Publisher's Synopsis
Drawing is to architects what writing is to authors. For the designer, jotting must be an almost & unconscious act, relying on the imperceptible synergy between brain, eye and hand, or mouse. The graphic pervades every stage of architectural creation. It represents the initial impulse – the napkin sketch or digital scribble. It is also the primary means of working up a building design – on or off screen – for production and presentation. It, additionally, allows us to fuel our tectonic imaginations and go beyond the built and the feasible into the sphere of the visionary and fantastic. Drawing provides the very motive force of architecture. Focusing on the creative and inventive significance of drawing for architecture, this book is a paean to the graphic by one of its greatest proponents,Sir Peter Cook. Thematically organised by chapter, Cook joyfully talks us through drawings as motive, strategy, vision, image, composition, expression, technique, surface and fantasy. He provides us with amusing perceptive commentary at every turn, drawing out attention to some of the greatest and most intriguing drawings, ranging from Heath–Robinson, Hugh Ferris and Arthur Beresford Pite to Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Ron Herron, Coop Himmelb(l)au, Bernard Tschumi and Lebbeus Woods. ;Front cover flap copy for hardback Spatial Intelligence: New Futures for Architecture draws on a wide range of knowledge and discipline in its discussion of an essential human capability. This includes everything from the latest neurological research to urban design. Leon van Schaik also refers to and illustrates a wide number of buildings and architectural projects across time these notably include: Alvar Aalto, House of Culture, Helsinki Charles Barry, Cliveden, Berkshire Gordon Bunshaft, Beinecke Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, Yale University Sean Godsell, Peninsula House, Victoria Zaha Hadid, Maggie’s Centre, Fife, Scotland Herzog & de Meuron, Laban Contemporary Dance Centre, London Toyo Ito, Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, London Tom Kovac, Virtual Australian Pavilion, Venice Biennale, Italy WR Lethaby, Melsetter House, Orkney Frank Lloyd Wright, Frederick C Robie House, Chicago Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Barcelona Pavilion Reed & Stern and Warren & Wetmore, Grand Central Station, New York Ushida Findlay, Soft and Hairy’ House, Baraki, Japan Peter Zumthor, Kunsthaus, Bregenz, Austria Gunther Domenig, Stein Haus, Steindorf, Germany Le Corbusier, Mill Owners’ Association, Ahmadabad, India
