SCE Associate Dean Robert Kirkbride’s “The Reading Chamber” is the lead chapter of the newly released Architecture’s Appeal, a new volume of essays from a diverse group of well-known scholars that examines the role of history and theory in contemporary architectural praxis. “The Reading Chamber” centers on a chimeric room whose paginated construction has stimulated generations of transcriptions and mistranslations. Originally exhibited in the bend of a copper pipe and later acquired by a permanent collection, the text has been freshly transcribed and illustrated by Parsons SCE alumni Charlotte Ensign, Michael McDowell, Angelina Putri, Andrew Broddle and Scott Hsu.  These illustrations will be installed in SCE’s glass cases at 25 E 13th Street

There will also be a panel discussion and book launch for Architecture’s Appeal, hosted by Associate Dean Kirkbride, which celebrates the teaching and scholarship of Dr. Alberto Pérez-Gómez, whose work over the past thirty years has significantly contributed to the discourse of architectural history and theory. Contributors to Architecture’s Appeal include: Marc Neveu and Negin Djavaherian (co-editors), Karsten Harries, Paul Emmons, Indra Kagis McEwen, Lily Chi, Louise Pelletier, Marco Frascari, David Leatherbarrow, Tracey Eve Winton, Kenneth Frampton, Natalija Subotincic, Juhani Pallasmaa, Stephen Parcell, Steven Holl and Ricardo L. Castro