OASE 96 (Social Poetics: The Architecture of Use and Appropriation) examines the revival of architectural practices that focus on reuse and appropriation of buildings, environments and materials.

To what extent can and will designers engage in this process, and what is the possible positive or negative social impact of these interventions? This issue's case studies, practical experience, critical reflection and ideas show how architects and urban planners proactively deploy reuse in view of future user opportunities and/or applications. 

Between the faith in the autonomy of architecture on the one hand, and design that centers on the user on the other, lies a whole range of practices that address the traditional separation between design and use in a radical way. In OASE 96, the contrast between design and use is not perceived as an issue that needs to be resolved, but as a productive area of tension within which architecture is created.

OASE is an independent, international, peer-reviewed journal for architecture that brings together academic discourse and the sensibilities of design practice.

Essays include “Asylum for a Design Activist” by SueAnne Ware; “The Only Good Architect is a Dead Architect” by BAVO (Gideon Boie & Fie Vandamme; “Design Through Use for Alternative Psychiatry” by Ariane d'Hoop; and “From Bi-nuclear to Incre-rental” by Casey Mack.

Designed by Karel Martens and Aagje Martens

Published by Nai010 Publishers, 2016

In Dutch and English

128 pages, b&w illustrations, 6.75 × 9.5 inches inches

ISBN 978-94-6208-280-9