3 boek 7 8 9 (box set)

3 boek 7 8 9 is a publication by architecten de vylder vinck taillieu in collaboration with MER. Paper Kunsthalle. The box set of three books gives an extended overview of both built and unbuilt work by the office, realised over the past decade.

As a box set, 3 boek 7 8 9 follows the already published 1 boek 1 2 3 and the not yet published 2 boek 4 5 6. In contrast to the first set of books – fully edited by the office itself and conceived as a continuous, associative, cross-referencing text – this third set takes an opposite approach. The box compiles three existing monographs – a re-enactment of the out-of-print 2G N. 66, the 13th catalogue from the series De aedibus international and the recently published a+u 561 17:06 – and brings these ‘as-found objects’ together as one narrative.

The editorial strategy employed in connecting the three separate monographs is an extension of the office’s overall attitude towards architecture, as demonstrated in their work. Using the formal interventions of copying and cutting, the monographs – each with their own household identity – are appropriated and related to each other. As such, the box set not only presents an overview of projects, it embodies these projects in the texture of the publication itself.

3 boek 7 8 9 is available in a limited edition of 113 handnumbered issues and is accompanied by a short essay on architects’ books by Moritz Küng.