love affairs four architects and their books dennis rovere
shelves passions memory
friendship collections
We (the indivisible divinity that works in us) have dreamed the world. 1 — Jorge Luis Borges
beauty is more than skin deep: Books and buildings – both are objects we inhabit. I am not alone in this thinking; Neil Gaiman, in reference to genres, wrote that ‘Writers live in houses that other people built’. 3 Books and architecture can have gravitas or whimsey; each occupies space, has structure and weight, and their dust jackets, their façades, serve the same purpose: to draw you in. However, the backs of buildings are often more interesting than the front. Instead of showing what the building wants to be, it shows us what the building actually is. The back cover of a book gives us insight into what the interior, the inhabited space, holds. Borges reminds us that a book ‘is more than a verbal structure or a series of verbal structures; a book is a dialogue with the reader’. Similarly, good architecture is more than simply a structure; like a good novel it creates a dialogue and a connection with the viewer. connections, relationships, dialogues: We tend to think our relationships, whether in love or business, are unique; we are often surprised to find there is commonality in how relationships begin, flourish, endure, or in some instances end. I have three close friends with whom I discussed the architect’s library: I grew up in Calgary but architectural work and university had me living in the United States for many years – Cincinnati; Pullman, Washington; Montana; Los Angeles, California; and various parts of Indiana; as well as travelling to China, Italy and other lands. Brett Pawson, a past collaborator, is a 3D architectural animator and researcher in animation and media in Vancouver. Former classmate Tom Schilb has a practice based in Seattle, but has done work all along the West Coast, most recently in northern California. The late Tip Scott, initially a philosopher, was an architect and builder – we worked together for many years in California, Indiana and other places in the States. He had a large library – but preferred magazines such as Domus over books about or by other architects. We all have diverse interests and architectural and design practices, but share a love of books and their connection to the works we produce. Tip loved Frank Lloyd Wright; I am a huge fan of Carlo Scarpa who was a fan and friend of Wright. There are connections.
dennis rovere
On my desk sits a sturdy gravity bookcase I made in Grade 7 Shop at St. Mary’s Junior High in Calgary over 50 years ago. 2 I have kept it more for sentimental reasons than practicality. It holds a handful of books, not for reference, but because they help inspire, aspire, and encourage me to ask difficult questions – how can I better think, write, and practice architecture?
1 Borges, J. L. Other inquisitions 1937-1952 . Austin: University of Texas Press, 1984 2 Gravity bookcases: simple yet clever. One end is elevated, here by a piece of dowel under one end of the shelf. Gravity forces the books to lean against a vertical support on the opposite end. Not particularly practical, mine has travelled with me from place to place, reminding me of home. 3 Gaiman, N. Trigger warning. New York: Harper Collins,2015
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on site review 40 : the architect’s library :: books, shelves, collections
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