This is What We Do: A Muf Manual (Batsford Architecture) Book

The first book on an innovative art/architecture practice attracting much media interest—the work of an all-women office. MUF is a collaborative art and architecture practice committed to working in public space. An all-women practice with a string of innovative urban projects and the glory—growing as the Dome disappears under the weight of failure and recrimination—of having been sacked from London's Millennium Dome, MUF has attained a certain notoriety, largely through media interest often focused on gender rather than architecture. More than a conventional monograph, This Is What We Do describes and illustrates in detail the processes developed by MUF to enable effective consultation—very different from the 'community architecture' of the 1980s. The book, with photographs and illustration throughout, is broadly based around four factors that characterize MUF's work—consultation, collaboration, identity and mechanisms. It includes an essay by Katherine Shonfield examining MUF's work in the context of public space and town planning, while Adrian Dannatt traces the evolution of the office. Projects covered include Car-free London, the hypocaust building in St. Albans, 'Purity and Tolerance' installation in the Economist building, the Millennium Dome's 'local zone', Sure Start, the Pleasure Garden of the Utilities in Stoke on Trent and the Museum of Women's Art. Describes contemporary approaches to designing public space. 130 color and b/w illustrations.Read More