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Book Review
Design in the Age of
Sobriety
The Art of Architectural Grafting
Jeanne Gang, FAIA
Park Books, 2024
by Maya Shamir
34 Texas Architect
9/10 2024
qualitative: each of the seven chapters ends with a
short orst-person essay, grounding Gang9s writing
and work in personal anecdotes and experiences
from both her childhood and her work with her
eponymous Chicago-based orm, Studio Gang. She
draws on many disciplines, ranging from the scientioc to the humanistic4from botany and engineering to history and anthropology. Philosopher Bruno
Latour9s constructivist actor-network theory, which
posits that both human and nonhuman relationships interact within networks that shape situations, informs Gang9s perspective of architects as
crucial actors who can fashion habitable features
that address ecological and social issues.
Grafting emerged independently in Persia,
China, and Central Asia 2,500 years ago. Gang
traces shifting cultural attitudes toward the practice,
from celebration in Ancient Rome all the way to the
exaggeration of its transformative powers during
the Scientioc Revolution. The fundamental steps
involve a precut shoot scion that is grafted onto
an existing rootstock; as the vascular tissues fuse
together, they exchange energy, water, nutrients,
and structural stability. Beautifully illustrated diagrams complement the text, which is highly accessible even to the least botany-oriented reader.
Gang examines scions (additions and adaptations) in the built environment, noting that they are
often scrutinized. She examines several additions to
museums4buildings with longevity and a need for
growth4from the visually disruptive Deconstructivism era and 1980s parasitic remodeling to more
contextually sensitive works: Carlo Scarpa9s Venice
COVER IMAGE COURTESY PARK BOOKS
There is a rare joy in a bite of perfectly ripe fruit.
It9s something that feels at once luxurious and natural. But much of the fruit we eat is not, really, natural: it9s often grafted4that is to say, tissues of plants
are fused together to create joint growth. In her
2024 book, The Art of Architectural Grafting, Jeanne
Gang, FAIA, posits that horticultural grafting4the
practice of symbiotically fusing plants together4
is a useful model for architecture. Through this
metaphor, Gang ultimately calls for architects to
deeply examine the existing and to repurpose and
adapt it in a generative, thoughtful manner: to graft
together the present and the past.
The grafting model mandates working with
the existing context and avoiding demolition. It9s
a doctrine that emerged from what Gang coins
the
