The job description of the architect has fundamentally changed with the emergence of a globalized society, and it will continue to do so in the future. Already today, the demands of the job no longer correspond to the profile on which classical architectural training is based. In this context, the question that arises is no longer that of the building alone, but also that of a changed approach to building and new pathways within design itself. This is where Explorations comes in: internationally celebrated authors, all of whom are professors as well and hence directly involved in the processes they describe, address the principal topics of contemporary architectural research. Taking the works of their own design studios as examples (Eidgen ssische Technische Hochschule ETH] Z rich Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich]: Marc Ang lil, Fabio Gramazio/Matthias Kohler; Ecole Polytechnique F d rale de Lausanne EPFL, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne]: Harry Gugger, Dieter Dietz), they offer concrete discussions of those topics and place them in the context of applied research and practice. Short and accessible essays on the most important architectural movements of the twentieth century clarify the relationship between the subjects discussed and canonical architectural research. Reto Geiser is an architect who studied at the Eidgen ssische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Z rich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich) and Columbia University in New York. As the William Muschenheim Fellow and a lecturer in architecture and design, he spent the 2003-2004 academic year at the University of Michigan (USA). He is currently a doctoral candidate at the Institut gta (Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture) at the ETH Z rich. In addition to his academic work, Reto Geiser also works on projects at the shared frontiers of architecture, installation, and visual culture. In Basel, he is director of the series Standpunkte: Informelle Gespr che zur zeitgen ssischen ArchitekturKultur (Points of View: Informal Conversations on Contemporary Architecture/Culture). Geiser is currently curating the Swiss contribution to the XI Biennale of Architecture in Venice. The exhibition at the Swiss Pavilion of the 2008 Venice Architecture Biennale is merely intended as a springboard for further study of the subject.

John Ronan Architects' award-winning Gary Comer Youth Center was designed specifically to support the activities of Chicago's South Shore Drill Team; however, during the design process, the function of the space continued to evolve along with the client's goals, resulting in an architectural program that grew from a simple gym into a multifunctional space supporting a range of community and educational services. Explorations also features fully documented design processes for the recently completed Poetry Foundation in Chicago; the transformation of Washington, D.C.'s historic Yale Steam Laundry building into condominiums; the Urban Model High School, a new prototype school developed for the Public Building Commission of Chicago; and Precast Chapel, an economical concrete chapel for promoting interfaith dialogue and religious understanding. Ronan's ability to deliver adaptability along with a sense of identity and place renders his work both timely and destined to age with grace and dignity--meaningful additions to their environs that hold significant value to both building clients and end users. Explorations features a foreword by Toshiko Mori, chair of the department of architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design; an essay by highly respected Chicago-based architect Brad Lynch; and a Q & A with John Ronan conducted by Robert McAnulty.

An understanding of architects’ character traits can offer important insights into how they design buildings. These traits include leadership skills necessary to coordinate a team, honest and ethical behavior, being well educated and possessing a life-long love of learning, flexibility, resourcefulness, and visionary and strategic thinking. Characteristics such as these describe a successful person. Architects also possess these traits, but they have additional skills specifically valuable for the profession. These will include the ability to question the use of digital media, new materials, processes, and methods to convey meaning in architectural form. Although not exhaustive, a discussion of such subjects as defining, imaging, persuading, and fabricating will reveal representational meaning useful for the development of an understanding of architects’ character. Through the analogies and metaphors found in Greek myth, the book describes the elusive, hard-to-define characteristics of architects to engage the dilemmas of a changing architectural landscape. Building the Architect’s Character: Explorations in Traits examines traditional and archetypal characteristics of the successful architect to ask if they remain relevant today.

Examines the influence of twentieth-century avant-garde movements on the contemporary architectural landscape through the work of “disruptors” such as Frank Gehry, Rem Koolhaas, and Zaha Hadid. With an irregular format designed by celebrated graphic designer Abbott Miller of Pentagram. In Architecture Unbound, noted architecture critic Joseph Giovannini proposes that our current architectural landscape ultimately emerged from transgressive and progressive art movements that had roiled Europe before and after World War I. By the 1960s, social unrest and cultural disruption opened the way for investigations into an inventive, antiauthoritarian architecture. Explorations emerged in the 1970s, and built projects surfaced in the 1980s, taking digital form in the 1990s, with large-scale projects finally landing on the far side of the millennium. Architecture Unbound traces all of these developments and influences, presenting an authoritative and illuminating history not only of the sources of contemporary currents in architecture but also of the twentieth-century avant-garde and the twenty-first-century digital revolution in form-making, and profiling the most influential practitioners and their most notable projects, including Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Bilbao and Walt Disney Concert Hall, Zaha Hadid’s Guangzhou Opera House, Daniel Libeskind’s master plan for the World Trade Center, Rem Koolhaas’s CCTV Tower, and Herzog and de Meuron’s Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium in Beijing.

A collection of three illustrated essays looking at the preservation of three historic houses--and the layered, messy process of reconstructing our past and reimagining history. An architect and artist, Annie Coggan delves into the history of three iconic American structures--the Henry Knox Memorial in Maine; Fraunces Tavern in New York City; and the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia--and the stories of the people and ideas involved in their preservation to consider the ways in which ​history is reshaped by future generations.​

When searching for genuinely sustainable building design and technology - designs that go beyond conventional sustainability to be truly restorative - we often find that nature got there first. Over 3.5 billion years of natural history have evolved innumerable examples of forms, systems, and processes that can be applied to modern green design. For architects, urban designers and product designers, this new edition of Biomimicry in Architecture looks to the natural world to achieve radical increases in resource efficiency. Packed with case studies predicting future trends, this edition also contains updated and expanded chapters on structures, materials, waste, water, thermal control and energy, as well as an all-new chapter on light. An amazing sourcebook of extraordinary design solutions, Biomimicry in Architecture is a must-read for anyone preparing for the challenges of building a sustainable and restorative future.

Whilst recognising that distinctly different traditions exist within the study and practice of urban design, this book advances an interdisciplinary and innovative approach, which is of direct importance to understanding the urban forms, conditions, practices and processes. It enthuses and inspires users who are grappling with urban design research problems, but who need inspiration to move from idea to methodological approach. Through the work of 32 urban researchers from the arts, sciences and social sciences, it demonstrates a wide range of problems and approaches and shows how the diverse range of complementary approaches can come together to provide a holistic understanding to the design of cities. While each of the contributors presents a particular approach to researching the field, sometimes focusing centrally on particular research methodologies, others cutting across methods, or focusing on theory, all include discussion of actual research projects to illustrate their application to 'real world' problems. This book will be valuable to everyone from the informed undergraduate student about to embark on their first dissertation, to PhD students and seasoned researchers immersed in methodological and conceptual complexity and wishing to compare available and appropriate methodological paths.