Baumer Seminar 07: Foreign Office Architects

Every year an internationally-known practitioner is invited to the Knowlton School of Architecture at the Ohio State University to serve as Herbert Baumer Distinguished Visiting Professor and conduct a seminar discussing their work and working methods with graduate students. Spanish architect and critic Alejandro Zaera-Polo played this role during the fall quarter of 2007. Students conducted individual research on a specific project by FOA, exploring its conceptual devices and theoretical context. The essays collected in this volume are the outcome of said research. Also included is a transcript of the afternoon seminar on the last day of Zaera-Polo's visit, a discussion of his research on the political and economic implications of architectural envelopes.