BIG BOX REUSE : THE BOOK

Amazon Best Of 2008 : Editor’s Picks : Top Ten Art Books
Amazon “Significant Seven Books of the Month: December, 2008″
Amazon “Best Books of The Month: November”
New England Book Show, Best of Category, Illustrated Non-Fiction, 2009
Association of American University Presses, Winner, Illustrated Trade Category, 2009
Association of American University Presses, Winner, Book Jacket Design, 2009

“Christensen has seen the future.”
-Joel Garreau, Washington Post, 11/15/08

“Tirelessly crisscrossing the nation, documenting resourceful and unexpected examples of reused big boxes, open-mindedly listening to the tales of schoolteachers, curators, preachers, or assorted activists, finding something interesting in the most deadened-seeming mall strips, taking hilariously deadpan photos–Julia Christensen is a true suburban-exploration hero.”
–Eve Kahn, I.D. Magazine

“[Christensen's] research is valuable and timely - the unexpected bonus is that the story is fascinating and lucidly written.”
William Wiles, Icon Magazine

“It is a smart book, one that speaks to the zeitgeist: the ultimate form of recycling, after all, is recycling of place. But more than that, it is an enthusiastic book…True to form, Big Box Reuse is a book for many collections.”
-Aimee Houser, Foreword Magazine

“Intrepid artist and writer Julia Christensen traveled all over the United States to discover the surprising story of how some [communities] have creatively met [the big box] challenge. In Big Box Reuse–an appropriately big, square book–she describes in words, photographs, and building plans the reincarnation of 10 former retail behemoths into facilities ranging from an indoor raceway and a Spam museum to a health center, library, and charter school. In each of the case studies, Christensen documents and reflects deeply on the big box transformation with respect to each locale’s particular socio-economic, political, and cultural history. Big Box Reuse presents “outside the box” thinking on American culture and commerce, community activism, and savvy and sensible redesign of our built environment.”
-Lauren Nemroff, Amazon.com

“Christensen spares no criticism of the brutalist aesthetic of the big-box world, but her book is more than another jeremiad against the supersize landscape of exurbia. Instead, she extends the studies of “vernacular landscapes” published by J. B. Jackson and Dolores Hayden, while also evoking D. J. Waldie’s poetic meditations on place…”
-Tom Vanderbilt, BookForum

“… the stories [Christensen] tells of suburban revitalization provide strong evidence that suburbs and small towns are evolving in startling new ways. Big Box Reuse gives that phenomenon welcome and serious attention.”
-Steve Litt, Cleveland Plain Dealer 11/15/08

“Christensen’s selection of stories from across the country creates a portrait of a contemporary America at apogee, and of people making what they can with what they have been left with, as the tidal wave of consumerism washes through their town. Appropriately too, this book is outside the box, and not from any definite place, like urban studies, architecture, or social scholarship. Christensen approaches the issue freshly and directly, on a personal level, like the communities and projects she describes. The book is an inspiring product of someone astounded by the variety and richness of the extra-ordinary American landscape, and who takes us on a journey, trying to figure it out.”
–Matthew Coolidge, Director, Center for Land Use Interpretation

“This timely book reveals stories of community activism and the attempts to recontextualize massive pieces of architecture into something that one might call the public domain. Whether through adaptation, reuse, or new definitions of program, these attempts are dealing with the consequences of ’siteless,’ and often senseless, meta-planning. This publication is an essential read for everyone who acknowledges that there is a world beyond 3d-modeling and surface adjustments.”
–Markus Miessen, Principal Studio Miessen, Partner of Miessen & Ploughfields, and Director, Architectural Association Winter School Middle East