Description

Gumshoe is new series of architectural books, introducing a new approach to the writing of architectural history. It returns the focus of architectural discourse back onto buildings, in a style and form that is original and scholarly but also easy and enjoyable to read. It emulates the detective novel a form of writing beloved by many, but also one that has enjoyed a parallel academic life in disciplines and by writers as diverse as psychoanalysis (Sigmund Freud), film (Sigfried Kracauer), and art history (Carlo Ginzburg) – but, significantly, not yet by architecture. Each volume will investigate a singular building as if it were a mystery waiting to be solved. Written by distinguished French architectural critic and historian Francoise Fromonot, the first case – The House of Doctor Koolhaas – is about the Villa dall'Ava, a private residence in Saint-Cloud, a suburb of Paris. Fromonot brilliantly unpicks, explains and interprets the very first building completed by Rem Koolhaas, who is universally regarded as the world's most celebrated architect, and his Rotterdam-based firm Office for Metropolitan Architecture. AUTHORS: Francoise Fromonot is Professor of Design, History and Theory at the Ecole Nationale Superieure d'Architecture de Paris-Belleville, and William Wayne Caudill Professor of Architecture at Rice Architecture Paris. Thomas Weaver is an architectural writer, educator, and editor, and a lecturer at the Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio, Switzerland. SELLING POINTS: . First volume in the highly anticipated new Gumshoe series of architectural books, introducing a new approach to the writing of architectural history . Gumshoe's focus is on buildings rather than theories or speculative projects . Distinguished authors from various countries write on notable buildings from across architectural history . Each volume investigates a singular building, emulating the style and book format of a detective novel 150 b/w illustrations