Cooke, S: Hip-Hop Architecture

Despite increasing popular attention to issues of diversity and under-representation in architecture, the agents of power and control within the profession remain unchanged. Of all the creative forms, architecture remains the least accessible to the inhabitants of many urban neighborhoods.

The absence of a significant minority presence in the field reinforces the disconnect between designers and users. But the script is about to flip. Hip-Hop Architecture explores the production of spaces, buildings, and urban environments that embody the creative energies in hip-hop. It is a newly expanding design philosophy which sees architecture as a distinct part of hip hop's cultural expression, and which uses hip-hop as a lens through which to provoke new architectural ideas.

The book begins by outlining an architectural manifesto - the voice of the underrepresented, marginalized, and voiceless within the discipline, practice, and profession. Subsequent chapters explain what constitutes Hip-Hop Architecture today, exploring its historical antecedents and its theory, and placing it in a wider context both within architecture and within Black and African American movements. Throughout, the work is illustrated with inspirational case studies of architectural projects and creative practices, and interspersed with interludes and interviews with key architects, designers, and academics in the field. This is a vital and provocative work that can appeal to architects, students, designers, theorists and anyone interested in a fresh view of architecture, race and culture.