MATHER ENLIGHTENMENT.

RICK MATHER ARCHITECTS

By Robert Maxwell. London: Black Dog Publishing. 2006. [pounds sterling]29.95

The monograph is a problematic form for a serious architectural critic. It is practically impossible to write a whole book about a single architect and maintain an objective view, especially when, as is usually the case, the architect in question is closely involved with the production of the book. Robert Maxwell, the author of this handsome volume, is acutely aware of the problem and deals with it in a disarmingly honest way. Right from the start he makes it clear that he has doubts about the project. But he has been suffering, he tells us, from a period of writer's block and the deadline pressure might help him to break through it. He hints that he will not necessarily give every building in the Rick Mather oeuvre his wholehearted endorsement. This turns out to mean that some buildings get a rather brief and sketchy treatment out of proportion to their size and importance. So, for example, while Lincoln School of Architecture, the extensions to Keble College Oxford, and a house in Hampstead called The Priory are described and analysed comprehensively, the alterations to the Ashmolean Museum and the various university masterplans get short shrift.

But then, on page 141, the breakthrough comes and Maxwell suddenly warms to his task. Contemplating a detail of the roof of the ISMA Centre at the University of Reading, he notices the building's vague resemblance to a certain pilgrimage chapel and decides that it is 'mannerist'. At last he has an interpretation of Mather's architecture and, as he says, with remarkable frankness: 'I felt justified in writing this book'. He then goes back and applies his interpretation to the major examples he has already covered, re-analysing them with a new admiration and enjoyment. The reader shares his relief. This is real architectural criticism at last, not just going through the motions, and it persuades us that the work is more than just competent late modernism; that Mather is indeed a true and original artist.

The various projects and buildings are well photographed and there are detailed plans and sections, drawn in a pleasingly consistent style. To compensate for the imbalances in Maxwell's text, every project is also supplied with a straightforward description in smaller type, so all the information is available. Two well written essays at the end, by Tim Macfarlane and Patrick Bellew, deal with technical developments that the practice has pioneered: structural glass and energy saving by heat recovery.