Exhibitor’s Stories

‘Elements’, published in 15 smaller slim volumes, acted as a catalogue for the exhibition ‘Elements of Architecture’ at the Venice Biennale in 2014. Each volume is dedicated to one of the fundamental ‘elements’ defined by Koolhaas, such as roof, window, facade, corridor, and more. The book was also scaled up to be part of the exhibition. Boom and Koolhaas said in an interview: ‘the book is the exhibition and the exhibition is the book’. The 15 books fit the context of the Biennale, both in terms of production and for the readers, who also have the option to purchase just one of the ‘elements’. However, the original idea was to have a single book, the format of the ‘Elements of Architecture’ book. This book consists of 2,528 pages with an innovative split spine that allows it to open f lat. The choice of paper and colors was carefully made, and various wayfinding details were designed to make it easier to navigate.