A new addition to our studio bookshelf is Robert McCarters’s new monograph on architect, WG Clark. If you follow us you know what an inspiration Clark (+ Menefee) is to us - thoughtful, rigorously edited designs with pen and ink drawings that make you want to start hand drafting again. The book highlights his work from the mid-1970s to the mid-2000s with a fair amount of projects in Charleston: Middleton Inn, Reid House, Downtown Bus Stop, South Carolina Aquarium, Croffead House, Bedon’s Alley Residence, structures at Mepkin Abbey as well as some unrealized designs.

Beyond the design process and final product, Clark’s view on architecture and its place is truly compelling: “The most important quality of architecture is the way it relates to, signifies, and dignifies a place on earth. This is why most of the architecture we admire, be it the product of individuals or of civilizations, is that which has been built with a sense of allegiance to the land. Architecture is a disturbing art; it destroys places. Construction sites always have the scent of sacrifice, barely masked by the exciting and hopeful smell of building. It is our job to assuage the sacrifice and make building an act of respect for and adoration of the place.”