Introduction

When El Lissitzky credited himself as “book engineer” in Vladimir Myakovsky’s 1923 Dlia Gólosa [For the Voice], the Russian artist not only suggested the strong ties between books and building, but also expressed his hope that the disciplines of art, architecture, typography, and engineering would eventually merge into an inseparable yet distinctive field. Over the past few decades, visual literacy has turned out to be a vital skill and an integral part of any ambitious architectural practice, and the well-edited and designed book is probably its most obvious advocate. New technologies are fundamentally changing the publishing landscape. The shift from a physical book production to a digital delivery raises a set of legal and cultural issues that will decisively affect the way we read, how we share information, and consequently how we organize, structure, design, and produce publications. Based on the assumption that it is our responsibility as architects to convey our ideas and concerns to a greater public, this seminar aims to introduce students to the book as a means to think about the production of space, and as a critical vessel to discuss and disseminate architectural ideas. We will explore the book both as a physical object and as a composite of bits and bites.