Reading List: Blue Monday

Mondays aren't that bad... specifically when you start off with a wonderful book. The Architecture Urbanism Design Collective (AUDC) based out of Los Angeles published the book Blue Monday: Stories of Absurd Realities and Natural Philosophies.


:: image via AUDC

Led my Robert Sumrell & Kazys Varnelis, the site focuses on producing not built works, but texts, multimedia and a wiki, collectively summing up their approach to conceptual architecture. From the website mission statement:

@ AUDC uses the tools of architecture to research the role of the individual and the community in the contemporary urban environment.

@ AUDC constructs realities not objects.

@ Underscoring our work is a belief in finding ways of bringing people together. We define our practice by adhering to a system of core values that instill all our work with integrity and meaning.


:: unrelated to Mike - rooster image via Wikimedia Commons

The firm also has a number of essays, both small and large, focused around urbanism, found in alternative forms on the web and in publications. A favorite of mine, 'A Chicken's Guide to Life' is prominantly pinned up above my desk. It outlines the rural legend of Mike, the headless chicken that managed to survice for years after it's beheading - and uses the story as a parable for ability to '...continue living and moving forward without the benefit of a coherent system of logic or heirarchy.' Thanks Brett for the read and links...