Fluid x Solid: 29 experimental architecture projects [volume one]

Creative explorations and architecture concepts

$21.99

MANIFESTO: The Rebellion Against Soulless Architecture

Are you tired of designing buildings that feel like machines? Are the constraints of modernism stifling your vision?

Architect and artist Dana Krystle shatters the rigid rules of design school in this electrifying conceptual manifesto. Inspired by the soul of Baroque ornamentation and the fluidity of natural forms, this book is a demand for beauty and a fierce rejection of glass panels, aluminum cladding, and the empty, functionalist spaces that leave us feeling hollow.

Inside, you will explore:

The Case for Beauty: Why we must demand sculpture, art, and emotional resonance back into our built environments.
Breaking the Mold: A personal journey of breaking free from brainwashed modernist training to embrace intuitive, unconstrained design.
Conceptual Freedom: Detailed experimentation with organic, fluid, and bizarre, sculpture-like forms that defy conventional architecture.
The Soulful City: A vision for architecture that connects us to our humanity and restores the spirit stolen by cold, rigid design.

This is the essential read for architects, students, and designers who believe innovation means more than efficiency—it means creating wonders from the imagination.

Demand beauty back. Start the revolution today.

In my search for a more concept-oriented, fluid architectural design approach, I found myself breaking free from every single constraint set by architecture school. The design boundaries—now that I think of it—are mostly imaginary, and for too long, they had a huge chokehold on my creativity.

I kept noticing how I always felt limited when it came to design. I’m not anti-functionalism, but I believe that we, as architects, artists, and designers, should act more intuitively and design more freely to create wonders from our imagination.

The Soul Stolen by Modernism

Everything in architecture around these days is painfully rigid and devoid of beauty and aesthetics. We no longer feel peace because we feel empty, just like these spaces. I used to look at old Renaissance and Baroque architecture and think: Too much ornament, too much unnecessary waste of materials. Being heavily trained as a modernist architect, following Le Corbusier, Richard Meier, and their likes, I have to admit, I was completely brainwashed.

I became against everything they taught us about beauty in architecture school. This only happened after I traveled to Europe and Asia for the past years; I noticed how full of spirit these so-called “over-ornamented” designs were.

Demand Beauty Back

I want the soul back in new buildings. I think we all want it deep down; in fact, I think we should demand beauty and innovation.

Why insist on living in buildings that feel like machines? Why should we trap ourselves into thinking modernity means stripping down everything that makes us human? Sculpture, painting, classical art, and heritage design—these are what make life worthy of living. We are humans; we love beauty naturally; we search for it like we search for water and warmth. These so-called dead buildings are killing our souls slowly and surely; we were not meant to live in a heartless, soulless place.

The Response: Unconstrained Design

I want to live surrounded by beauty and innovation, and my response is to break free from every single constraint set on me by architecture school. I object to modern architecture; I object to soulless designs; I object to glass panels and aluminum cladding. We were so programmed to think and feel like machines; I demand beauty back!

These volumes are my manifestos for breaking free from the mold. I believe that sculpture, beauty, and art are human rights. In this book, I experiment with form, creating something out of my imagination—more organic, fluid, and free of constraints, sculpture-like forms that can be a part of the arid landscape we suddenly found our cities being swallowed into.