Plain Modern

topics

Publishers

Architecture

ISBN: 9781568984773
English edition
Princeton Architectural Press/Graham Foundation
Softcover, 224 pages
19,1 x 25,4 cm
colour/black & white
August 2005
€30,00 (excl. VAT)

Plain Modern

The Architecture of Brian MacKay-Lyons

Malcolm Quantrill, Brian MacKay-Lyons

Series: New Voices in Architecture

It’s been our distinct pleasure over the past few years to publish monographs on a select group of young architects and firms whose work represents the best of contemporary design thinking while retaining a distinctive regional sensibility. The Nova-Scotian architect Brian MacKay-Lyons fits neatly into this distinguished list, which includes Marlon Blackwell in the Ozarks, Rick Joy in the Southwest and Miller/Hull in the Northwest.

MacKay-Lyons’ houses, commercial buildings and public projects combine regional forms with local materials, technologies and building practices to create works that are linked to their environments right down to their DNA. Peaked gables, shed roofs and sliding doors are inspired by local barn types; corrugated metal cladding comes from the buildings used by the area’s fishing industry; structural wooden frames are based on local ship-building traditions. These elements communicate a sense of place that is sophisticated, accessible and free of sentimentality.