Description

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Portman’s America & Other Speculations takes an unconventional and speculative approach towards the understanding and future potentials of the work of one of the world’s most creative, controversial, daring, and prolific architects. Combining the talents of an architect, artist, and developer, John Portman was able to embark on a series of large-scale building projects—megastructures—that radically redefined the relationship of architecture to the city and its citizens. Portman’s own voice and ideas complement the contributions of others, including new photographs by Iwan Baan, to present a more complex and nuanced reading of both the architect and his architecture. Finally, the repertoire of Portman’s buildings is analyzed in meticulous detail and used by a group of students from the Harvard Graduate School of Design as a catalyst for a host of divergent and new architectural speculations.

About the Author

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Mohsen Mostafavi is Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Design and Alexander and Victoria Wiley Professor of Design.