Therefore: Terrarium House turns a single residential project by architect John Ellway into a sustained photographic and conversational inquiry — one that treats documentation not as record but as a means of making architectural thinking visible.
About This Book
Part of Shantanu Starick's Therefore series, this volume takes Terrarium House as its subject, approaching it through two parallel modes: photographs that resist mere documentation, and edited conversations that resist mere affirmation. Together, these paired elements make the reasoning behind the design available for genuine reflection. The project described — Cloaked House — rebuilds a 1960s timber frame inside a black timber skin, with concrete blocks salvaged from a hospital. A carved void opens the building to canopy and street while preserving the original structure, a decision that saved approximately twenty tonnes of carbon. The series models a different kind of architectural publishing: independent, specific, and committed to the idea that a single building repays this depth of attention.
Key Features
- 104 pages of photographic studies and edited conversations focused on a single architectural project
- Features Terrarium House (Cloaked House) by architect John Ellway
- Published by self-published, Shantanu Starick
What You'll Discover
- How a 1960s timber frame was retained within a new black timber skin, with salvaged hospital concrete blocks forming the material palette
- The environmental logic of structural retention — keeping the old frame saved approximately twenty tonnes of carbon
- How a carved void simultaneously connects the house to its canopy and street while preserving the integrity of the existing structure
- A publishing model in which photography and conversation work together to expose architectural intention rather than simply illustrate outcome
About the Author
Shantanu Starick is the author and photographer behind the Therefore series, an independent publication project using photographic studies and edited dialogue to examine built works in depth. [Details available upon request]
Specifications
- Format: Softcover
- Pages: 104
- Dimensions: 148 x 210 mm
- Language: English
- ISBN: [Details available upon request]
- Publisher: Self-published
- Publication Date: [Details available upon request]
Perfect For: Architects and architecture students interested in residential design, adaptive reuse and sustainable construction, photographers working with built environments, and readers who want to understand how design decisions are made rather than simply what they look like.