Pigeons (or feral/street pigeons, as Wikipedia insists on calling them) aren’t exactly the most loved urban dwellers. Also referred to as “the rats of the sky,” the birds have become ingrained into the gritty image of larger, dirtier cities such as London or New York, to name a few. But it’s about time to mediate our quarrels and analyze their role as an inevitable part of our infrastructure. Our curiosity was piqued when Colin Jerolmack recently offered his views on pigeons as contemporary urbanists, but we really couldn’t hold back when we heard that Phaidon’s new book is putting pigeons in the shoes of architecture critic. “Architecture According To Pigeons,” by the pigeon elder and architecture expert Speck Lee Tailfeather, is a true bird’s-eye-view of some of the most important structures in architectural history—it also includes some words from Stella Gurney and pictures from Natsko Sek. Covering over 40 buildings, including the Basilica de la Sagrada Familia, the Taj Mahal, and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater, this book is just adorable, with stunning collage illustrations to match. A great way to brush up on your architectural essentials, no matter what age you are. …
[ccw-atrib-link]