Kind of Boring: Canonical Work and Other Visible Things Meant to be Viewed as Architecture

One of the first questions the architecture student is asked is ‘What is architecture?', the answer generally suggesting something that calls attention to its intent. And while this is understandable, there is no shortage of architecture that seems to call attention to itself gratuitously. For Chicagobased architect Paul Preissner, however, architecture that performs its role seemingly goes unnoticed, much like a utility. In Kind of Boring, he explicates and celebrates this kind of prosaic built space.

Despite this notion, the book itself is curious and whimsical: what at first glance seem to be decontextualised images are in fact labelled (though not in order) to match projects that are discussed in a separate section of the book, replete with playful text drawings that complement the more traditional plans and elevations. Contributor essays muse on music, class politics and hobbies. In this way, Preissner presents works as they are often understood, or misunderstood: in a context of both competing and complementary cognitive, visual and spatial experiences. The work is diverting and thought-provoking — and as its author surely realises, anything but boring.