Volume 24: Counterculture

Droppers, trippers, hippies, hackers. The Counterculture issue of Volume goes beyond the boundaries of architecture to tap into a monad of history – the US in the 1960s – and how it has influenced our beliefs today. With the aid of countercultural leaders, historians and architects, Volume identifies three strands of counterculture – technology, environment and community – and looks at its legacy in relation to contemporary practice.

The issue combines key essays and interviews from leading figures of the period (including Todd Gitlin, Steward Brand, Chip Lord and Fred Turner) to reappraise sustained countercultural values: participation, sharing, hacking, opposition and exclusion. This is accompanied by a visual documentation of the era, with vivid graphics and psychedelic spaces. The Counterculture issue of Volume is a key text for those wishing to question authority today, by understanding the culture that created it.