Skip to main content

Distributed for Park Books

Never Modern

With Contributions by Tom Emerson and Stephanie Macdonald
In Never Modern, Irenee Scalbert explores the role of narrative, history, and appropriation in the works of the London-based firm 6a Architects, whose recent projects include the South London Gallery, Raven Row, and the new fashion galleries at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Scalbert examines the unique approach of the members of 6a, wherein they avoid style and signature in favor of what Scalbert calls a premodern sense of metis, or “flair, wisdom, forethought, subtlety of mind, deception, resourcefulness, vigilance, opportunism, varied skills, and experience.” Scalbert’s analysis is accompanied by a striking visual essay of archival photographs, artworks, film stills, and recent projects by the firm. In the end, Scalbert argues that like contemporary society in general, the architecture of 6a Architects is fundamentally a work of bricolage, creating art composed of various objects on hand, drawing from history and the everyday to create something new and vital.   

176 pages | 41 color plates and 23 halftones | 5 1/2 x 8 | © 2013

Architecture: Architecture--Criticism


Park Books image

View all books from Park Books

Table of Contents

Never Modern

Situation

Intervention

Making

Comedy

Bricolage

Chance

Anthropology

Notes

Captions

Be the first to know

Get the latest updates on new releases, special offers, and media highlights when you subscribe to our email lists!

Sign up here for updates about the Press