“If architects continue to fill the role of ‘Master Builder’— bestowing their beautiful designs on the client, end of discussion, without communication—then the field will die,” says Geller. “Integrated practice represents a paradigm shift. It’s a process that embraces technology and requires collaboration and communication among the architects, clients, engineers and contractors of a given project throughout its life span.”

For firms to replicate the spirit of the essays—each a challenge to the norms of architectural practice—Studio/lab had to break through a few standards of its own discipline. The design team established rigorous parameters for the copy layout, whose strong grid remains true to the ultimately academic quality of the writing.

But the entirely more flexible format challenges the notion of a bound book. Housed in a cardboard box, the essays are presented as separate booklets, each printed on an oversized, single sheet of folded paper. In that users must unfold the sheets to gain access to the content, the format facilitates a new way of interacting with text.

At first glance, the cardboard case seemed rather plain to Design 100 judge Sam Shelton, principal of KINETIK in Washington, D.C. But once he opened the first booklet, he felt compelled to investigate further. In particular, Shelton appreciates the unexpected opportunities the format affords both the end user— who can open and display each essay as a 22 x 34-in. poster—and designers, who were able to connect images and text in ways that a bound-book format, limited to the surface spaces of its spreads, couldn’t accommodate.

As for the cardboard box, Studio/lab conceived of its form as architectural. The designers’ original intent—to create a slipcase that would display the essays’ colorful spines—was upset by the project’s tight budget, grueling four-week deadline and the need to showcase the collection’s title. “So we changed the design for the better by creating a little building to hold the essays,” says Geller. Cut at the top in a stepped pattern to reveal the cover title, the box reads variously as a skyscraper, an urban horizon line or an ascending staircase.

In the end, the concept translates. Shelton describes his experience of the design in architectural terms. “It was like walking into a building for the first time,” he says. “As you investigate and move into the space—turning corners or taking an elevator to the next floor—you’re constantly making new discoveries, all of which are very different from the expectations you might have had from seeing the exterior. This was sort of like that. With every page I opened, I made a new discovery.” by Tiffany Meyers

STUDIO/LAB
ART DIRECTOR: Hillary Geller
DESIGNERS: Hillary Geller, Meeyoung Melamed, Jody Work, Kelly Bjork
WRITERS: Michael Broshar, Norman Strong, Daniel S. Friedman, Thom Mayne, Chuck Eastman, James O. Jonassen, Laura Lesniewski, Eddy Krygiel, Bob Berkebile, Renée Cheng, Kimon G. Onuma, Joseph Burns, Jim Bedrick, Tony Rinella, Ian Howell, Kristine K. Fallon, Stephen R. Hagen
CLIENT: American Institute of Architects
CONTACT: www.studiolab.com