Book-Event of the Moment

David Rockwell, an architect known as much for set design as for architecture and interiors, and whose work is self-described as a "quirky pluralism", has a new book.

Spectacle is "a visual essay documenting the notion and history of spectacle, those public performances and happenings that galvanize hordes of people and, if only for a brief moment, express the culture of our time in mass participation." Here's a taste. In its documentation of images influencing the author/architect it reminds me of John Pawson's popular book Minimum. Not coincidentially, both are published by Phaidon Press.



To celebrate the publication of Rockwell's book, The Architectural League (with the Municipal Art Society’s Urban Center Books) is hosting a panel discussion on Wednesday, November 1 with David Rockwell and Bruce Mau, moderated by Chee Pearlman. It's at 6:30 p.m. at the Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue.