Re-readings - interior architecture and the design principles of remodelling existing buildings

Graeme Brooker/Sally Stone

October 2004
Code: 31996
ISBN: 1 85946 132 8
978 1 85946 132 7
278 pp
Hardback
£45.00

Buy now at RIBA Bookshops

Here at last is the book that we have all been waiting for, the one that we never got round to writing ourselves, the one that begins to explain the complexity and intensity of this curious and mis-represented and mis-understood area of work. Not quite the oldest of professions, but certainly as old as Rome and certainly as interesting. Let us hope that this is the beginning of a surge of equally clear explorations demonstrating that we have finally come of age and we shall no longer have to piggy-back on the mountains of architectural theory that never seem to quite fit.
Dinah Casson - Interior Architect.

Buildings have always been reused but the process of doing so has rarely been treated as a distinct artistic discipline. However, a huge amount of press coverage has been devoted to remodelling projects such as the Tate Modern in London, the Baltic Art Factory in Gateshead, the Grand Louvre pyramid and courtyard in Paris, and the Reichstag in Berlin, to name but a few. By attracting prestigious architects to its practice, it would appear that remodelling, once the dowdy cousin of the more glamorous architecture, has gained a new respectability.

The likes of Foster Associates, Herzog & de Meuron, Carlo Scarpa and Sir John Soane rub shoulders with lesser-known talents such as DDRM, Paul Keogh Architects and LOT/EK to demonstrate the universality of the principles of designing new uses for old buildings.

Re-readings responds to remodelling as a distinct discipline, making sense of the considerable structural, aesthetic, environmental, contextual and programmatic challenges of remodelling existing buildings. Illustrated throughout with a rich international portfolio of case studies, it explains the theory behind the way that architects and designers interpret and adapt buildings. It proposes that the complete analysis of the history, fabric and function of a building is the key to designing its successful reuse, an exercise that Giancarlo de Carlo called ‘the revelatory capacity of reading’. Indeed, this re-reading is the only way to establish a meaningful symbiotic relationship between the new and the old. It clarifies the choices of strategies and tactics available to the designer in pursuit of architectural delight by authoritatively breaking this complex process down into a number of straightforward stages. The chapters, Analysis, Strategy and Tactics, treat common aspects of the process in isolation before synthesizing them into a selection of detailed case studies at the end.

Re-readings is a treasure trove of inspirational images from around the world supporting simple design lessons that will enlighten and fire the imagination, providing ample design ammunition for the student and practitioner alike for years to come.