23 / Ordinary Fall 14

Welcome to our Ordinary issue. This issue seeks to explore the value of commonness and the everyday environment. It focuses on those elements that go unnoticed or that we take for granted, from buildings and objects to experiences and traditions. We look at the ordinary elements of life that are worth rediscovering and celebrating, as well as look ahead to what will become ordinary in the future.
Contributions by Jennifer Bonner, Alberto Campo Baeza, Deborah Fausch, Michael Hirschbichler, Linda Just, David Karle, Tom Keeley, Steven Montgomery, Norman Kelley, Michal Ojrzanowski, Ordinary Architecture, Antonio Petrov, Regina Pozo, Rojkind Arquitectos, Henry Shukman, Joshua G. Stein, and Zenovia Toloudi. Cover lettering by Nick Adam and cover photography by Ross Floyd.
Issue 23 Introduction
Issue statement by Iker Gil,editor in chief of MAS ContextSuperordinary: On the Problematique of the Ordinary
Essay by Antonio PetrovCan Architecture Be Ordinary?
Essay by Deborah FauschThe Brain is Square
Essay by Alberto Campo BaezaThere Is No There There
Project by Michael HirschbichlerThere’s Nowt So Ordinary as Folk
Short essay by Ordinary Architecture (Elly Ward and Charles Holland)Precise Response, Novel Future
Text and photographs by Michal OjrzanowskiThe Veneer of Nostalgia
Dingbat Life in Slums of Beverly Hills
Essay by Joshua G. SteinDesigning for Other Things to Happen
Essay by Rojkind ArquitectosZen and the Ordinary
Short essay by Henry ShukmanCommercial Strip Tease
Essay by David KarleDomestic Hats
Installation by Jennifer BonnerGlamour: Alleys as a Mechanism of the (extra) Ordinary
Essay by Linda JustOrdinary Lilli-pot Spaces: Rendezvous in Tokyo
Essay by Zenovia ToloudiIn Suburbia
Short essay by Tom KeeleyA First Look at China
Text and photographs by Steven MontgomeryDesign Inside Our Daily Lives
Essay by Regina PozoWrong Chairs
Project by Norman Kelley (Carrie Norman and Thomas Kelley)