Architecture in Process

de James Steele

While the final product of an architect's efforts typically receives the majority of media attention, the process by which it is achieved is rarely revealed. Architecture in Process presents the fascinating sketches, drawings and models produced by the offices of William Alsop, Itsuko Hasegawa, Steven Holl, Kisho Kurokawa, Morphosis and Eric Owen Moss who all place considerable emphasis on the evolution of a design idea and the careful documentation of its incremental growth. This extensively illustrated issue provides an absorbing insight into projects such as Itsuko Hasegawa's Shonandai Cultural Centre, Fujisawa City, Japan, revealing development from the initial sketch, drawn on the train whilst returning from the first visit to the site, to the completed building. Each of the talented architects featured approaches the task differently, contributing to an intriguing and informative study of the variety of methods now being used to achieve architecture of the highest standard throughout the world. The techniques presented range from the extremely unstructured and informal to the rigorous and definitive, but in each case afford an invaluable insight into the elusive and hitherto intangible process by which architects transform concepts into form.