CHITKARA SCHOOL OF PLANNING AND

ARCHITECTURE

ASSIGNMENT-3
BOOK REVIEW

SUBMITTED BY:
DIVYA PARDAL
1615991033
SEC-A
 YES IS MORE: AN ARCHNOMIC ON
ARCHITECTURAL EVOLUTION
The monograph has become a fairly predictable format for architecture books,
varying, it seems, only in terms of how much content is presented and what the
page looks like. Collecting photographs of finished buildings, renderings of
unbuilt or soon-to-be-built projects, conventional architectural drawings,
descriptive text, essays by admirers, and sometimes more, the clear goal of
monographs is product, not process. Many monographs do attempt different
ways of arranging the content and/or expanding it to include process as well as
product, but for a full understanding of why a particular design looks the way it
does one is left yearning for more. Perhaps architects do not want to reveal too
much, or they've moved beyond the buildings collected into a monograph.
Whatever the reason, this "archicomic on architectural evolution" stands apart
from other monographs to provide abundant insight into the working process of
Denmark's Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG).
Arising from an exhibition at the Danish Architecture Centre, the book calls itself
"a popular cultural manifesto" instead of a monograph. It structures the 35
projects more or less like your run-of-the-mill monograph -- each project is
presented distinctly -- yet in comic book format. Bjarke Ingels is the constant
presence, literally, from one project to the next, his visage pops up in unexpected
places to describe some tidbit via comic speech balloons. One traditional format
(monograph) is traded for another (comic) and the results make each project read
like a narrative. The words, images and diagrams combine with the usual photos,
drawings, models and renderings to explain each design from inception to
occupation, or however far the project was taken. One sees consistency in the
various projects, but more than a formal consistency. One sees the questioning of
status quo responses, not out of "being different" but in an effort to improve upon
the shortcomings of traditional typologies. The Mountain Dwelling project in
Copenhagen is a good example of BIG's strategy of using given conditions (site,
program) to generate designs beyond expectations. In this case all residential
units are south-facing with a large outdoor space, suburbia transplanted to the
city yet retaining the latter's density.

So is the "archicomic" something that will catch on with other architects? Surely
there will be others like this, but one must acknowledge that it is the combination
of words and images here that makes it work. It's not just a matter of adopting the
comic format and the deal is done; the choice of words and images is important.
BIG's evolutionary diagrams work extremely well with the comic format, in
many cases telling enough of one portion of the story on their own. As well, the
words floating in the speech bubbles and other boxes are more lighthearted than
most writing on architecture, but nevertheless informative and intelligent. If other
architects want to learn something from this book, they should be inspired by
how BIG found something appropriate to the firm and their output. As Bjarke
Ingels explains early in the book, they tried to convey the energy and life of the
office and its projects, to make it personal and to tell the stories behind the
designs. They succeeded and the reader is better off for it.