Henry N. Cobb is a founder, with I. M. Pei, of the firm now known as Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. This is Cobb's first, and definitive, statement on his remarkable career.

Combining poetic analyses of his works with essays and lectures that cover topics about architecture’s past, present, and future, this small volume offers multiple lenses through which to examine Cobb's remarkable career. His own voice is complemented by interviews and discussions with Michael Graves, Robert A.M. Stern, Hal Foster, Charles Gwathmey, Paolo Conrad Bercah, Cynthia Davidson, Peter Eisenman, Mark Pasnik, and John Hejduk. The compendium includes the previously unpublished transcript of “The First and Last Meeting of the Modernist Reading Group,” which offers rare insight about the transition from architecture’s modern to postmodern movements, and is a remarkable addition to the historical archive.

Cobb approached OverUnder to help organize a manuscript nearly two decades in the making. A two-year effort of editing and refining has produced one of the most important records of architecture's trajectory through the latter half of the twentieth century, while thoughtfully critiquing our current era.

The book itself is conceived as an un-monograph. Its small design emphasizes the equal balance of text and image across the span of Cobb’s career. The book’s diminutive size is balanced by its thickness and heft—a legible and accessible publication that is designed to be held in one hand and read.

2018 AIGA 50 Books 50 Covers
2018 Chunky Book Award, Curbed