PLAT 8.5 tl;dr is presented digitally on our website for free. Use this page to purchase a copy of the promotional poster. The poster is double-sided and measures approximately 16.5” x 10.5”.

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PLAT 8.0 makes a case for simplicity in architecture—not as a style, but as a navigational tool by which we can chart our course through the infinitely demanding and complex topography of our cultural landscape. The 30+ contributions in Simplicity form a mature and coherent conversation about the timely (even urgent) topic of simplicity in architecture as a design posture; an attitude toward process that fosters pragmatism and clarity in the built environment. 

Tasked with responding to PLAT 8.0 Simplicity, we were struck by the notion of simplicity as a tool— that is, something possessed, able to be applied to a purpose—rather than as a point on a continuum shared by varying degrees of complexity. As such, simplicity may be understood to be a quality within ourselves that we can direct outward as a means of “editing” our surroundings. 

And yet simplicity, even as a tool, carries with it its own set of hazards and pitfalls. As a differential, dis-integrative process, it runs an inherent risk—of over-editing, over-thinking, and of course, over simplifying. Moreover, once simplicity is identified as a desirable outcome, it is all too tempting to jump ahead to a predetermined aesthetic result—perhaps jettisoning critical meaning along with superfluous information. In the spirit of gamely owning up to simplicity’s limitations, we announce PLAT 8.5 tl;dr. 

tl;dr (editorial shorthand for “too long; didn’t read”) is used to connote excessive verbosity, but in such a way as to stave off information overload from a safe distance. The term projects a desire for simplicity, but in its unconsidered form. And it is used, all too often, to stifle discourse and collaboration. 

We are glad to borrow this term (with all its baggage and snark) as a way of introducing a series of serious conversations about the commensurate and integrative process that necessarily follows quickly behind simplicity’s culling, editing, and cropping. To bring the simple idea forth—to share it, to put it back into the world of things—requires a near-simultaneity of development, refinement, and articulation. As unnecessary intertextual connections are discarded, so the opportunities for considered connection arise from the iterative transformations of a simple idea. 

PLAT 8.5 tl;dr invites a further exploration of how the toolbox of simplicity can be carried through the process of bringing an idea into the built environment. Inevitably, we find that the path to execution is complicated by turbulence, as the inconveniences of the world around us seek to encroach and impede. Crises of mechanics, politics, and economics can make it difficult to hold on to clarity of concept. And yet for many of us, guiding a design from its simple inception into being remains the most satisfying and compelling work we do. 

PLAT 8.5 tl;dr presents a series of conversations, interviews, articles, and design work that engage directly with the challenges of bringing a simple idea through the process of refinement and articulation that results in a work—of architecture, design, writing, or art.

Editors-in-Chief: Lauren Phillips & Sebastian López Cardozo

Design Director: Carolyn Francis

Managing Editor: Mai Okimoto

Development Director: Elina Chen

Website: Adam Berman

Photography: Mark Citret, Scott Hyde

Graphic Design: Jeremy Harrienger, Cole Neuffer

Lead Copy Editor: Harish Krishnamoorthy

Editors: Estefania Barajas, Alec Burran, Lindsey Chambers, Siobhan Finlay, Joseph Hsu,Cole Neuffer, BethAnne Parra, Jane Van Velden, Jefferson Xia