"To channel the drawings as a first degree differentiation of spirit to matter, is a frightening but exhilarating experience. We begin with the blessed ignorance of a child and unwavering conviction of the initiated. Our dreams repeatedly elude us, allowing but glimpses of veiled images, the veiled images of our willed reality."
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Urban Innuendoes by Peter Magyar Trafford Publishing
book review by Wendy Strain
The purpose of this book is to introduce the reader to a new concept in the arena of written material. Rather than attempting to analyze architectural shapes in typewritten words, the author here attempts to present the images that lead to the design, allowing them to communicate straight from the drafting desk. This is not merely the presentation of images for the reader to simply look at and move on. Instead, the author asks readers to do what they can to read the images for their contributions to subsystem and mega-system design. This opens up the possibility of not only cognitively understanding the process, but also becoming emotionally involved in what is happening on the page.
It is not actually necessary to be an architect or to be familiar with architectural drawings in order to appreciate this book, but it does help some in trying to understand how the various drawings for each structure fit together in the available space. This is part of the challenge set before the reader upon first opening the book in the author's introduction. Explanatory text is deliberately kept to a minimum in order to allow the forms to speak for themselves. What text is available gives very basic information about the project, any requirements such as building codes that had to be adhered to, and some concept of the project's background.
Once the feel of the book is absorbed and the practice of reading the images has been adopted, it becomes much easier to appreciate the concepts contained. Watching the ideas develop through the different drawings and seeing how they communicate and contribute back and forth with other concepts elsewhere can be exciting when you have reached the right state of mind.