Rather than focusing on more traditional architectural processes, such as working drawings or 3D modelling, Better Together includes mock-ups, 1:1 models and conceptual sculptures, correspondence and contracts, even journalism and photography.
Published by Melbourne-based Uro and designed by SPGD studio, the book was originally presented as an exhibition at Monash University’s MADA Gallery.
‘Better Together is an extension of the “Stories of Contemporary Documents” exhibition,’ says Mara Tonetti of SPGD. ‘The layout of the book needed to be simple, open and flexible. It needed to act as a home for many varying artefacts, ideas and outcomes – it needed to complement its contents.’
Via 33 short stories, the book’s authors look at documents and objects from practitioners including Andrew Power, Edition Office, panovscott, Parlour, Richard Stampton, Sibling, Studio Bright, Trias, Vokes and Peters.
Contributors explore the conventions of gallery display, the value of big models and mock-ups, the multilayered relationships between photography and architecture, and the theatrics of the architect’s studio.
The book features five different covers with photographs inserted in ‘passepartout’ and is printed in UV LED on gloss-coated paper. Inside Arena Natural Smooth paper is used.
Better Together: (33) Documents of Contemporary Australian Architecture & Their Associated Short Stories is published by Uro Publishers.