{"title":"Dr. Stephen Parnell","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDr. Stephen Parnell\u003c\/strong\u003e explores the rich textures of the modern landscape through his insightful works. His writing blends a meticulous attention to detail with a deep appreciation for the arts and cultural environments, inviting readers to engage with the world in new and thoughtful ways.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom striking examinations of urban materials like \u003cem\u003eConcrete\u003c\/em\u003e to broader reflections on creativity and space, Parnell’s books are ideal for those fascinated by the intersections of art, architecture, and cultural expression.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"concrete-by-dr-stephen-parnell-9781501383700","title":"Concrete","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eObject Lessons\u003c\/strong\u003e is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eConcrete\u003c\/em\u003e has an image problem. Portrayed as boring, cheap, and thoughtless, it is often considered synonymous with bad architecture. For many, concrete is architecture gone wrong – dogmatic, ugly, and as miserably grey as English drizzle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eStephen Parnell’s \u003cem\u003eConcrete\u003c\/em\u003e is an apologia of concrete, second only to water as the world’s most consumed material. From the personal, intimate scale of jewellery to the monumental scale of Brutalist architecture, Parnell explores the personality of concrete and how it is embedded and embodied in everyday and familiar objects. He revels in concrete’s ambiguity and contradictory qualities, from its sensitivity to the tiniest imprint to its immense compressive strength in hydroelectric dams, and traces how concrete is both the ultimate unaesthetic material as well as the quintessential building block of modernity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48021964652780,"sku":"9781501383700","price":21.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781501383700-concrete.jpg?v=1785285010"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/collections\/dr-stephen-parnell.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}