Architecture in the Making

This book is a discourse on the study of urban form in the form of a conversation. It proposes a method of investigating the built environment and demonstrates it with many case studies. The method is based on the notion of process, a circular procedure that starts from the built reality and, by seeking the general in the particular, defines a finite series of general principles (abstractions) from which an infinite series of possible results (actions) in the production of the architectural form can be derived. Architecture in the Making: Conversations on Urban Morphology and Design also investigates a contemporary notion of organism that is useful for architectural design. This concept has nothing to do with the imitation of nature, but it instead expresses the contemporary aspiration for a unifying synthesis, which runs through even the most critical phases of architectural history. The problem of designing organically, following the formative process of built reality, clashes today with design techniques undergoing a progressive phenomenon of abstraction. The dialogue presented in this book directly addresses the manipulated interpretation of the built environment superimposed on the direct and natural perception of reality.