildings from the last decade. They are presented through hundreds of photos, drawings, and sketches, and discussed in an essay, where Moussavi develops her thesis. New photos of the four buildings have been taken by the celebrated British photographer Stephen Gill, whose creative work combines documentary, experimental, and conceptual approaches. Also featuring a preface by French philosopher Jacques Ranciere, Architecture and Micropolitics is an astonishing book for all those who are interested in the interaction between architecture and society.