This week surveys the 150-year history of magazines, as the context within which to survey the emergence, evolution and eventual appropriation of architectural magazines and journals. Lots of favorites: Arts + Arch, Bauhaus, Ulm, Arch Principe, Oppostions, etc.
—London
Serial Sensibilities
‘Serial Sensibilities: A Diagrammatic Forward to Typological Formations’ is the title of my Preface to Typological Formations, which will be launched at the AA Friday November 9th. The book, edited by Chris Lee and Sam Jacoby, documents the past three years of their students’ work in the AA’s Diploma Unit 6.
—27 Nov, 2007
Madrid
Arrival at the Instituto Empresa in Madrid, for ‘Critical Creativity’; a talk on the convergence and divergence of business and architectural cultures.
—London
Graphic vs. Architectural Space
My Preface to ‘Forms of Inquiry: The Architecture of Critical Graphic Design’ (London, 2007) is out. Edited by the AA’s Zak Kyes and Mark Owen has been published, the book is a catlogue of the current AA Show featuring 20 of the world’s emerging talents in the graphic design world.
—New York
‘How Did London Disappear?’
The noisy, multi-faceted qualities of London’s deep architectural culture. A Keynote Talk at New York’s Center for Architecture on October 16th, kicking off an evening symposium featuring young architects from London participating in the ‘New Practices’ exhibition currently on display at the Center.
—London
Brett Interview with Richard Meier
Last Friday I had the opportunity to interview Richard Meier following the opening of his retrospective exhibition here in London, at the Louise T. Blouin Foundation. I’ll post the transcript soon, after an edited version appears in an upcoming issue of Architect’s Journal.
—New York
‘Compare & Contrast’ Talk
A free-form presentation at City College in New York last night; format inspired by my old East Village club nights. ‘Compare and Contrast vs. Separated at Birth’ tried to present architecture as a cross between Wofflin and Google Images. There were some nice surprises.
—Current
Architectural Schools = Information Spaces
Here’s a few links to sites I’ve been using as part of this month’s work on a statistical summary of the architectural profession in the early years of the twenty-first century; some background research for articles I’m currently writing on the kinds of information spaces created by architectural schools.
—AA Seminar
bOMA Session 2: Monographs
Architectural monographs are a defining architectural technology of the twentieth century. This week’s session surveys a century of monuments; from Frank Lloyd Wrights Wasmuth Portfolio, to Mies’ 1946 MOMA catalogue, and OMA’s category-killer, SMLXL.
—London
Brett Conversation with Anthony Vidler
Yesterday I held and Open Conversation with Anthony Vidler, which we titled ‘Political, Design and Environmental Space’. During the hour Vidler reviewed some of the various ways in which his own work as an architectural historian has evolved during the past thirty years.