A Place for Bookworms

Exhibition

With well over 55,000 books, the Az W Library is one of the major architecture libraries in the country. With the third 'Schaufenster' on the Az W Collection we want to address future bookworms in particular.

Architecture used to be heavily publicised in books and magazines, and there was a veritable passion for collecting printed matter among architects. What is the significance of the architecture book today?

“It’s getting colder”, established Heinz Frank back in the 1990s, “even in the country of architects’ architecture. It’s time to think of buildings in layers again, to find them warming, and also to allow space for the inappropriate to occur.” Frank’s response to the change in climate was, in 1993, to publish a Kinderbuch für Architekten (children’s book for architects) at the Az W. It is a picture book that turns the order of the architectural vocabulary on its head and opens up space for the new.

25 years later, this manual provides the starting point for an introduction of a selection of fantastic architecture books for children. Parallel to the ‘Schaufenster’, in an installation these printed treats invite browsing, reading (aloud) and delving into. During the vacation we are enticing budding bookworms to embark on architectural voyages of the mind with a special supporting programme.

Curator: Monika Platzer, Az W

Design: polar÷