SMLXL (1995) was the brainchild of Rem Koolhaas, principal of OMA, rhetorically and stylistically a rejection of the norms of architectural monographs, this 1400 page silver brick was one of the most iconic art books of the 1990s. It is a strange piece of architectural publishing, and very 90s, a mixture of post-modern literary sensibilities, greasy full bleed photography and polemic against Koolhaas's teachers and peers. We will talk about the book part-by-part over the next 4 episodes, with bonus content for Patreon subscribers.

Catch this episode on YouTube to see the slides: https://youtu.be/ljgaQQz-TpY

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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In our last episode of 2024 we thought we would do something a little bit different, and talk about where we think architectural culture is at right now, an archaeology of the present, a dissection of the Now. We took some suggestions and requests from our Patrons, and followed them from recent discoveries at the National Gallery to Kengo Kuma and the Las Vegas Sphere.

Some of the stories we talked about:

National Gallery: https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/08/27/sainsbury-wing-contractors-find-1990-letter-from-donor-anticipating-their-demolition-of-false-columns

Architectural unionisation: https://jacobin.com/2024/10/bernheimer-architecture-union-faect-cio

Matt's essay about AI: https://recessed.space/00186-AI-neural-networks-architecture-AI

Thank you to everyone for watching, listening, reviewing, subscribing and supporting us on Patreon this year! We will be back in January with a new series on Koolhaas's S,M,L,XL.

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

Support the show on Patreon to receive bonus content for every show.

Please rate and review the show on your podcast store to help other people find us!

Follow us on twitter // instagram // facebook

We’re on the web at aboutbuildingsandcities.org

In this episode we discussed The Study of Architectural Design (1926) by John F. Harbeson, a remarkable guide to the Beaux-Arts method of architectural education, with its many idiosyncratic terms of art and the astonishing drawings produced as part of its relentless programme of competition exercises.

Do you know your Parti from your Poché? Do you know your way around a Class A? Does Mosaic leave you baffled? Look no further for a guide to all things Beaux Arts.

You can follow along with the slides on our YouTube: https://youtu.be/Jj1anRYMmLI

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

Support the show on Patreon to receive bonus content for every show.

Please rate and review the show on your podcast store to help other people find us!

Follow us on twitter // instagram // facebook

We’re on the web at aboutbuildingsandcities.org