Convoluted Flesh: A Synthetic Approach to Analogue and Digital Architecture

Marcos Cruz and Marjan Colletti advocate their own distinct design approach that is intuitive and blissful in its opulence, evoking the sublime.Here they discuss the potential of opening up ‘new spatial, or material possibilities’ that are liberated from the self-imposed restrictions of their more technologically driven contemporaries. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Four Decades of Open Building Implementation: Realising Individual Agency in Architectural Infrastructures Designed to Last

The ‘open building’ approach grew out of research and early projects starting in the 1960s, aimed at overcoming the rigidity of the prevailing top-down housing process in the Netherlands. Geared to ensuring user control and sustainability in the built stock, it involves coordinating stakeholders in the real estate development process, enabling variety and change to become efficient. Architect, researcher and educator Stephen Kendall explains the approach and describes pioneering projects in Europe, Japan, China, the US and Russia, as well as detailing instances around the world where it has become part of public policy.     

Jan Kaplický (1937-2009): Homage to an Extraordinary Life of Unfulfilled Dreams and Major Successes

Jan Kaplický's visionary work for Future Systems was some of the most imaginative and inspiring of the last few decades. His passion and excitement for architecture exudes through such remarkable forms as the Lord's Media Centre and Selfridges in Birmingham. It was also effectively disseminated through his publications: most notably the For Inspiration Only picture books that he produced for Wiley-Academy in the late 1990s. A staunch believer in the power of books and journals, he was a loyal supporter of AD and an editorial board member for many years; always generous with his time and willing to express his ideas candidly. Here, close friend and fellow Czech architect and writer Ivan Margolius, celebrates not only Kaplicky the architect, but also the extraordinary life and sensibility of the man behind his work. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Jamie Fobert Architects: Inside Out

The architect of several artists' homes, Jamie Fobert is now landing himself a string of acclaimed arts and commercial commissions. From his warehouse in Old Street in London, he explained to Howard Watson how the sensitive integrity of his architecture has developed out of ‘an inside-out approach’, which puts particular store in ‘framing light and views’ and the sculpting of space aided by physical model-making, rather than the synthetic top-down views that are imposed by widely used CAD programs. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Upgrading Computational Design

Shajay Bhooshan heads up the computation and design ZHACODE group at Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) and is a course master at the Architectural Association Design Research Laboratory (AADRL). Here he argues that Parametricism 2.0 has a vital role to play in the progressing of computational design. Assimilating the exploratory developments of the last 15 years, he asserts how the next phase of Parametricism will enable a further consolidation and evolution of digital practices.