Book Review: The Illegal Architect
The Illegal Architect by Jonathan Hill, published by Black Dog Publishing, 2000. Paperback, 64 pages. (Amazon)
At about only fifty pages, The Illegal Architect is a slim book, even more so by the fact that the book is half text and half illustrations, each page of the former facing a page of the latter. Intended as a parallel journey, the text is a criticism of the architectural profession, the images are a hypothetical project for the Institute of Illegal Architects. The text resonates much more than the images, perhaps because the words are a biting, focused critique of licensure and professional organizations, entities that serve to perpetuate the profession while having the adverse effect of neglecting the user's needs. Proposing his Institute as a counter to the ARB and RIBA (the UK equivalents of the US's NCARB and AIA, respectively), the project images don't seem as powerful as the ideas that infuse the hypothetical building. Beyond a direct critique of the profession, the book is loaded with ideas that question the architect's role and methods, like the subject/object relationship as it differs between art and architecture and the denial of the user in architectural drawings and photography. It's a book that should be more popular for its breadth and succinctness, though ideally it wouldn't have been written if architects placed the user above aesthetic and other concerns.
At about only fifty pages, The Illegal Architect is a slim book, even more so by the fact that the book is half text and half illustrations, each page of the former facing a page of the latter. Intended as a parallel journey, the text is a criticism of the architectural profession, the images are a hypothetical project for the Institute of Illegal Architects. The text resonates much more than the images, perhaps because the words are a biting, focused critique of licensure and professional organizations, entities that serve to perpetuate the profession while having the adverse effect of neglecting the user's needs. Proposing his Institute as a counter to the ARB and RIBA (the UK equivalents of the US's NCARB and AIA, respectively), the project images don't seem as powerful as the ideas that infuse the hypothetical building. Beyond a direct critique of the profession, the book is loaded with ideas that question the architect's role and methods, like the subject/object relationship as it differs between art and architecture and the denial of the user in architectural drawings and photography. It's a book that should be more popular for its breadth and succinctness, though ideally it wouldn't have been written if architects placed the user above aesthetic and other concerns.
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