The Architecture Shelf

A Book on Making a Petite Ecole
Michael Meredith, Hilary Sample, MOS
Actar D
c/o Actar Publishers
440 Park Avenue S, 17th FL, New York, NY 10016
http://actar.com
9781638400677, $48.74, HC, 158pp

https://www.amazon.com/Book-Making-Petite-%C3%89cole/dp/1638400679

Synopsis: As part of the 2019 Biennale d'architecture et de paysage in Vers= ailles, France, MOS constructed Petite Ecole, a small, open-air pavilion to=
house educational workshops for children. It is a place for looking and ma= king, and for making and looking, constructed with 688 aluminum pieces mode= led, flattened, cut, folded, prefabricated, shipped, and then assembled ons= ite. It is made to be taken down and reassembled elsewhere. It is designed =
to be easily understood, made of simple building elements: a long, low roof=
with columns and stacked beams holding it up.

Undertaken during various design workshops, single page design exercises wr= itten by architects were assembled into a large book and given to children.=
"A Book on Making a Petite Ecole" features an expanded collection of these=
exercises. Each exercise includes playful illustrations of its steps, star= ting a conversation about how designers look at, think about, teach, and im= agine the foundations of design. Alongside these, the design process of the=
pavilion is included, as its own design exercise, from colorful illustrati= ons of each step of the pavilion's construction, to actual construction pho= tographs and photographs of the completed pavilion being occupied.

"A Book on Making a Petite Ecole" considers basic questions of design pedag= ogy, abstraction, accessibility, experimentation, and equity, while conside= ring and reconsidering architecture.

Critique: Novel, original, informative, and fun, "A Book on Making a Petite=
Ecole" is a large coffee-table style (9.5 x 0.8 x 12.8 inches, 2.5 pounds)=
volume, "A Book on Making a Petite Ecole" is a unique and very special add= ition for personal, professional, elementary school, and community library = Architecture collections in general, and Architectural collections for chil= dren ages 3-6 in particular.

Editorial Note #1: Michael Meredith (https://soa.princeton.edu/content/mich= ael-meredith) is a principal of MOS, an internationally recognized architec= ture practice based in New York, and Professor at Princeton University Scho=
ol of Architecture. His writing has appeared in Artforum, LOG, Perspecta, P= raxis, Domus, and Harvard Design Magazine. Meredith previously taught at Ha= rvard University's Graduate School of Design, the University of Michigan, w= here he was awarded the Muschenheim Fellowship, and the University of Toron= to.

Editorial Note #2: Hilary Sample (https://www.arch.columbia.edu/faculty/359= -hilary-sample) is the IDC Professor of Housing Design and Sequence Directo=
r of the Core Architecture Studios at GSAPP, and Co-Founder of the New York= -based architecture and design studio MOS. Since its establishment in 2003,=
MOS has won major national and international awards and been recognized in=
significant publications. Monographs about the studio include an issue of =
El Croquis and Selected Works (Princeton Architectural Press, 2016).

An Architect's Address Book
Robert Lemon
ORO Editions
31 Commerical Blvd., Suite F, Novato, CA 94949
www.oroeditions.com
9781954081963, $45.00, HC, 300pp

https://www.amazon.com/Architects-Address-Book-places-shaped/dp/1954081960

Synopsis: "An Architect's Address Book" by Robert Lemon (an award-winning C= anadian architect with a special interest in historic buildings) is a memoi=
r in 18 chapters of the places Robert Lemon has lived, studied, and worked = over the past six decades.

Some are of places that he has visited many times and are important to his = career. Studying architecture and conservation, Lemon has lived in Ottawa, = Paris, London, Rome, and York. My work has involved projects in Vancouver, = Los Angeles, Dorset, the High Arctic, and Xi'an. Other stories are about vi= siting the buildings of Andrea Palladio and Carlo Scarpa in the Veneto, Arn=
e Jacobsen and Kay Fisker in Denmark, and five iconic 20th-century houses i=
n France, in company of colleagues.

Most of the chapters focus on someone influential to Lemon's career; and hi=
s vast interest in food is a thread through most stories.

Critique: A fascinating and unusual approach to writing an autobiography or=
memoir, "An Architect's Address Book: The Places That Shaped A Career" by = Robert Lemon is an extraordinary, informative, and interesting life story t= hat will have particular appeal to readers with an interest in residential = architecture, architectural project planning, and the business aspects of a= rchitecture. "An Architect's Address Book" will prove to be a welcome and u= nique addition to personal, professional, community, and academic library A= merican Biography collections and supplemental curriculum Architecture stud= ies lists.

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