A Certain Kind of Life

A Certain Kind of Life examines how we dwell and live together, delving into the relationships between architecture and asceticism, domesticity and estrangement, rules and transgressions, solitary rituals and collective forms within both historical and contemporary societies.

This book derives an approach to individual and collective living from monastic architecture. Alongside research and documentation of a large-scale pavilion and exhibition featured at the 2019 Lisbon Architecture Triennale, the book builds on drawings, texts, and images from scholars and architects who contemplate questions surrounding solitude, retreat, and quietness. The narrative considers how architecture can distill our everyday social encounters into a building language through different mediums. The ideas of community present in the monastic architecture typology offer a lens to reflect on the solitary living that we recently collectively experienced.

From these various perspectives, A Certain Kind of Life examines how we have historically lived together, alone while continuing to share, adapt and build under unpredictable conditions that bind us globally.

With Contributions of Penelope Dean, Walter Benn Michaels, Mauricio Pezo & Sofia von Ellrichshausen, Robert Somol, Tuomas Toivonen, with photographs by Ibai Rigby.