A book launch party will be held March 27 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Swipe Design | Books + Objects, 401 Richmond Street West, Toronto. Author Andrew Frontini will talk about the book and read select passages. The event is open to the public and free of charge.

Pre-order Episodes in Public Architecture by Andrew Frontini!

Register for the book launch via Eventbrite!

Andrew Frontini is an award-winning architect who, over thirty years, has built a highly collaborative studio culture and a singular vision of public architecture imbued with poetry, humor and theatre. Andrew serves as the design director of Perkins&Will’s Toronto and Ottawa studios.

Frontini converts the architectural monograph into a story telling vehicle to candidly reveal the inner workings of the architect’s creative process as it intersects with the constantly evolving needs of our society. Eleven narrative insertions are bound into the body of the monograph providing a parallel reading experience -one that gets in behind the polished architectural photography and curated drawings to reveal the poignant, often absurd and occasionally painful lessons that accompanied the gestation of each project. Every building has a story to tell and, in sum, these stories map the road an architect’s career can take. Populated with cunning contractors, inspiring design legends (such as the late Cornelia Oberlander), intractable bureaucrats, obstinate senior partners, mentors, students, rivals and collaborators of every stripe, Frontini’s road navigates technological revolutions, precipitous economies and societal threats that challenge the very notion of what architecture needs to be.

With candor, humor and a design philosophy that is fundamentally open to suggestion, Frontini converts his personal experience into a set of universal reflections that are sure to inform, inspire and console architects (and the architecturally curious) at any stage in their journey.

 

The narratives Frontini has written are confessional in nature and didactic in their cumulative effect, exposing for our benefit the often messy, occasionally infuriating, and fundamentally optimistic nature of the creative process.

—Ned Cramer, Architect Magazine