Author Description

Addressing East Asia's rapid urban transformation, The Vertical Village looks at radical alternatives to the familiar standardized block architecture that has eradicated low-rise, "lighter" varieties of architecture, such as the Hutong in Beijing, Tokyo's wooden house and the villages of Singapore. These "urban villages" have fostered a connected community living instead of isolating citizens in tower blocks. This volume, the latest publication from The Why Factory, attempts to reconcile the two models, proposing a contemporary "vertical village" that restores neighborhood life to East Asian--and perhaps western--civic centers. It features innovative designs for high-rise structures, detailed case studies for Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei, Djakarta, Seoul and Bangkok, plus interviews with Winy Maas, Alfredo Brillemburg, Hubert Klumpner, Lieven De Cauter, Peter Trummer and families living in Taipei (where the originating Why Factory exhibition was held).