Officeus Manual (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9783037784396)

OfficeUS, the U.S. Pavilion for the 2014 International Architecture Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia, reframes the history of U.S. architecture through the lens of export in two interrelated constructs: The Office and The Repository . The Repository presents 1000 projects designed by 200 US offices working abroad in a chronological archive of the last 100 years. Collectively these projects tell multiple, imbricated stories of U.S. firms, typologies, and technologies, as well as a broader narrative of modernization and its global reach. The Office engages these projects, revisiting their premises and conclusions over the course of the Biennale. It functions as a laboratory staffed by a diverse group of resident design partners collaborating with outpost offices and a rotating cast of visiting experts. Together, these two halves of OfficeUS create both an historical record of the U.S. contribution to global architectural thought, and a petri dish in which that record is submitted to contemporary agents of disruption and critique