It’s difficult to understand the concept of ordinary without a specific subject attached to it. Ordinary…what? What do we mean when we describe something as ordinary? Does ordinary necessitate a positive or negative connotation, or can it be neutral and foreground shared familiarity? How does one qualify an adjective that describes merely anything and everything? For some, ordinary is consistent reappearance over long periods of time; but for others, ordinary means fast readjustment to new realities. There is not an inclusive definition of ordinary because it is subjected to unique cultures and experiences. 

In the eyes of Martin Heidegger, the subject-object duality of our existence and our thoughts is not inherently in opposition with each other but rather co-exists as a unified body. This provides us a tangible framework for understanding the ordinary because everydayness often supersedes our conscious states of being. In the architectural context, a pencil helps us communicate design ideas on paper but rarely do we scrutinize its compositions and materials. It is so easy to neglect the ordinary because humans are constantly caught up in the drift of chasing time that it seems preposterous to reflect on the habitual.

In the Ordinary issue of PLAT, we invite you to take a second to appreciate our everydayness. Momentarily, you will read about different architects constructing the ordinary from various parts of the world and potentially stumble across a dust mountain, a wood frame house, or even a playful tumbleweed. For a short reading pause, you can flip through a street photography book or take a stroll through a sculpture exhibition. We wish you a pleasant read.

Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Andrew Jiao

Team: Maximilien Chong Lee Shin, Tasiana Paolisso, Andy Entis, Elliot Yamamoto, Elina Chen, Alice Bian, Sarai Huaman, Jiaye “Jessie” Li, Juchen “Ignis” Zhang, Luke Blair, Bailey Stevens, Chance Stevens, Maxwell Stith, Jeremy Thorn.

With contributions from:

Allyson Vieira—RE: Work Over Time

Brittany Giunchigliani—THE SEAWEED KNOWS NO SONGS

Emanuel Christ & Victoria Easton/Christ & Gantenbein—Typology of the Ordinary

Gwendolyn Cohen—The Stories of Maintainers

Kate Bilyk—Returning to the Neighborhood

Kelly Hendrik /B-ILD—Common Craftsmanship

Li Hu /OPEN Architecture—An OPEN Conversation with Li Hu

Paul DeFazio—Ideal, Average Bodies

Reese Lewis—A Dust Atlantis: Chat Mountains and An Architecture of Ecological Defamiliarization

Sarah Aziz—Humbleweeds

Ambrish Arora /Studio Lotus & Troy Schaum—No [Applicable] Skills: Nimble Practice in Formation

Umberto Napolitano /LAN Architecture—From Non-Specific Spaces to Specific Cities