Manual The Architecture and Office of Allford Hall Monaghan Morris

In this book, British architectural historian Iain Borden achieves the impossible a user manual for architecture. But the book s title, Manual, deriving from the handbooks for car mechanics, is not simply an ironic gesture: it indicates that this is a guide to architecture as a hands-on discipline; a guide to architecture through practice. Borden s analysis of the work of Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, the architectural practice formed in London ten years ago, looks at projects ranging from medical practices, offices and social housing to transport interchanges, pool-houses and lofts. All of these projects are explored in detail, and in 222 fully-illustrated pages Manual describes a framework of pathways, tendencies and ideas derived from inspiration, testing and experiments. With a rapidly-growing international reputation for inventive architectural designs, AHMM s work is collected in this book to provide a striking example of the growth of a successful architecture practice.