UN Studio: Design Models: Architecture, Urbanism, Infrastructure

UN Studio is the innovative firm founded by Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos, two Dutch designers creating some of the most ambitious and celebrated architecture of their generation. Fluidity and flexibility are hallmarks of UN Studio projects, and many of these projects have literally reinvented a number of standard building types, such as power stations, museums, bridges, transportation hubs, and live-work residences (including one based on a Möbius strip). UN Studio projects fuse a sophisticated understanding of digital design with a formal and material exploration that has ensured that their work reaches far beyond the "supermodernism" associated with other Dutch firms. This book presents the firm's complete body of work, including several major projects in Germany (Mercedes-Benz Museum, Stuttgart), Italy (Pierodi Pier, Genoa harbor), Switzerland (Hotel Castell, Zuoz), Korea (Galleris Hallin, Seoul) and many in the Netherlands.

Library Journal

This monograph summarizes the complete works of the Dutch architectural firm UN Studio, which stands for United Network, meaning architecture, urbanism, and infrastructure. Established by van Berkel (architecture, the St. Delschule, Frankfurt) and Bos 18 years ago, this Amsterdam-based studio's specialty is urban infrastructure: structures such as bridges, museums, and large office buildings that come to define an entire city or district. Examples include the Prince Claus Bridge in Utrecht, Holland, and the massive Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, Germany, which resembles a three-stroke Merkel engine and stands beside the Mercedes-Benz factories. The prototype for this kind of design was the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, designed by Frank Gehry in 1998, and, indeed, van Berkel and Bos stand on Gehry's shoulders. The work of UN Studio is intricately engineered and presented, and the introductory and concluding essays are sensible and well written. Highly recommended to architecture libraries.-Peter Kaufman, Boston Architectural Ctr. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos established Van Berkel & Bos in 1988, which later became UN Studio in 1998. Based in Amsterdam, the firm has designed and built projects around the world. Van Berkel is dean of the postgraduate program of architecture at the Städel Schule in Frankfurt, Germany. Bos is a visiting lecturer at Princeton University.