A review about Richard Weston’s new book Tietgen Dormitory: an Imaginary Journey around a Real Building
Tietgen Dormitory: an Imaginary Journey around a Real Building
Richard Weston, ed by Torsten Bløndal
Edition Bløndal, 280pp, £40
Conceived perhaps on the premise that a picture is worth a thousand words, Edition Bløndal’s unorthodox monograph tells the tale of the well-regarded 2006 Tietgen Dormitory in Copenhagen. Designed by Lundgaard & Tranberg, this distinctive circular building with, somehow unsurprisingly, 360 student rooms, is concerned with the age-old dilemma of simultaneously expressing both the individual and the collective.
With a provocative essay by Richard Weston and plenty of drawings and photos of the project, the book could easily conform to the standard model, but added to these – and stamping its character on the handsome volume – is a copious assortment of images depicting the circular theme in both architecture and nature. Some, such as Asplund’s Stockholm town hall, the Samara ziggurat, and the Pantheon (left) are familiar, but others are obscure, if not quaint. Some too are relevant to the concept of the dormitory building, while others seem tenuous at best. Compiled by architect (and long-time Edition Bløndal collaborator) John Pardey, the range of imagery makes a fascinating flick-through. The book’s ambition to inspire takes it beyond a purely architectural audience, so it comes as no surprise that the Danish government has decided to purchase a copy for every primary school in the country.
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