City planning is a concept which usually covers the wide range of events, processes and developments taking place in our cities, but individual plans and designs cannot do justice to the complex realities of the city. In "Induction Cities" the author aims to take the reader beyond our traditional understanding of city design to redefine our perception of design in this context. With the assistance of computers, a dynamic mechanism will be created which generates a result corresponding to the specific conditions and requirements stipulated. By this form of "meta-design" a greater degree of freedom is obtained than the conventional design methods provide. In this publication, this new theory and process is analysed, looking at the first computer-generated architecture in the world, the underground station "Iidabashi"in Tokyo. Makoto Sei Watanabe studied architecture and worked in the office of Arata Isozaki in Tokyo. In 1984 he founded his own architectural office which has realised numerous projects.

Recent architecture has found itself having to cope with new social and cultural complexities that demand networked systems that are time-based, reconfigurable and evolutionary, and a corresponding model of urbanism defined as an adaptive ecology. It is against this backdrop that the AA's graduate Design Research Lab (DRL) has pursued its recent studio agenda through project-based research focusing on alternative models of housing. Integral to this research is a notion of architecture that looks towards designing systems that seek higher ordered goals emerging through an intimate correlation of material and computational interaction. This book presents the results of this research and with it constructs a generative view of space and structure and the exploration of behaviour based models of living through patterns found in nature.

The works of Makoto Sei Watanabe combine the functionality of aesthetic experience and the calculated organization of structures with the evocation of deep ancestral memories.

Research informs the development of a project which, rather than defusing these characteristics, attempts to integrate them within the scene of a political struggle. The proposed project dramatizes, through its architecture, a Palestinian disobedience to the colonial legislation imposed on its legal territory. In fact, the State of Israel masters the elaboration of territorial and architectural colonial apparatuses that act directly on Palestinian daily lives. In this regard, it is crucial to observe that 63% of the West Bank is under total control of the Israeli Defense Forces in regards to security, movement, planning and construction. Weaponized Architecture is thus manifested as a Palestinian shelter, with an associated agricultural platform, which expresses its illegality through its architectural vocabulary.

Aluminium is an extremely versatile material. Light-weight and resistant to corrosion, it is a particularly suitable material for certain building requirements. Aluminium already played an innovative role in the post-WWII years, as can be seen in the work of the French engineer, Jean Prouvé. And because of its aesthetical qualities and great strength, aluminium is a highly rated material in today s sophisticated architecture. This book provides a systematic overview of the applications of aluminium as a building material, giving information on the properties of the metal and highlighting the latest technical advances. A selection of 25 international projects document the application of aluminium in load-bearing structures, facades, roofs and windows. Amongst the projects included are Toyo Ito s Aluminium House in Tokyo, Renzo Piano s Mercedes Benz Design Centre in Stuttgart, SOM s Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center, and Norman Foster s Greenwich Transport Interchange.

This second installment in the new Top Architects series is dedicated to the best architects from Japan including each personal biography and vision.

It can be argued that Japan contains a higher number of internationally significant architects and designers relative to its geographic size than anywhere else in the world. Japanese designers regularly implement radical experiments in new materials and building systems that successfully address imminent energy and resource challenges. These technological achievements are combined with an acute awareness of the ephemerality of existence, creating a rich dialogue between the concrete and the abstract.