Several People within the Chair of Public Building are participating with writings for the OASE Journals. 

OASE - Independed Architectural Journal published by NAI publishers by order of the OASE foundation.

Colonial Modern: Aesthetics of the Past, Rebellions for the Futureis a reader on the relationship between modernism and the project of modernisation in architecture, as well as the intertwining of both in the context of colonialism and decolonisation. Colonial Modern is a reflection of contemporary research into architectural modernism and colonialism, and uses the thesis of “negotiated modernism” to initiate new debates on conceptions of modernism—and inevitably postmodernism—in an interdisciplinary context.

Tom Avermaete, Serhat Karakayali, Marion von Osten (eds.) Colonial Modern. Asthetics of the Past Rebellions for the Future. (London: Black Dog Publishing, 2010)

The 15 essays in ‘Architecture as a Craft’ present a vision of the architectural discipline in which the essence is sought in the craft itself. The book is based on the symposium of the same name that the Delft University of Technology organised in 2009. The craft of the architect is approached in this book from three perspectives: the Position adopted by the architect in the design and construction process, the Composition of the design, and the choice of Materials of the design. Design drawings, scale models and texts play an important role in this process. They are the products with which architects explain their position, the composition and the choice of materials of the design to others.

Michiel Riedijk (ed.) Architecture as a Craft. (Amsterdam: SUN Publishers, 2010)

Similar to the way that industrial fabrication with its concepts of standardisation and serial production has influenced modernist architecture, digital fabrication influences contemporary architecture: While standardisation focused on processes of rationalisation of form, mass-customisation as a new paradigm that replaces mass production, addresses non-standard, complex designs based on non-Euclidean geometries. Furthermore, knowledge about the designed object can be incorporated at the level of its connectivity with data stemming not only from its geometry but also from its content and behaviour within an environment. Digitally-driven architecture implies, therefore, on the one hand, digitally designed and fabricated architecture, and on the other hand, it implies architecture controlled and actuated by digital means, which is the focus of this issue.

Henriette Bier, Terry Knight (eds.)  Footprint Issue # 6: Digitally-Driven Architecture (Delft: TU Delft Press, 2010)

Susanne Komossa, Hollands bouwblok en publiek domein; model, regel, ideaal (Dutch edition); The Dutch urban block and the public realm; models, rules, ideals (English edition), Nijmegen, Vantilt  fall 2010.
The research focuses on the transformation of the urban block in relation to the public realm of the two great Dutch cities Amsterdam and Rotterdam throughout the last 400 years. Differing from the general notion of public space as space that is not private, the public realm of the city is more specifically defined as those places where citizens and visitors with a variety of backgrounds (ex)change ideas and opinions, goods, labour, knowledge and sometimes even get into conflict with each other. In order to analyse the process of transformation, Dutch urban blocks are selected that can be considered as paradigms of subsequent historical periods.

Komossa, Susanne (ed), The Dutch Urban Block and the Public Realm. (Nijmegen: Van Tilt, 2010)

If architecture is a rich and complex field of cultural production and know ledge that continuously redefines itself vis-à-vis spatial, societal and cultural challenges, then critically thinking and writing on this role of architecture both as a force of change and as a mode of reflection are most essential. This issue of OASE is aimed at examining the role of the architecture magazine within the current debate on architecture criticism. It brings together important critical voices around one central question: ‘What critical role should the architecture journal play in an ever more a-critical landscape?’

Tom Avermaete, Christoph Grafe, Klaske Havik, Hans Teerds, et.al. (eds.) OASE #81, Constructing Criticism (Rotterdam: NAi Publishers, 2010)

Commissioned by the Netwerkbureau Kinderopvang (childcare) the faculty of Architecture of the TU Delft did research to the possibilities of the transformation of existing school buildings. What are the possibilities of how to use an existing school building in an efficient way? What does this mean for the dimension of the spaces, the positioning relative towards each other, the use of colours, the climate and the outdoor areas?
This book contains the results of the research of twenty prototypical school buildings. The book shows a theoretical substantiation of the possibilities of transform existing school buildings into “buildings for children’. A number of essays about the several design aspects act as background information. A selection of projects, made by students, offers a number of solutions, which in the first place maybe aren’t immediately mend to be realized, but show inspirational results.

Sien van Dam, Susanne Komossa, Lidwine Spoormans "De transformatie van het schoolgebouw."
(Amsterdam: Thoth)