100 years/100 books: School of Architecture Centenary, 1917-2017

Library Exhibition Series No. 4 THE GLOSSIES

THE SHOCK OF THE NEWS: PERIODICALS / SERIALS / JOURNALS / MAGAZINES

There is a new exhibition in the Architecture and Planning Library’s series looking at ‘the architecture book’, curated by Michael Milojevic, School of Architecture and Planning Professional Teaching Fellow; and Sarah Cox, Architecture Archivist.

We are taking a break from the traditional book format featured in previous displays, and have an array of journals, “glossies”, which can challenge, entertain, inform, or even shock the reader.

Traditionally they have been dismissed as valuing the aesthetic rather than “serious” scholarly information. Magazines, with their bright images and shiny paper stock, can be viewed as treating the subject matter superficially (glossing over). But glossies are successfully used to entice. The best new projects and competitions are presented and contemporary issues are discussed in a format which is appealing and approachable. As opposed to smaller and more scholarly serials which are usually less concerned with their graphic presentation, and thus often less engaging.

The glossies are very popular in our library and many have a vast international readership of professionals proving that they are very influential.

This exhibition features international serials which are long standing and well respected, but still newsy. Included are titles from Italy, the Netherlands, the UK, France, Norway, Japan, and the USA.

They either focus on presenting their local architecture to the world or the world’s architecture to their country. Either way, the glossies invite us to stay up-to-date with the architectural world around us.

The Glossies will be on display until the end of July.

Johanna Holzke, Library Assistant, Architecture and Planning Library