Assistant Professor of Architecture Ashley Bigham has published Fulfilled: Architecture, Excess, and Desire. The book follows Bigham’s Banvard exhibition and symposium of the same name and includes contributions from more than a dozen architects, including Curtis Roth.

Based on the eponymous symposium and exhibition, ‘Fulfilled: Architecture, Excess, and Desire’ considers the role of architecture in a culture shaped by the excessive manufacturing and assuagement of desire. Until the term became synonymous with Amazon warehouses, the concept of fulfillment described the achievement of a desire—sometimes tangible, often psychological or spiritual. With the rapid growth of e-commerce, our understanding of fulfillment has evolved to reflect a seemingly endless cycle of desire and gratification—one whose continuity hinges on our willingness to overlook the cultural, economic, and environmental impacts of our ever-increasing expectation of quick and efficient fulfillment. A closer look at fulfillment reveals a social, typological, formal, aesthetic, and economic practice constructed collectively through both digital and physical interactions.

This book examines the architecture of fulfillment through three lenses: logistical, material, and cultural fulfillment. Each reveals the new forms of architectural practice and research that are possible, typical, and even surreptitiously encouraged in the age of Amazon.

Read more at Applied Research And Design Publishing