George Liaropoulos-Legendre

Out of print, unavailable for purchase. Refer to AA Library (aaschool.ac.uk/library), British Library (bl.uk), RIBA Library (architecture.com)

At a time when architectural discourse and practice are brimming with references to new geometries, ijp: The Book of Surfaces turns its back on the habitual perception of the 3D surface as a photosensitive, colourful and somewhat mystifying expanse

Instead, this experimental text approaches its subject through a joint meditation on abstraction, figuration, performance, symbology and form. Several interdependent modes of writing convey a process of thought elaborated in parallel venues, which include theoretical essays on the literal and metaphoric meanings of 'superficial', statements of computer programming syntax, recipes, printouts of data streams, indexical poetry, mathematical asides and descriptions of numerically controlled fabrication processes - all of which offer alternative descriptions of the very same thing: the surface as object of knowledge.

George Liaropoulos-Legendre is an architect and teacher, currently running a unit in the Diploma School at the Architectural Association.

'When Liaropoulos-Legendre simply declares "I love matrices" I am with him. It seems to me that the real - even unique - achievement of this work lies in the poetic domain. He writes well, with urbane wit, enthusiasm, intelligence: and, as with AA publications generally, the book is beautifully produced; its elegant economy is inversely related to the vertiginous openings of the imagination to which the reader/viewer is subjected.' Peter Carl,arq