Architecture in the Space of Flows

Presenting a collection of exploratory ideas, this book offers an understanding of buildings, people and settlements through concepts of flow. Flows make buildings work; indeed flows make things in general work, including settlements, machines and people. We need there to be a flow of nourishment, of energy and water. Building materials flow from quarries into buildings, and they erode into dust, while materials are turned into energy, and work is turned into liquid assets. The metaphorical term #xE2;#xAC;#xDC;the space of flows#xE2;#xAC;" was coined by the sociologist Manuel Castells. In recent years there has been a huge growth in interest in various aspects of fluidity in architecture and urban planning. This book addresses this rising topic and the interest in processes that flow across traditional boundaries from the person to the building, from the sense of self to the settlement, from economics to identity.