AGENDA is an architecture book that occupies the territory between a monograph, a diary, and a collection of essays, interviews, and conversations. At its most harmless AGENDA is a catalog of 365 days, like a diary or journal: a collective narrative, personal and subjective. It documents the work and thinking of JDS Architects over a specific year marked by crisis, beginning on September 15th, 2008, the day that Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. The form of the book exploits the double meaning of its title, presenting the absurdities of day-to-day architectural practice while also staking our intent.

Rather than a definitive direction, our agenda is a definitive attitude – of eagerness, enthusiasm, and optimism, of criticality and concern, of fun and inquiry. It is a directive, a motivation to act, at times without clear knowledge of where our agenda will lead. “Change,” the buzzword of the last U.S. presidential campaign, is the order of the day, and the task of AGENDA is to explore what kind of change will be needed if architects are to assume a political and social agency in this new landscape.

Bringing together diverse forms of content, AGENDA is a product of vigilant observation, introspection, and engagement with outside thinkers and collaborators – artists, curators, politicians, authors, economists, journalists, developers, educators, and architects.

AGENDA is a record of search and research, providing more questions than answers.

AGENDA is unapologetically naive.

AGENDA is an unorthodox architecture novel.

AGENDA demystifies the practice of architecture, revealing process, research, fun, and failure.

AGENDA looks to both the past and the future.

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There will be book launch parties in the following cities:

ROTTERDAM | Friday, 20 November 2009 from 17.00-22.00 / invite only

OSLO | Saturday, 28 November 2009 from 14.00-16.00
@ Holmenkollen Ski Jump – Visitor’s Centre [map] / RSVP

BRUSSELS | Thursday, 3 December 2009 – TBA / check back soon…

NEW YORK CITY | Thursday, 10 December 2009 from 18.00 – 21.00
@ Storefront for Art and Architecture [map] / open to public

Launches in Copenhagen, Paris, Barcelona, and London will follow in early 2010. More details about the launch parties and about how to obtain your own copy of AGENDA will be posted soon. AGENDA will be available worldwide in December.

PRE-ORDER ON ACTAR’S WEBSITE.

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Some highlights from AGENDA:

“We see our production as one continuous body of work across a multiplicity of scales, from a bowl or a shelf to a city, and even things that don’t have a specific size but discuss the issue of space itself”
-Julien De Smedt

“I’m a great believer in crisis.”
- Bruce Sterling

“If I were an architect, I think I would like to just work with one kind of brick, and see what I could make with it.”
- Lars von Trier

“…If you can’t afford a stone mason, you simply build a garden to attract crows. Exotic forms – falcons and rare butterflies – appear on every side, pigeons crowding round the rim of your building like a halo, looking down at amused residents. It was genius. Other species are our architectural ornaments; this is the modernist legacy.”
- Geoff Manaugh

“Gravity is like our jail, but it is also our identity, our possibility, our loyalty.”
-Ernesto Neto

“For too long architects and urban planners have been neglected in governing a city. The cities who have had an ambition for the city involving architects and planners, like Manchester and Barcelona, are the cities that progress.”
- Pascal Smet

“Perhaps this is the origin of crisis’s new life as a verb.”
-Brendan McGetrick

“The expansion of the European Union forced the authorities in the city to confront the obvious reality: there was no architectural structure in Brussels that unites the European multinational workforce, no architecture that represents the political values of the European Union. It was time to do something.”
-Barbara Vanderlinden

“The ‘Third Industrial Revolution’ is a decentralized energy system based on a distributed production of energy. I think that it will probably create a new freedom for architecture.”
-Angelo Consoli

“The focus on the social dimension of architecture is also a remarkable characteristic of the work of De Smedt.”
-Rotterdam-Maaskant prize 2009 Jury: Tom Avermaete, Hans Ibelings, and Robert Winkel

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Edited by: Jesse Seegers, Benedict Clouette, Ryan Neiheiser, and Julien De Smedt

Designed by: Korczak and Vereecken

Published and Distributed by: Actar

Contributions from: Hans Ulrich Obrist, Lars von Trier, Bruce Sterling, Ernesto Neto, Pascal Smet, Michael Speaks, Geoff Manaugh, Brendan McGetrick, Barbara Vanderlinden, Sozyone Gonzalez, Angelo Consoli, Bruno Brunet, Hans Ibelings, Tom Avermaete, Robert Winkel, Eric Corijn, Roland Legrand, Hugh Maaskant, Cleon Peterson, Albert Ravestein, Seleção Brusseleira

TECHNICAL INFO:
Paperback: 544 full color pages
Publisher: Actar (November 2009)
Language: English
ISBN: 978-84-96954-98-4
Dimensions: 210mm x 270mm x 26mm

PRE-ORDER ON ACTAR’S WEBSITE.

JDS/Heechan Park holds up a SPACE magazine poster in celebration of their 500th edition. The 500th edition anniversay includes interviews from 23 of the most influential architects in the world to investigate their current situations and listen to their predictions for the future… including Julien’s!

SPACE is a specialized architectural monthly which was first published in 1966 and has been at the vanguard of covering the arts and culture scene here in Korea ever since. In January of 2008, SPACE has been officially listed on the Art & Humanities Citation Index of Thomson Reuters [former ISI], which is a US organization that provides academic information.  SPACE is the second publication from Asia to be listed, following A+U of Japan.

SPACE 500th EDITION COMMEMORATIVE SPECIAL FEATURE:
<Our Attitude to Dealing with the Global Economic Crisis>

Interview_23 Architects Contemplate Their Courses of Action Amid the Ongoing Economic Crisis.

The World economic crisis which came suddenly in 2008 is now fully with us, everybody is keeping a careful eye on it. But the future is uncertain. Will our future architectural discussions still be involve the same subjects as they do today? The economic crisis has been a motivational factor for us to look back at our history. Where is modern architecture headed? We will be interviewing 23 of the most influential architects in the world to investigate their current situations and listen to their predictions for the future. We asked the participating architects the following six questions. They gave us the answers and put forward their opinions on the questions. Most of them predict a positive future for modern architecture. Whatever happens, their actions will bring about a change in the direction of architecture. It is now time to decide how we will react. <Written by Lee Kyung-eun>

1. What has been the impact of the economic crisis on your architectural practice, and how have you been responding to this?
2. Has the economic crisis had any effect on your projects? Have there been any differences in terms of its impact by regions?
3. There has been some discussion and debate over architectural trends represented by large-scale products led by mega capital and star architects. What is your opinion on this?
4. Do you think the topography of contemporary architecture will change due to the impact of the latest economic crisis? If so, what lessons should contemporary architecture learn from the economic crisis?
5. What do you think are the key words or themes we need to consider as the most important at the current juncture?
6. Due to the economic crisis, many people argue that we must now reconsider contemporary architecture. Has there been any change in your viewpoint on this as an architect? Please state your opinion on this matter. Is there any area you wish to shed new light on? Or is there any area you continue to take note of?

Read all the interviews from the SPACE website  here.