-NESS 1: On Architecture, Life, and Urban Culture (Between Cozy History and Homey Technics)

NESS is a printed publication about architecture, life, and urban culture. We are in continuous dialogue with provocative designers and thinkers to expand and diversify our conversations and to be open to new visions and ideas. It is divided into Browser, The Dossier, and Documents. For the Spring 2018 issue, NESS warms up with a selection of the nine installations that rocked 2017 and further browses through the work of Eleni Petaloti & Leonidas Trampoukis, whose sibling practices—LOT and objects of common interest—shift from one scale to another with subtle sophistication. Plus, Berlin-based architect Lena Wimmer presents her utmost experimental projects. Next, NESS headed to Detroit and dedicates a 38-page survey to draw a portrait of the city through their own curious and questioning lenses. The editors went to the Planning and Development Department and talked to authorities, designers, architects, community representatives, and developers shaping the former Motor-City. In the Dossier section, “Between Cozy History and Homey Technics”, architects, critics, and thinkers were asked to provocatively discuss the intellectual and pragmatic set of tools at hand: Stan Allen and Jesus Vassallo talk about photography and the built environment as a filter of abstraction; Enrique Ramirez and Mimi Zeiger reflect on the aesthetics—or lack thereof—in contemporary representation technics; Emanuel Christ and Camilo Restrepo imagine the type as a vehicle for ideas to travel through building cultures; and Sharon Johnston and Florencia Rodriguez exchange views on curating in architecture. Lastly, NESS crew flew to Chicago, Vienna, Seoul, and Valparaiso to review the latest events and reflect upon the biennial phenomenon. And, finally in Documents, NESS sat down with two acclaimed architecture offices: French Bruther and New York-based SO – IL to get to know each of their practice, processes, and projects in a comprehensive interview, detailed drawings and photographs.