Ugly Ducks is a catalogue of overlooked façades from the Porto architecture practice FALA, published by Exemplo Books in Lisbon. Close to 1,000 pages in a small format, it treats the odd and unloved building as a subject worth studying.
About This Book
The book gathers original photographs of forgotten façades—buildings read here as 'faces'—each paired with drawings and short critical texts. Those texts consider the setting of each building, the themes and formal types it belongs to, and the plain strangeness of its architecture.
The result is both an inventory and an argument: a reflection on which architectural ideas deserve repeating and which might be better left behind.
Key Features
- Original photographs of neglected façades
- Accompanying drawings for the buildings documented
- Short critical texts on context, typology and form
What You'll Discover
- A visual taxonomy of façades as architectural 'faces'
- How FALA reads the ordinary and the bizarre in everyday building
- Questions about precedent—what to repeat and what to forget
About the Author
FALA is an architecture practice based in Porto. In Ugly Ducks the studio turns its attention from its own projects to the buildings others have passed over.
Specifications
- Format: Softcover (needlepoint canvas cover)
- Dimensions: 100 × 150 mm
- Pages: 967
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9789893682753
- Publisher: Exemplo Books
Perfect For: architects, photographers and anyone drawn to the strange, unloved and overlooked corners of the built environment.