Ruin and Redemption in Architecture by Dan Barasch is a beautiful hardback book that explores some of the world’s most extraordinary architecture that has been abandoned, forgotten, ruined, rescued, reinvented and transformed.
Social entrepreneur Dan Barasch is the author of this impressive new tome published by Phaidon. Dan is the Co-Founder of The Lowline, a project to transform a subterranean New York City trolley terminal into the world’s first underground ‘park’. The Lowline was named one of TIME Magazine's Top Inventions and has received numerous architectural, engineering, and design awards around the world.
Barasch’s interest in the vast potential of forgotten urban spaces made him the perfect author for a book that focuses on the many lost, forgotten, reimagined and transformed spaces around the world. Demonstrating that reinvented, repurposed, and transformed architecture has the beauty and power to change lives, communities, and cities, this book features numerous case studies that bring the stories behind a global selection of abandoned and rescued buildings to life.
Ruin and Redemption in Architecture contains a number of high profile projects from the High Line in New York, the Tate Modern in London, La Fabrica in Spain to the Krane in Copenhagen with many lesser known spaces in between. Also included are transformations by some of the greatest architectural designers of the 20th and 21st centuries including Marcel Breuer, Frank Lloyd Wright, Jean Nouvel, MVRDV, OMA, John Pawson, Thomas Heatherwick and Herzog & de Meuron.
The foreword for the book is written by Dylan Thuras, Co-Founder of Atlas Obscura, who recounts his first experience with an abandoned building in the form of a gargantuan flourmill on the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. He recalls how he spent many an hour inside the notorious ruin along with others who were also intrigued by the secrets that were unfolding in the ruins of the abandoned mill.
This is comprehensive, informative and well-designed publication that is a welcome addition to any architecture lovers’ book collection.
Ruin & Redemption in Architecture by Dan Barasch is published by Phaidon, £39.95, available here.
