31.10.2016

31.10_Lars Müller_Zurich_Workshop With Lars

The Nomadic Bookstore

The visit to Lars Müller Publishers was intended as an initial briefing for his book pavilion, The Nomadic Bookstore. The meeting acted as an initial survey of what he may desire as the client. However what started as a morning visit, turned into brief respite for lunch. Continuing through a dialogue of presentations in the afternoon, we soon found that it was time for supper. Not only was the meeting a chance to formulate a brief for the Museum Lab, but a means of starting an understanding who Lars was,  who he has become, and to some extent where he positions himself now.

His background as a product of Swiss Graphic Design simply does no justice to his ability to digest and accumulate knowledge through his intimate relationships with his authors. While the beauty of his team’s typographic style runs consistently throughout his content, the process in which his books come together offer his own perspective. Through the rigorous process of production, each chapter somehow leaves an imprint both on the physical publishing, but also on who Lars is becoming.

So the design of the Nomadic Bookstore should be treated thus; Not as a temporary bookshop, but as a representation; an extension; an embodiment of these discursive relationships that is Lars’ life project.

Within the following transcripts, Lars touches upon his upbringing, his views on typology, Design, Art, Photography, Architecture, and what he finds interesting about the complex of vectors that have shaped the study of what some might call Urbanism. For Lars it’s simply a matter of making sense of the world view.


[00:14:51] Book lovers they may even have a chance to recognise each other. It’s a like a good wine. It’s something that unites people… We should have the courage to claim the exclusive. Stay away from everything think is mediocre or not worth the energy… It’s not making you better than others, but it makes you more knowledgeable or more aware than others, in relation to the responsibility you have as a professional. As architects you are responsible. Why shouldn’t you claim the right to be selective and even sharp in your critique to say no. To say ‘I don’t want or need this. I want ‘ And if you train that and train to avoid any arrogance, because you feel responsible, then you can train your knowledge to do better. It’s not only because the food is good and the coffee is good. The Overall is good. The Attitude is good. It’s family. Something that unites with my attitude as a Publisher and your attitude as an Architect. 

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[00:17:02] The chance to become a superstar is over. It’s Over! But that’s an advantage, that’s a challenge. That’s what allows us to really create something new. To direct qualities in the direction we see as relevant. That’s why I fight for the book. 

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[00:08:14]  Conversations with the book seller. About Establishing a relationship with the readership and the book seller’s encyclopedic knowledge.

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Lunch time at Lars’s Office

 

 

 

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Presenting The Salone del Mobile

 

 

 

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Lars immerses himself in the site through virtual reality

[00:09:32] — experience of the book. smell. cigarettes. Perhaps a fine wine.

[00:10:39] — offer them a chance to spend time with the books.

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[00:12:38] — The world of Lars Muller is being communicated. People may empathize with his narrative.

[00:14:13] — ideal place to take a holiday. No internet. No TV. just the experience. Relationship with hotel and books

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[00:20:10] Collection of books as a gradual thing. Put a timestamp on your book. 

[00:26:10] Michael Maltzan- haptic experience of architectural fabric. A visionary of what will happen to Architecture for the future. 

[00:28:25] Speculation destroys architecture. You can do pretty things but the average quality of architecture is a disaster. How can architecture be used as a vehicle in ecology etc. To tackle bigger issues.

[00:29:29] You should act as the changer- Not as the instrument of others. But most of you will be. 

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