Florian Idenburg & Jing Liu

In Depth

Urban Domesticities Today

For over a decade, Brooklyn-based SO–IL has been envisioning houses, housings and other projects in between and adjacent to domestic spaces. Reflecting on the state of housing design today – often constrained by pressures of production – SO–IL approaches these sites with generous experimentation. In this book, the design office’s attempt to “hack” the codes, cores, courts and corridors takes center stage, exemplified by a selection of SO-IL’s most recent projects, exploring concepts including porosity, connectivity, community and orientation in urban living. Appealing to students and professionals alike, “In Depth” examines how housing might promote the well-being of its inhabitants by presenting new typologies for our ever-more urbanized world.

For over a decade, Brooklyn-based SO–IL has been envisioning houses, housings and other projects in between and adjacent to domestic spaces. Reflecting on the state of housing design today – often constrained by pressures of production – SO–IL approaches these sites with generous experimentation. In this book, the design office’s attempt to “hack” the codes, cores, courts and corridors takes center stage, exemplified by a selection of SO-IL’s most recent projects, exploring concepts including porosity, connectivity, community and orientation in urban living. Appealing to students and professionals alike, “In Depth” examines how housing might promote the well-being of its inhabitants by presenting new typologies for our ever-more urbanized world.

Edited by Florian Idenburg, Jing Liu

With photographs by Iwan Baan, Naho Kubota

With contributions by Ted Baab, Florian Idenburg, Karilyn Johanesen, Nicolas Kemper, Jing Liu

Design: Geoff Han

17 × 24 cm, 6 ¾ × 9 ½ in

360 pages, 371 illustrations

paperback

2025, 978-3-03778-757-1, English
CHF 45.00
New

Florian Idenburg

SO-IL

Florian Idenburg (*1975) is a founding partner at SO–IL and Professor of the Practice at Cornell University AAP. Idenburg is an internationally renowned Dutch architect with over two decades of professional experience. After learning the ropes in Amsterdam and Tokyo, he founded SO–IL in 2008 together with Jing Liu. His years of working in cross-cultural settings make Florian a thoughtful and collaborative partner. He has a particularly strong background in institutional spaces, leading the office on projects as Kukje Gallery and the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art at UC Davis as well as Amant in Brooklyn. A frequent speaker at institutions around the world, he has taught at Harvard, MIT, Columbia, and Princeton University and is currently a Professor of Practice at Cornell University. In 2010, Idenburg received the Charlotte Köhler Prize from the Prince Bernhard Culture Fund.

Jing Liu

SO-IL

Jing Liu (*1980 in China), is a founding partner at SO–IL. Liu grew up on three continents and in five cities, and is currently teaching and working from her base in Brooklyn. Liu has been practicing for more than 15 years working on a wide range of projects both in the US and abroad. Through building practice and interdisciplinary research projects, Liu has led SO–IL in the engagement with the socio-political issues of contemporary cities — in projects like the Artists Loft North Omaha and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library in Cleveland. Her projects range from artistic collaborations with contemporary choreographers and visual artists to master plan and major public realm design in cities like Melbourne and Indianapolis.She believes strongly that design should and can be accessible to all, and that architecture offers us an open platform to nurture new forms of interaction. To that end, Liu sees community engagement and collaboration across disciplines as central to her role as the design lead.