It's an interesting idea to take sketches and compile them into some form of narrative, but it's also a stretch to think that anyone's sketchbook (even packaged up in a neat format) would be terribly interesting to read. Wells' sketches are both interesting and engaging - but as I've mentioned previously - sort of dated, evoking the Entourage books full of tracery that makes my skin crawl when seen today. Plus they are less interesting in black&white - with the exception of some detail vignettes. The typical page offers sketches and the loopy text - giving it that feel of the old Ching books from first year studio, and definitely some parallels to the Halprin sketchbooks.
The work as well both visionary, but also seemingly something unearthed from a mid-sixties utopian bent... sort of earth-sheltered Ecotopian view of architecture that pushes a singular ideology but doesn't acknowledge that it's one view - not the only one. Sort of
The text, on the other hand, isn't terribly engaging - venturing to the prosaic, which one would expect in a sketchbook. A typical excerpt:
"One of the hot-growth areas in the New Jersey suburbs of Philadelphia - Evesham Township, I think it was - was said to be considering building an addition to it's municipal building. The year: 1974. "May I submit a proposal?," I asked. "Of course," came the response, so I dreamed this dream, watercolored it until it resembled an earthly paradise, and sent it in, never to be heard from again. I never saw what they built instead. I couldn't bear to. But I've seen that township. From the quaint farmlands of the sixties it has become wall-to-wall houses and shopping centers, a town without a center, without any kind of relief from the dizzying mazes of streets that seem to go nowhere. Sour grapes. Very sour." (p.30)
Overall the philosphy of Wells is captured here both in the idealism of the text above, and the images of whimsy and practicality - trying not just to envision utopia, but provide a construction set of details for it. The work, particularly the idea of earth-sheltered construction in changing the paradigm of architectural practice, will continue to evolve, much due to the work and vision of Wells. Perhaps he was a man before his time - as the ideas are just now beginning to really gain some foothold in the collective architectural consciousness. With a more open viewpoint and an embrace of some technology to temper the rustic nature of these visions - he would today be probably a key figure in the new vegitecturalism. Instead, the work ends, by the nature of the delivery and the media, as a typically fringe endeavor. Get past the kitsch, and there's substance, but I'm not sure in the media and digital age, how well this plays in the mainstream.
If you are a fan of Malcolm Wells, you will want to pick this nice softcover addition to his collected works - and a fine grain reading would dig up some good nuggets of wisdom related to earth-sheltered design and construction. Read as well my review of 'Infrastructures' by Malcolm Wells (via Landscape+Urbanism) which I think is a much more worthy addition to the library of the non-fan...
[all images taken from the book]
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