Atelier Markgraph
Encounters by Design: Strategies for Spatial Storytelling

This comprehensive investigation focuses on Atelier Markgraph, a Frankfurt-based spatial design agency. It delves into the agency’s portfolio through the lens of encounters, which serve as a conceptual framework. Seven distinct features are employed to capture the essence of the Atelier’s professional endeavours and insights. Encounter takes various forms in these features, encompassing thresholds, spectral elements, metabolist dynamics, patterns, convivial scenarios, migrating occurrences and plastic manifestations. The text showcases AM’s meticulous examination of these various modes of interaction.

Atelier Markgraph’s selected projects evoke a diverse range of sociability and intimacy, shedding light on the lives of individuals within society and the built environment. These projects revive visions of collisions, enduring experiences, personal connections, public discoveries and private embraces. Through essays and case studies, this book highlights the Atelier’s pioneering approach to world-building, seamlessly integrating technological sophistication into their immersive spatial narratives.

The chapter titled ‘Thresholds’ delves into the interface condition and its role in organizing objects and subjects, creating defined encounters along edges. ‘Spectres’ presents designs that evoke ghostly and transient settings for meaningful interactions. ‘Metabolisms’ situates encounters within a universe of pulses, cycles and machine-like transformations. ‘Patterns’ examines how a repetitive array of objects positions individuals within new constellations, fostering improved ways of meeting. ‘Convivialities’ emphasizes the social nature of human interactions, celebrating friendly and supportive circumstances. ‘Migrations’ focuses on movement and dynamism, crafting projects where encounters become fluid and open-ended. Lastly, ‘Plasticities’ explores interactions between subjects, sculptural bodies and environments, which intricately shape and transform project spaces.

These projects represent a deliberate and multidimensional selection of Atelier Markgraph’s work, offering a thought-provoking exploration of encounters by design.

Features

• Showcases over 30 of Atelier Markgraph’s most outstanding works, ranging from art installations, museums, exhibitions, pavilions, events, urban activation and more. 
• Illustrated throughout with powerful photography, effectual collages and insightful progress sketches.
• Perceptive commentary with novel outlooks and thought-provoking writing that is sure to challenge existing perspectives.   
• Explores the imaginative, novel practice of spatial storytelling, and the role of encounters in these experiential designs.
• Traces the lineage of Markgraph’s visionary practice, with sharp references to the thinkers and history of art and architecture.
• Examines Markgraph’s commitment to hybrid models of design that integrate analogue and digital elements.
• A timely spotlight on physical encounters in the face of ubiquitous digitalization, showing how these two seemingly opposing realms can meet with and even enhance each other
• Geared towards readers interested in comprehensive design methodologies which pay close attention to the people who interact with them. 

Publication Details

Release Date: November 2022

Frame Publishers

Text by Erika Brandl Mouton

Graphic Design by Barbara Iwanicka

240 x 280 mm

320 pages / full colour / hardcover

ISBN 978-94-92311-59-7

€59