Bracket 4

Bracket is situated at a critical point in architectual history where the who, what, where, and how of action need to be re-conceptualised to relate to who we are, how we live, and how we communicate today.

The rise of several divisive leaders within contemporary politics, has once again brought action to the foreground. As a new generation makes their voices heard, they are also grappling to find effective platforms for action through design. The notion of action simultaneously evokes a discussion on what we are acting for and value. This is particularly important to consider at a moment when the authoritative systems - governments and corporations - appear more divergent to the voices on the ground.

At the same time, within an increasingly pluralistic society, what we collectively value is increasingly unclear, which presents a primary challenge on action. The role of design and the agency of the designer are at stake in facilitating or stifling action. Bracket contains over 28 essays and 15 design projects that are structured into six sub-themes: ReAction, CounterAction, InterAction, FAction, InAction, and RetroAction. The intent of the fourth almanac of Bracket is to unpack the contemporary possibility of action through design. Our contention here is that a democracy in deficit cannot be repaired without a deeper investigation in how actions can be designed, accommodated for, and encouraged. Equally, this is our call to action - it is time for design to take action and greater accountability for its actions in our contemporary socio-political spheres. Bracket provokes spatial practice's potential to incite and respond to action.

About the Author

Neeaj Bhatia is principal of the design office, The Open Workshop, and Associate Professor at the California College of the Arts, where he also directs the urbanism research lab, The Urban Works Agency. Mason White is co-founder of Lateral Office, and associate professor at University of Toronto, Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design.

Essays by: Pier Vittorio Aureli, Neeraj Bhatia, Vishaan Chakrabarti, Belinda Tato, Yoshiharu Tsukamoto, Mason White, Serafina Amoroso, Lori A. Brown, Steven Chodoriwsky, Jill Desimini, Gabriel Duarte, Samaa Elimam, FAS- Foreign Architects Switzerland, Lindsay Harkema, Alison Hugill, Dan Dorocic, Hamed Khosravi, Kees Lokman, Markus Miessen, David Eugin Moon, Stephen Mueller, Ersela Kripa, Lucia Jalon Oyarzun, Albert Pope, Tobias Revell, Christopher Roach, Azadeh Zaferani, Mimi Zeiger. Projects by: James Brazil, Founding Partner uAbureau, Michael Cook, Katherine Jenkins, Parker Sutton, Mariam Kamara, Elizabeth Golden, Aristodimos Komninos, Guy Koenigstein, Karen Lewis, Cesar Lopez, Claudia Mainardi, Matthew Mazzotta, N H D M / Nahyun Hwang + David Eugin Moon, Rafi Segal, David Salazar, Jin Young Song, Martin Sztyk, TVK - Trevelo & Viger-Kohler Architectes Urbanistes, URBANISTICA, De Peter Yi, Azadeh Zaferani.