Now Published: Preface to a+u Thomas Phifer

The new issue of a+u – Architecture and Urbanism, dedicated to the work of Thomas Phifer, is now published. The volume includes my essay, “The Poetics of Light: From Landscape to Space of Contemplation,” in which I examine the relationship between landscape, light, and architectural space in Phifer’s practice, highlighting its contemplative and material dimensions.

“As already noted, the American landscape typology cannot be separated from the emergence of Land Art, from which Phifer continually draws inspiration in multiple ways: from the walking experience (as in Hamish Fulton’s works), to the sensitive placement of volumes in dynamic interplay with topography (evoking Mary Miss’s early earthworks, but also those of Donald Judd and Michael Heizer), to the metamorphosis of natural material qualities into expressive matter within the architectural composition (as in the works of Andy Goldsworthy, Walter de Maria, and many others), to the multiplication of reflections and the creation of paradoxical spaces and thresholds (from Dan Graham to Robert Smithson’s mirrors), or even the use of territorial marks generated by contrasting expressive gestures (as in Richard Long’s works, but also in some by Michael Heizer). These diverse lessons resonate throughout Phifer’s built works.” — Susana Ventura