Gyroscopic Horizons

9781878271136

187827113X

In this first monograph on his work, architect Neil Denari sets his sights on the gyroscopic horizon, a term based on the altitude device found in most aircraft. Just as a plane's gyroscope creates an artificial horizon line for the pilot, Denari often eliminates the physical earth as datum or locus of experience, turning to cultural, economic, and graphic forces as points of departure for his work. Denari, the third director of Los Angeles's innovative Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), has made a reputation worldwide for his projects, installations, and writings on the question of technology and contemporary culture; it has been said of Denari's firm that it moves toward the question of place "with the same dynamic flow as a Boeing crossing the International Dateline headed for the arrival lounge at Narita Airport." This long-awaited book combines photography, cultural criticism, and meditations on Los Angeles and Japan, along with Denaris trademark computer renderings and descriptions of over 20 architectural projects from the last ten years. Three of the most important projects discussed are the addition and renovation of the Arlington Museum of Art, the construction of an experimental space at Gallery MA in Tokyo (which won awards from I.D. Magazine and the Architectural Foundation of Los Angeles), and the first Microsoft retail store. Other projects include prototype housing in Tokyo, the Kansai-kan Library Competition, the Vertical Smoothouse in Los Angeles, Technology Research Park in Agoura Hills, and the Museum of the 20th Century in Los Angeles. Gyroscopic Horizons, whose territory ranges from the freeway to the Internet, illustrates the intense vision of this architect who draws inspiration from the complexities of modern-day machines and life.