World of Variation

"In World of Variation" (1970), American architects Mary Otis Stevens (born 1928) and Thomas McNulty (1919–84) outlined a radical reenvisioning of socio-spatial relationships, informed by their background in philosophy and commitment to decentralizing hierarchies. Writing in the context of the Cold War and the political activism of 1960s America, they identified possible design solutions to then-current social issues. In striking abstract drawings, Stevens visualized aspects of the urban environment, proposing a design philosophy she termed “free flow.” These diagrams give expression to both the “flow” of movement and points of “hesitations.”
This volume is a facsimile of World of Variation, accompanying the MIT Museum’s exhibition on the work of Mary Otis Stevens.
Edited with text by Ute Meta Bauer, Karin Oen, Pelin Tan. Foreword by Mary Otis Stevens. Afterword by Beatriz Colomina.