First edition of Volume 1, Number 1 of Express Extra, published in 1982 by Express Newspaper/International Network for Art and Architecture. Oversized 4to (8.5” x 13”), pictorial stapled wrappers, 32 unnumbered pages, extensively illustrated in black and white. An important early monograph and speculative manifesto by the visionary architect Lebbeus Woods, issued in conjunction with his first formally listed solo exhibitions at the Express/Network Gallery in New York and the University of Illinois School of Architecture. Woods imagines four cities—of earth, air, fire, and water—whose suspended structures, geological cavities, and mechanical-organic forms embody the cyclical passage of time. The project established a vocabulary he would develop through Origins, Centricity, and War and Architecture; related drawings are now held by the Getty Research Institute. With texts by Woods, Andrew P. MacNair, Danny Abelson, Gordon Gilbert, and Giuliano Fiorenzoli; Herbert Muschamp served as senior editor.
Scarce in commerce despite the stated edition of 3,000 copies, much of which was undoubtedly lost to the publication’s inexpensive and inherently fragile newspaper-like format. Light rubbing and some moderate bumping to extremities, especially at spine, with some creasing to spine tail. Limited damp staining towards bottom corner of front wrapper, not affecting interior. A good, complete example of one of the foundational publications in Woods’s development from architectural renderer to one of the defining conceptual architects of the late twentieth century.
First edition of Volume 1, Number 1 of Express Extra, published in 1982 by Express Newspaper/International Network for Art and Architecture. Oversized 4to (8.5” x 13”), pictorial stapled wrappers, 32 unnumbered pages, extensively illustrated in black and white. An important early monograph and speculative manifesto by the visionary architect Lebbeus Woods, issued in conjunction with his first formally listed solo exhibitions at the Express/Network Gallery in New York and the University of Illinois School of Architecture. Woods imagines four cities—of earth, air, fire, and water—whose suspended structures, geological cavities, and mechanical-organic forms embody the cyclical passage of time. The project established a vocabulary he would develop through Origins, Centricity, and War and Architecture; related drawings are now held by the Getty Research Institute. With texts by Woods, Andrew P. MacNair, Danny Abelson, Gordon Gilbert, and Giuliano Fiorenzoli; Herbert Muschamp served as senior editor.
Scarce in commerce despite the stated edition of 3,000 copies, much of which was undoubtedly lost to the publication’s inexpensive and inherently fragile newspaper-like format. Light rubbing and some moderate bumping to extremities, especially at spine, with some creasing to spine tail. Limited damp staining towards bottom corner of front wrapper, not affecting interior. A good, complete example of one of the foundational publications in Woods’s development from architectural renderer to one of the defining conceptual architects of the late twentieth century.
