David Kohn’s first book, ‘Stages’, is unpredictable, experimental and informative

David Kohn founded his studio in 2007, swiftly finding a distinctive architectural voice. In less than two decades, DKA has become one of the pre-eminent ‘young’ British firms, with an international reputation, a broad portfolio that includes important cultural and educational commissions as well as private houses, and several awards.

Inside 'Stages', a new book on David Kohn's architecture

Stages is the practice’s first book. Like Kohn’s approach to architecture, it is anything but straightforward, subversively pitched in a way that honours the history and tradition of the architectural monograph while also coming up with something entirely original. Edited by the writer and curator Moritz Küng, Stages is formed from 12 individual books, assembled together via ring binding and presented in a slip case.

Each individual ‘book’ takes on a different format and focuses on a different project or approach. They comprise An Architect's Book, Fables & Figures, White Wide Walls, The Hedgehog And The Fox, Collaboration Objects, Scenographies, Rural Codes, Only A Wall, Contemporary College, November 2024, Jujitsu Urbanism, and Other Room, mixing drawings, details, reportage and project photography, as well as musings on process, place and architectural history.

The project brings together an eclectic set of contributors. There are texts from Ellis Woodman, Lydia Yee and Jonathan Anderson, Oona Bannon and Russell Pinch, Peter and Suzanne Redstone, Edward Turner and Kohn himself, alongside artistic contributions from Fiona Banner (who worked with Kohn on A Room for London in 2012).

That project is included here, as is the Red House in Dorset, crowned RIBA House of the Year 2022, the new quad at New College, Oxford, and as well as the ‘Jerome’ workstation Kohn designed for Wallpaper* Handmade at the Salone del Mobile in 2011, created in collaboration with Porro, and the pavilion he created with Change Performing Arts and DWA Design Studio for Handmade 2012.

Stages was designed by Armand Mevis and in many respects resembles a sample book as well as a compendium of individual artistic publications. It serves as an educational journey through an informed architecture that is often esoteric and eccentric but never lacking in intellectual rigour or technical precision.

Stages, David Kohn Architects, edited by Moritz Küng, König Books, €60, buchhandlung-walther-koenig.de and £60 from Amazon

DavidKohn.co.uk