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KIERAN AND TIMBERLAKE'S REFABRICATING ARCHITECTURE CLEARS 5,000-COPY HURDLE AT FULL STRENGTH

Manifesto for design and building industry has international reach

[Philadelphia, November, 2005] - refabricating ARCHITECTURE, Stephen Kieran and James Timberlake's clarion call to architects to radically rethink their approach to building, has sold over 5,000 copies in 16 months, an unusual achievement for a niche market trade paperback. The American Institute of Architects Bookstore also reports that the title has enjoyed a parallel run on its top-ten best sellers list.

In their 175-page book, subtitled How Manufacturing Methodologies are Poised to Transform Building Construction, the co-authors and business partners advocate a seismic shift in current thinking about architecture, arguing that the profession has much to learn from the design and production paradigms of the automotive, marine, and aerospace industries.

Given that refabricating ARCHITECTURE has sold mainly to practicing architects, young design professionals, and students, Kieran and Timberlake have become popular speakers on American campuses since its release. But the book has attracted a strong European following as well: McGraw-Hill Editor Cary Sullivan reports considerable overseas sales.

"The remarkable success of refabricating ARCHITECTURE speaks to the groundbreaking nature of Kieran and Timberlake's work," stated Robert Ivy, Editor-in-Chief of Architectural Record. "It could revolutionize design and construction."

David Mortenson of the M.A. Mortenson Company, one of the nation's leading construction companies, likewise praised the book. "This is a window into the refabrication of an entire industry," he remarked.

Kieran and Timberlake argue that architecture and construction remain stuck in the past, while other industries have discovered innovative new materials, decreased production time, and increased quality. They exhort architects to adopt process engineering technologies in order to dissolve the boundaries between thinking and making, between appearance and substance.

These innovations, in turn, will inevitably lead to less waste and greener buildings. A fresh approach to the design process would enable architects to be more resource-conscious, selecting durable, sustainable materials that can be replaced - or even regenerated - and disassembled without compromising the structure overall.

"[Kieran and Timberlake's] work will be seen as the first clear articulation of how buildings will be designed and built in the digital age," predicted Philip Bernstein, FAIA, vice president of Autodesk Building Solutions, the world's foremost developer of architectural and engineering design software. "refabricating ARCHITECTURE issues the challenges that architects and their collaborators must meet to thrive into the future."

The co-authors, both Fellows of the American Institute of Architects and Rome Prize laureates, are the founding partners of KieranTimberlake. In 2001 they were the inaugural recipients of the Benjamin Latrobe Fellowship for architectural design research by the AIA College of Fellows. In addition to practicing architecture, they are both professors at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Design.

Capelin Communications