Small, Medium, Large, Extra-Large (S,M,L,XL)

KOOLHAAS, Rem, MAU, Bruce, SIGLER, Jennifer, WERLEMANN, Hans

ISBN 10: 1885254016 / ISBN 13: 9781885254016

Published by The Monacelli Press, Inc, New York, 1995

About this Item

First edition, first printing. Hardcover. Silver leatherette-covered boards with title stamped in black and yellow on cover and spine; no dust jacket as issued. Collaboration between Rem Koolhaas and Bruce Mau. Edited by Jennifer Sigler. Photographs by Hans Werlemann. Designed by Bruce Mau Design, Inc., Bruce Mau with Kevin Sugden, and Nigel Smith, Greg van Alstyne, Alison Hahn and Chris Rowat. 1375 pp., with four color plates throughout. 9-3/8 x 7-3/8 inches. Fine. From the publisher: "This massive book is a novel about architecture. Conceived by Rem Koolhaas -- author of Delirious New York -- and Bruce Mau -- designer of Zone -- as a free-fall in the space of the typographic imagination, the book's title, Small, Medium, Large, Extra-Large, is also its framework: projects and essays are arranged according to scale. The book combines essays, manifestoes, diaries, fairy tales, travelogues, a cycle of meditations on the contemporary city, with work produced by Kookhaas's Office for Metropolitan Architecture over the past twenty years. This accumulation of words and images illuminates the condition of architecture today -- its splendors and miseries -- exploring and revealing the corrosive impact of politics, context, the economy, globalization -- the world.". Seller Inventory # 106385

Bibliographic Details

Title: Small, Medium, Large, Extra-Large (S,M,L,XL)

Publisher: The Monacelli Press, Inc, New York

Publication Date: 1995

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Fine

Dust Jacket Condition: No dust jacket as issued

Edition: 1st Edition.

About this title

Synopsis:

S,M,L,XL presents a selection of the remarkable visionary design work produced by the Dutch firm Office for Metropolitan Architecture (O.M.A.) and its acclaimed founder, Rem Koolhaas, in its first twenty years, along with a variety of insightful, often poetic writings. The inventive collaboration between Koolhaas and designer Bruce Mau is a graphic overture that weaves together architectural projects, photos and sketches, diary excerpts, personal travelogues, fairy tales, and fables, as well as critical essays on contemporary architecture and society.

The book's title is also its framework: projects and essays are arranged according to scale. While Small and Medium address issues ranging from the domestic to the public, Large focuses on what Koolhaas calls "the architecture of Bigness." Extra-Large features projects at the urban scale, along with the important essay "What Ever Happened to Urbanism?" and other studies of the contemporary city. Running throughout the book is a "dictionary" of an adventurous new Koolhaasian language -- definitions, commentaries, and quotes from hundreds of literary, cultural, artistic, and architectural sources.

Review:

This extraordinary, massive, and mind-boggling 1,300-page book combines essays, manifestos, diaries, fairy tales, travelogues, a cycle of meditations on the contemporary city--and complex illustration--with work produced by Koolhaas' Office for Metropolitan Architecture over the past twenty years. This almost overwhelming accumulation of words and images illuminates the condition of architecture today--its splendors and miseries--exploring and revealing the corrosive effects of politics, context, the economy, and globalization. In some ways, this is the "Medium is the Message" of 1990s architectural discourse: guaranteed to be hugely influential in the coming decades, but grossly misunderstood by those who have not read it. The core arguments it makes about metropolitan architecture--accepting complexity and lack of centralized control--are similar to those of Kevin Kelly's Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems and the Economic World. Very highly recommended.