Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This extraordinary visual essay explores the notion of 'minimum', a concept that is rooted in the pursuit of simplicity, as applied to architecture, art and design; it is the quality that a building or object possesses when every component, every detail and every junction has been reduced or condensed to its essentials. Now itself condensed, Minimum is available for the first time as a pocket edition.

This book, designed and compiled by the Minimalist architect John Pawson, captures the essential qualities of particular kinds of simplicity. This is illustrated by architecture ranging from prehistoric Mexico and Ancient Egypt to the high Modernism of Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe; art from the Dutch School to Donald Judd; the photography of Robert Mapplethorpe and Bill Brandt; and furniture and pottery. With its broad spread across time and a wide geographical area, Minimum seeks to analyse the elements of simplicity and capture them in print.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

From its translucent dust jacket and warm gray ink to its embossed linen cover and 145 superbly printed photographs, this elegantly designed and handsomely produced volume is presented as the bibliographic embodiment of the author's architectural philosophy. Pawson uses a photographic essay to develop a comprehensive definition of the minimalist sensibility. For the examples, he draws not only from the history of art, architecture, and design but also from the natural landscape. Each of the 11 chapters explores an aspect of design, such as mass, light, or structure. While the introductory essay serves as an argument for Pawson's own work, the captions provide thoughtful and insightful interpretations of the objects and images reproduced. His analysis of Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth House, illustrated with a three-leaf gatefold, for example, provides a concise but substantive perspective on the relation of this modern monument to its site. Aspects of Minimal Architecture (Academy Editions, 1994) has a similar purpose and even includes one of Pawson's designs but does not equal this volume in breadth, graphic quality, or singularity of vision. Highly recommended for all architecture and design libraries.-Paul Glassman, Pratt Inst. Lib., New York (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

He lives in London.

(Bowker Author Biography)