International Art Books
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Living & Working Architecture
By Octavio Mestre
November 2008
Instituto Monsa de Ediciones
Distributed By Trans-Atlantic Publications
9788496823143
240 Pages, Illustrated, 11.6 x 9.6 x 0.8
$97.50 Hardcover
There's not a great deal of difference between living and working for those of us who one day decide to make a living by creating the world, for those of us who perceive architecture as something more than just work and the negative aspect associated with this word, but rather like a window through which to see the world. And a means of transforming this world.. And what's more this book is divided into two large, almost Heideggerian sections, “to build, to live, to think”, simply because this is one of the many ways of doing so (enough to recall the magnificent and diverse animal classification system by Borges and featured in some of his books).
It could also have been called “OM, half part” (clearly not knowing if the second will be successful doesn’t make much sense…) or “OM Mediterranean Architecture”, now that we are all clearly Mediterranean’s. Or “OM unfinished work” since unfinished is the selection which involves barely a tenth of the projects carried out and a third of these built…Because, as interesting as the ideas appear on the plan, its difficult to hold out against the potential of what finally leads to the finish. Life is to be transformed by a book, said Mallarmé. And to build life, day by day. To reflect upon life and to live… This is a good title, just as any of the others would have been. So we leave it at that…
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