50 petites leçons d’architecture

A double page on the houses in massive wood of Rio de Janeiro, another one on origami, the art of folding paper, more on Philibert de l’Orme’s structures, on the stool throughout the ages, and on composite panels. In one page we discover a little introduction to the block plan, lit up by watercolors, a little further the subject is bridges, light structures or openwork furniture. There is no logic progress in this book: it is clearly a suite of lessons that becomes increasingly pleasant to read as one jumps back and forth, according to one’s curiosity. Through the pedagogic style of a professor from the school of Grenoble, architecture loses its intimidating aspect. It almost becomes a game: a pleasant initiation that could inspire a number of vocations.

•  50 petites leçons d’architecture, by Guy Schneegans, Alternatives, 2008, 128 p., 25 €, ISBN : 978-286227-576-5