Lebbeus Woods: Experimental Architecture

Considered one of the most innovative experimental architects working today, Lebbeus Woods combines an extraordinary mastery of drawing with a penetrating analysis of architectural and urban form that is fed by his wide knowledge of fields ranging from philosophy to cybernetics. The resulting work is grounded in real-world conditions at the same time as it pushes far beyond the boundaries of conventional architecture; Woods' passionate provocations argue for a critical engagement with the world that opens it to tectonic possibility, not simply bricks-and-mortar resolution. Unlike rather cursory recent treatments of Woods' work, Experimental Architecture provides a variety of contexts for it. Tracey Myers' essay situates Woods within the long tradition of the architectural visionary, defining that term and incorporating an interview with Woods as a way of understanding his seemingly dichotomous sensibility. In his own essay, Woods traces the evolution of his conviction that it is architecture's responsibility to respond to changes that affect the human condition, and that this agility requires not only formal innovation, but the invention of new kinds of space. Karsten Harries examines Woods within the context of a tension he perceives within contemporary culture between the real and the imaginary.