There are books that are fairly frequently found in the smallest rooms of architect’s offices. Possibly because their content provides plenty of diversion and entertainment without overtaxing the brain, offering a brief and simple escape from the everyday, if you will. Examples include publications like “100 Traumhäuser” (100 dream buildings) and “1001 Buildings: You Must See before You Die”. Or the slim volume “Why Do Architects Wear Black?” – an existential triviality that will make everybody in this profession smile.
Now there is another booklet for those brief moments of relaxation: “The Life of an Architect … and what he leaves behind” is a series of comic strips from the life of Archibald the architect. Penned with succinctness and caustic irony Archibald recounts his daily activities not only from his own viewpoint, but above all in relation to everyone else he deals with. That includes his son, the building contractor and site foreman, but also his customers, the concept – and God himself. The amusing stories by Belgian architect and cartoonist Mike Hermans, alias Maaik, promise 124 entertaining moments that will soothe the architect’s troubled soul. (AS)
Mike Hermans
The Life of an Architect … and what he leaves behind
128 pages, 124 comic strips, hardback, in English
DOM Publishers, Berlin 2015
ISBN 978-3-86922-440-4
EUR 18
