A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

I'm not sure when it happened, but at some point I went from disliking interviews — preferring texts written by architects, much of it in the vein of theory — to gravitating to them. Now I find myself opting to read interviews, be they online or in printed matter, over other content; interviews are only below critical reviews in my rankings. I chalk up the switch to a few things: preferring the informal and clear language of interviews over the theory-/archi-speak used my too many architects; a wide prevalence of interviews, especially online; and an appreciation for them after having done a few of them myself . From the reader's perspective it may seem that interviews are easy: turn on the mic, ask some questions, transcribe the interview (or have AI software do it, more likely), lightly edit, publish. But each step of the process has its concerns, from making sure to hit "record" (yes, that happens) and having the right mic in the right location in the right room (A...

AA Files 77 Maria Sheherazade Giudici (Editor) AA Publications , December 2020 Paperback | 9-1/2 x 11-1/2 inches | 224 pages | English | ISBN: 978-1999627737 | £25.00 PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION : AA Files is the Architectural Association’s journal of record and offers a platform for exchange connecting the research produced by the AA community to a larger architectural debate globally. Organised in a series of thematic sections that emerged from the AA Files Issue 76 Glossary, each ‘file’ contains two or more contributions that explore a common keyword constructing a dialogue between a heterogeneous set of authors with the aim to reframe architecture as a critical point of entry through which the most urgent social and environmental questions of today can be addressed. In Issue 77, the themes are Body, Care, Economy, Environment, Labour, Project and Resistance. A special feature ‘file’ on Home gathers ten perspectives on domestic living during lockdown from Mexico City to Teheran, ...

First Works: Emerging Architectural Experimentation of the 1960s & 1970s Brett Steele, Francisco González de Canales (Editors) Architectural Association Publications , 2009 Hardcover | 8-1/4 x 11-1/2 inches | 284 pages | English | ISBN: 978-1902902814 | £80.00 Publisher's Description : During a tumultuous period in the 1960s and 70s, a new generation of architects began their careers amidst a period of profound social change, new conditions for architecture and the city and lasting changes to popular and critical forms of cultural production. First Works tells the story of this period and reassesses the conditions of architecture and the beginnings of architectural careers through a selection of projects undertaken during the 60s and 70s. The book, accompanying a major travelling exhibition, presents a single key early project, in the form of models, sketches, photographs and drawings, by 20 young architectural practices: Archigram, Archizoom, Aldo Rossi, Alva...

O-14: Projection and Reception by Reiser + Umemoto, edited by Brett Steele, published by  AA Publications , 2012. Hardcover, 288 pages. ( Amazon ) RUR Architecture , the office of Jesse Reiser and Nanako Umemoto, has realized very little physical architecture. Most of the projects documented on their website exist in the realm of the computer and idea. So it's amazing that they were able to realize a 22-story office tower in Dubai that does not compromise their questioning of architectural norms. O-14 is a pinched and perforated cylinder that rises from the desert, dwarfed by many of the city's taller buildings but holding its own with its unique expression. The building is explored in this book from the Architectural Association, featuring the architects' own explanations accompanied by numerous photos and illustrations, and essays by Brett Steele, Sanford Kwinter, Sylvia Lavin, and Jeffrey Kipnis. The norm against which RUR works is the glass box, th...

Architecture on Display: On the History of the Venice Biennale of Architecture edited by Aaron Levy and William Menking, published by  AA Publications , 2010. Paperback, 208 pages. ( Amazon ) Four Conversations on the Architecture of Discourse edited by Aaron Levy and William Menking, published by  AA Publications , 2012. Paperback, 192 pages. ( Amazon ) In one week the 13th International Architecture Exhibition gets underway in Venice. Officially  La Biennale di Venezia  but better known as just simply "the Biennale,"  the exhibition curated by UK architect David Chipperfield will be the first since Aaron Levy and William Menking performed their research initiative that involved interviewing past directors, from Paolo Portoghesi to Kazuyo Sejima. Most details of the international exhibition (one half of the Biennale, alongside the various national pavilions) won't be revealed until the press preview and subsequent onslaught of informati...

ARCHIZINES edited by Elias Redstone, published by Bedford Press/ AA Publications , 2011. Paperback, 152 pages. ( Amazon ) Compared to market and professional publications, 'zines are more personal in nature, reflecting an individual or small group's passion for a particular topic. Driven by a love for a subject and the desire to explore it in ways not afforded by other publications, 'zines are as diverse as the people making them. In the realm of architecture these "little magazines" -- as they were called in the 2010 exhibition and book Clip, Stamp, Fold -- are going strong today, as is evidenced by the website, exhibition, and publication ARCHIZINES , curated and edited by London-based Jack-of-all-trades Elias Redstone . The book is the third installment for ARCHIZINES , following on the heels of a recent exhibition at the Architectural Association and the website that has been online since early last year, and which continues to catalog the growing num...

20/20: Editorial Takes on Architectural Discourse edited by Kirk Wooller, published by  Architectural Association Publications , 2011. Paperback, 276 pages. ( Amazon ) Counter to the current trend for digital books and publications -- achieved with varying results on devices like Amazon's Kindle and Apple's iPad -- architectural publications in print are going strong. They may not tally the numbers that magazines on other topics (digital or print) garner, but they exhibit numerous qualities that cannot be found in this digital shift, namely a good deal of care in the layout and tactile nature of the publication and the relationship between the magazine's goal(s) and its tangible presence. In other words, they are beautiful objects, something books and magazines should be (especially if the price tag is $20 and up, as some of the periodicals in this book are). The relationship between form, content, and editorial direction of architecture magazines today...