Twisted

A collected volume of essays using the Lafayette 148 New York factory in Shantou, China as a foil to discuss issues of textile manufacturing, global/ local building practices, concrete construction in relation to labor, and evolving nature to factory typology. The book presents the building as an artifact of architecture, with detailed documentation of images and drawings. The book also presents essays that offer a series of distinct but interrelated responses to the many questions that arise when building a garment factory facility in contemporary China. Issues addressed range from the architectural import of the building typology, to the ecological footprint of a factory, to social and architectural concerns regarding labor as well as construction practices, to the ethics and aesthetics of factory building. Is it ultimately possible to address the social inequalities produced by global garment manufacturing through design?