For the House in Awanji, Atelier Nishikata used plywood vaults to create subtle relationships between interior spaces. Photo by Takumi Ota
What sleight of hand is required to create a richly comprehensive book, when the subject is just four small projects" Meticulous writing, excellent documentation, and a magician?s mindset. In Almost, Not: The Architecture of Atelier Nishikata, author Leslie Van Duzer is as adroit with the written word as a magician is with deceptive banter. The Vancouver-based architecture professor (and former director of UBC?s SALA) draws on her background as an educator and onetime magician?s assistant to conjure up a book aptly described as ?a hybrid between an architectural monograph and a magic instruction book.? Starting from the evocative cover, Van Duzer?s precise yet poetic text and book designer Pablo Mandel?s rhythmical graphic layout draw us in and lead us through each project. Almost, Not. The title itself sets the scene with a bit of mystery?almost, not what" It invokes images of thwarted expectations and upended suppositions. But it also summons visions of surprise and astonishment as assumptions are turned upside-down. In the context of the book, Van Duzer defines ?almost? as ?a delightfully destabilizing oscillation between certainty and uncertainty, curiosity and astonishment, past and present experience, delaying any automated consumption.? In Almost, Not, the author delivers this delight not only through the precision of th...