Books
The Ark of Architecture is both a reader and a re-reader of an acute architectural eye and mind. Malcolm Quantrill, fedora-user, bon vivant, architectural scholar and wanderer extraordinaire has held an unusual place in architectural scholarship over the last 50 years. He has taught architecture and travelled extensively, from London to Finland, from Oman to Montana, becoming the first Distinguished Professor in Architecture at Texas A&M University.
Quantrill's texts move effortlessly from the literary to the architectural as he explores some of the more unusual drivers behind Modern Architecture. His interviewing allows him to coax and at times subtly needle his 'subjects' (Pietilä, Foster and MacKay-Lyons) to produce unusual results. His critical methodology demonstrates a lively movement of thought as he cleverly uses history and the past to ward off the frailty and often faddishness of the present.
This unusual selection of writings, edited by Roger Connah (with interventions from the likes of Norman Foster, Kenneth Frampton, Bruce Webb, Marco Frascari and Stanford Anderson and others) deserves to be read by anyone interested in the vicissitudes of architectural writing.
