2013

Though inextricably linked with digital tools and culture, Antoine Picon argues that some significant traits in ornament persist from earlier Western architectural traditions. These he defines as the “subjective”—the human interaction that ornament requires in both its production and its reception—and the political. . . . By bringing previous traditions in ornament under scrutiny, Picon makes us question the political issues at stake in today’s ornamental revival. . . .

2009

The “Space Reader” provides a highly pertinent and contemporary understanding of space for a new generation of students and architects. It espouses a definition of space that is heterogeneous (an object or system consisting of a diverse range of different items). . . . With the onset of globalisation and the Web, heterogeneneous space, with its emphasis on differentiation, is more relevant to the contemporary condition, which encourages the mixing of space, than a much more static conception of Modernist space.

2012

Now almost 20 years old, the digital turn in architecture has already gone through several stages and phases. Architectural Design (AD) has captured them all—from folding to cyberspace, nonlinearity and hypersurfaces, from versioning to scripting, emergence, information modelling and parametricism. . . . This anthology of AD’s most salient articles is chronologically and thematically arranged to provide a complete historical timeline of the recent rise to pre-eminence of computer-based design and production. . . .

2008

Focusing on the creative and inventive significance of drawing for architecture, Drawing highlights the work of key contemporary figures who have, through their drawn work, affected the course of architectural thinking. Bringing this together is a chapter-by-chapter series of essays that broadly charts the forward movement and expansion of drawing iconography, techniques and methodologies. . . .