LOT/EK: Urban Scan

The New York-based architectural firm LOT/EK (pronounced "low-tech") has made a distinctive mark on the architectural landscape through a series of seemingly whimsical projects that make a point of using prefabricated industrial materials in unexpected ways. In their hands, a shipping container can be transformed into a mobile working unit, a museum, or a restaurant. In the process, they question our relation to the industrial environment and the artificiality of the urban landscape. Lot/Ek: Urban Scan, the first and only monograph on the firm, is organized categorically and alphabetically. Twenty-three projects are presented in detail, including American Diner (a restaurant in a container) , the InspiroTrainer (created for the Museum of Modern Art) , Mixer (a cement mixer-cum-video immersion unit) , the Meltzer Gallery, the Boon boutique, the MDU (Mobule Dwelling Unit) , and the Goree Memorial and Museum. It also includes more than 1,000 photographs of infrastructural objects--everything from air conditioners to water tanks--that serve as the raw material and inspiration for this creative practice.