Hip-Hop Architecture

This book is not for architectural academic elites, gentrifiers, or conformists. It is for those who have made architecture a symbol of exclusion, oppression, and domination. Hip-Hop Architecture is a manifesto for the underrepresented, marginalized, and voiceless within the discipline, exploring the production of spaces, buildings, and urban environments that embody the creative energies in hip-hop. It is a newly expanding design philosophy that uses hip-hop as a lens to provoke new architectural ideas and is illustrated with inspirational case studies and interviews.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 288 pages
Publication date: 22 April 2021
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

This book is not for you. It is not for architectural academic elites. It is not for those who have gentrified our neighborhoods, overly intellectualized the profession, and ignored all contemporary Black theory within the discipline. You have made architecture a symbol of exclusion, oppression, and domination rather than expression, aspiration, and inspiration. This book is not for conformists—Black, White, or other.

As architecture grapples with its own racist legacy, Hip-Hop Architecture outlines a powerful new manifesto—the voice of the underrepresented, marginalized, and voiceless within the discipline. Exploring the production of spaces, buildings, and urban environments that embody the creative energies in hip-hop, it is a newly expanding design philosophy that sees architecture as a distinct part of hip-hop's cultural expression, and which uses hip-hop as a lens through which to provoke new architectural ideas. Examining the present and the future of Hip-Hop Architecture, the book also explores its historical antecedents and its theory, placing it in a wider context both within architecture and within Black and African American movements. Throughout, the work is illustrated with inspirational case studies of architectural projects and creative practices, and interspersed with interludes and interviews with key architects, designers, and academics in the field.

This is a vital and provocative work that will appeal to architects, designers, students, theorists, and anyone interested in a fresh view of architecture, design, race, and culture. Includes Foreword by Michael Eric Dyson.

Weight: 814g
Dimension: 190 x 246 x 17 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781350116146