As of Saturday, January 23, 2010, MAS’ bookstore, Urban Center Books, will close when we vacate the Villard Houses for the Steinway Hall Building at 111 W. 57th Street.

Until then, we are holding a sale with 40% off all stock. Print this voucher and bring it to the store to claim your discount. Come in today to take advantage of the sale in its final week. UCB stocks books on a diverse range of topics including, architecture, design, New York, landscape, urbanism, sustainability, interiors, construction, theory, magazines, journals, and much more.

We expect UCB to reopen in a new location in the fall. In the meantime, visit us at www.urbancenterbooks.org to order books and receive your MAS member discount.

Architecture depends—on what? On people, time, politics, ethics, mess: the real world. Architecture, author Jeremy Till argues with conviction in this engaging, sometimes pugnacious book, cannot help itself; it is dependent for its very existence on things outside itself.

Despite the claims of autonomy, purity, and control that architects like to make about their practice, architecture is buffeted by uncertainty and contingency. Circumstances invariably intervene to upset the architect’s best-laid plans at every stage in the process, from design through construction to occupancy.

Architects, however, tend to deny this, fearing contingency and preferring to pursue perfection. With Architecture Depends, architect and critic Jeremy Till offers a proposal for rescuing architects from themselves: a way to bridge the gap between what architecture actually is and what architects want it to be.

Architecture Depends by Jeremy Till.  MIT Press, March, 2009. On sale now at Urban Center Books, the architecture bookstore of the Municipal Art Society.

Our Proprietors Reserve Sale is on now through Saturday, February 28. Urban Center Books is the bookstore of the Municipal Art Society and is located at 457 Madison Avenue, at E. 51st St. Opening hours are: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday: 10:00 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.; and Saturday: 12:00 – 5:30 p.m. Visit www.urbancenterbooks.org for more information.

During the Epiphany Book Sale at the Municipal Art Society’s bookstore Urban Center Books (UCB) all titles are 25% off. The sale runs through Tuesday, January 13 and covers all stock except magazines. However, you must bring in this downloadable coupon to claim your discount.

Urban Center Books is located at The Municipal Art Society, 457 Madison Avenue, at East 51st Street, and is open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday: 10:00 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. , Saturday: 12:00 – 5:30 p.m.

If you would like to receive advance notice of future UCB sales and events, please make sure to give the salesperson your e-mail address when you visit the store.