MoMA’s Ambasz Institute produces publications and periodicals that explore the relationship between the built and the natural environment.
Emerging Ecologies: Architecture and the Rise of Environmentalism
In the 1960s, the postwar push for endless growth and ever-increasing consumption gave rise to concerns about industrial pollution, resource depletion, and ecological collapse, inspiring a new generation of architects to rethink the core tenets of their profession. Published to accompany the first expansive survey of the history of environmental thinking in architecture, Emerging Ecologies: Architecture and the Rise of Environmentalism studies the role architects have played in defining our understanding of “nature” and the “environment,” specifically during the emergence of the environmental movement. This richly illustrated publication presents more than 45 architectural contributions—from Eleanor Raymond and Mária Telkes’s groundbreaking work on solar houses to Buckminster Fuller’s world resource management system and the environmental symbolism of Emilio Ambasz—to explore the role designers played in both promoting the ecological cause and in outlining the very terms of their nascent field.
Art Papers: “Counter Ecologies”
This special issue of Art Papers digs into cultural contexts behind ecological visions being presented in the exhibition Emerging Ecologies: Architecture and the Rise of Environmentalism—the first comprehensive survey of environmental architecture at a major museum. Edited to accompany the exhibition and its catalogue, the issue foregrounds the always-political dimension of any environmental project. In claiming to speak for the Earth, this issue asks, “Whose voices have been foregrounded, and whose have been silenced? What are the counter-ecologies that run against the mainstream dictates of environmental discourse?” Whether shining a light on the pioneering but unsung work of environmental architects, or tracing the continuing impact of past environmental justice movements on the activism of today, “Counter Ecologies” presents many conflicting political projects launched under the sign of the ecological.