A collection of essays by London-based architect Irénée Scalbert. Totems brings together ten
texts by architect historian and critic Irénée Scalbert. Written between 2001 and 2025 they
reflect nearly three decades of critical engagement with architecture and its cultural
contexts. Ranging in length and register--from concise meditations to extended analytical
essays--the collection captures the evolution of Scalbert's thinking as a critic teacher and
participant in architectural discourse. Organized thematically into sections on buildings
cities and the environment Totems traces a loosely autobiographical arc. Earlier pieces echo
Scalbert's formative years in London during a period of architectural ferment are marked by the
work of James Stirling and Norman Foster influential figures from Europe such as Aldo Rossi
as well as his close association with a generation of contemporaries including Peter St John
(Caruso St John Architects) and Tom Emerson and Stephanie Macdonald (6a architects). Later
texts expand outward both geographically and conceptually as Scalbert brings a speculative
and at times personal lens to questions of urbanism nature and meaning in contemporary
architecture.
