Stephen Kieran

Unlike most architectural monographs that present projects, one after the other, often sectioned off by themes characteristic of the firm, this second monograph on Philadelphia's KieranTimberlake does the opposite. Themes (bending, coupling, filtering, inserting, ...) structure the book but also the contents of each project, so that each building gets "exploded" into the various themes, spread across them and pieced together in the reader's mind; this follows the format of their first monograph, Manual. The structure prioritizes formal concepts, process, and details over the individual works, though the projects are keyed at the back of the book via plans for and page numbers for reference. At first I found this tactic annoying, wanting to learn about each project in its entirety across sequential pages -- the norm -- but then I warmed up to the slow digestion of project information and the elucidation of themes via visual rather than textual essays. Less a monograph than an articulation of ideas and strategies, it's a good approach that teaches the reader about the work of KieranTimberlake, and about architecture in general in the process.… (plus d'informations)