Finding the plot.

THE EPHEMERAL OF REAL: AN ARCHITECTURAL NOVELETTE 

By Chris Thurlbourne. Aarhus: Arkitektskolens Forlag. 2003. [euro]32 ([pounds sterling]21)

Author Chris Thurlbourne has impressive credentials: Associate Professor at Aarhus School of Architecture in Denmark, former winner of the RIBA Silver Medal, and founder of practice Alt. itude, following work with Hopkins and Partners. One is therefore expecting a lot from his Architectural Novelette, and in a sense that's exactly what one gets: a lot, some of which is interesting, much of which is impossible to follow, parts of which are beautiful, even poetic, but at the same time frustrating. I shall attempt to explain.

The narrative is largely based around four conceptual characters: Decadence ('the body of creation'), The Learner ('the infant of knowledge, the sponge soaking in everything'), The Shadow ('the keeper ... creator of boundaries'), and a fourth character which takes the form of an obscure unpronounceable squiggle, representing 'a creature existing and inhabiting the text ... an informer if you like, choosing the moments to unfold from the body of information, the internal world of the imaginary ... (etc)'. These metaphorical characters take the reader through a very personal presentation of what constitutes architecture. At its best, this involves consideration of the five human senses, and the impact that the dimension of time has on architectural experience. At its most conceptual it involves highly abstract, subjective descriptions of veils, models and laminations, presented in various text forms: poetry, pure description, prose.

Within all of this are a seemingly inexhaustible number of ideas, some of which have parallels with the writing style of James Joyce, or Libeskind's early essays. I really liked the reading of Asplund's Gothenburg Law Court building, and the tangible descriptions of materials like stone, timber and mud. But much of the conceptual writing is hampered by spelling and grammatical errors which, frankly, take the enjoyment out of reading already difficult text. As Thurlbourne himself writes: 'Maybe it will grow to a greater understanding of physicality, to a new way The Learner can see and perceive space and the boundaries that make space. Maybe.' Exactly. Maybe.

Book reviews from this and recent issues of The Architectural Review can now be seen on our website at www.arplus.com and the books can be ordered online, many at special discount