WORKac: We'll Get There When We Cross That Bridge

Fantastic! With these 360 dense pages, WORKac reaffirms the importance of the book as a unique medium, precisely by reinventing what a monograph is and what it can do (and answering the question, "Why the hell would you buy a monograph when there are web sites?"). Irreverent and serious, personal and abstract, accessible and complex, this is really at least three conventional books alchemically mixed: 1. A chronological unfolding of the office in 3x five year plans with an extensive range of projects; 2. An extended, pointed and engaging conversation between Amale and Dan, thematically organized by 10 topics (Pop, Urbanism, Preservation, etc.) and 3. Ten (or eleven, depending on whose counting) key projects in lush photographs/images, also introduced by a Dan/Amale dialogue. The book is fantastic, and Workac’s work is optimistic, full of life and highly relevant to the difficulties of contemporary architecture. What’s not to love?

A must read for anyone who runs their own office or is thinking of doing so! Through a series of discussions with the authors Amale Andraos and Dan Wood, we are brought on a voyage of triumphs and disappointments - the reality of architectural practice. But this is not just any practice. The projects they discuss show that WORKac are original and exceptional designers with few rivals. My favorite read in years and I highly recommend the book.

Smart, visionary & gorgeous book!

Fun, beautiful and smart!

Of course it’s filled with the characteristically inventive drawings and playfully serious work for which Work AC is justifiably known, but what is truly compelling about ‘We’ll Get There When We Cross that Bridge’ are the insights it provides, both practical and intellectual, into the process of designing a practice. The engaging text, in large part a dialogue between the partners, Dan Wood and Amale Andraos, enacts the back and forth dynamic of an expansive working methodology, providing a kind of road map (both retrospective and speculative) to the ways in which architects can engage and transform the realities (economic, social, political) within which we all operate. A rare insight into one of the most creative and optimistic practices working today.

I thought I knew their work and wasn't planning on buying their book, but glad I did. This book is super dense, full of projects (both built and unbuilt) along with texts and interviews, stuff you can't find on the internet... I have to say as a book, it's slightly overwhelming, and best read in parts, not in a linear front to back manner. WorkAC have been consistently leading their generation, and younger offices. All of those young offices interested in collage and cartoon-ish forms owe them. Both this book, and their work is playful with a sense of humor rare in architecture. They're obviously having fun, while simultaneously dealing with serious issues of sustainability and environmental responsibility. I was smiling while reading it. It's a pleasure, highly recommend it.

If an architecture book can be suspenseful, this is perhaps the one. Literally a page turner as one is lured through very rich and informative pages that balance humor and wit with sincerity and rigor. There's as much pleasure in the conversations between Dan and Amale as there is in the drawings, and of course ultimately in the uplifting body of work. And surprisingly some surprises, even for those who know the work of this seminal firm, leading their generation.

As much a personal history as a critical self-reflection on 15 years of work, this book tells the story of WORKac from the inside out. As the firm’s name suggests, there is hard dedication to work. But its co-founders, and here co-authors, Amale Andraos and Dan Wood certainly inject fun into their practice and book-making. The office somehow manages to produce work that is simultaneously rigorous and light-hearted, which is presented here with refreshing honesty and vulnerability. It is a spirit beautifully captured and expressed in the design by Neil Donnelly. This is a must-have for so many reasons … including the simple pleasure of flipping through the brightly-colored pages.

Lovely book, great book, nice stories through fantastic work...