Fulfilled: Architecture, Excess, and Desire

Fulfilled: Architecture, Excess, and Desire explores the role of architecture in a culture shaped by excessive manufacturing and desire. It examines the architecture of fulfilment through three lenses: logistical, material, and cultural fulfilment, highlighting the new forms of architectural practice and research that are possible in the age of Amazon. The book highlights architectures unique capacity to offer methodologies for confronting an increasingly ambiguous, alienating world and producing new knowledge and unexpected solutions that go beyond the dichotomies of rural and urban territories.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 144 pages
Publication date: 09 August 2022
Publisher: Oro Editions

Based on the eponymous symposium and exhibition, Fulfilled: Architecture, Excess, and Desire delves into the profound role of architecture in a culture shaped by the relentless pursuit and appeasement of desire. Until recently, the concept of fulfillment referred to the realization of a desire, whether it be tangible, psychological, or spiritual. However, with the rapid expansion of e-commerce, our understanding of fulfillment has undergone a remarkable transformation, evolving into an endless cycle of desire and gratification. This cycle relies on our willingness to overlook the cultural, economic, and environmental consequences of our insatiable demand for quick and efficient fulfillment.

A closer examination of fulfillment reveals a multifaceted social, typological, formal, aesthetic, and economic practice that is collectively constructed through both digital and physical interactions. It is a cultural practice that evolves akin to a language, possessing universal applicability while remaining contextually specific. As a symposium, exhibition, and now publication, this project endeavors to unveil these novel arrangements, sticky relationships, and material by-products of cultural production, ultimately posing the age-old question, "What does it mean to be fulfilled?"

This book explores the architecture of fulfillment through three distinct lenses: logistical, material, and cultural fulfillment. Each lens unveils the emerging forms of architectural practice and research that are not only possible but also typified and even subtly encouraged in the age of Amazon. Fulfillment networks, rather than being invisible systems, are tangible entities—warehouses, suburban houses, parking lots, cardboard boxes, shopping malls, mechanical systems, shipping containers—with which architects must engage. From political mapping and issues of labor to digital technologies and the implications of automation, fulfillment networks serve as the backdrop for a range of architectural concerns and inquiries.

In conclusion, Fulfilled: Architecture, Excess, and Desire offers a thought-provoking exploration of the intricate relationship between architecture, desire, and the broader cultural landscape. By examining the architecture of fulfillment through these three lenses, the book sheds light on the transformative effects of e-commerce on our understanding of fulfillment and provides a roadmap for architects to navigate the complex terrain of designing for a world driven by incessant desire.

Weight: 502g
Dimension: 179 x 230 x 16 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781951541644