Is it possible or even reasonable to deliberate on architecture without paying attention to the surroundings, to the space architecture is embedded in? Klaus Theo Brenner, German architect, would definitely deny this notion. He sees himself in the tradition of the Italian architect and designer Vittorio Gregotti, and therefore, when talking about architecture always includes urban space. For him, architecture is always connected to the urban realm and interrelated with the urbanites. In his recent book “City Life Collage” Brenner focuses on the complexity, vibrance and diversity of city life by use of collages that he created between 1990 and 2019.

Brenner creates highly aesthetic, colorful, sometimes nostalgic, sometimes alienated, even mutated images that tell stories about the cities we currently inhabit and about the cities’ past, always shimmering through. Just as cities are constituted by different layers, trans-forming the urban realm’s structure and surface over time, Brenner builds layer upon layer to create a plethora of palimpsests to give the beholder of the collages an idea of both the mutability and consistency of urban space.

The book was published by Jovis Publisher.