A new monograph on the hugely successful practice of David Chipperfield Associates – looking backover 30 years – is now out fresh from the press. Rik Nys presents us with a delightfully aesthetic navigator through present and past projects with all their exciting details.

First and foremost Chipperfield’s architectural past and understanding is laid out and centered around his empathy for historic settings and landscapes. From his early carreer on he was keenly interested in redevelopment projects.

The success of the Neues Museum on Berlin’s Museum Island is one of these projects more broadly discussed in this insightful tome – as an example where refurbishment, reconstruction and redesign measure equally.

The reader navigates easily through the book where projects are  chronologically ordered and contextualized by opening texts, yet this monograph reaches highest standards through its incredibly restrained and subtle layout across the whole volume. It flows like a stream following its inner logic thanks to the close bond that has been formed between DCA and its long time partner John Morgan Studio, the designers behind the firm’s trademark typeface.

Current and recent projects at various stages of their development are organically illustrating the range of activities that take place in an architectural practice today. The material varies from rough sketches and models relating to the beginning of the design process, to detail design and construction drawings at the end of the design process, and will include photographs and films of recently completed projects.

The reader learns how DCA works, how ideas are developed, how work happens parallel in diffrent projects, cultures, and with different resources, priorities and collaborators – balancing local and global perspectives.

The presentation for each project has been developed by the respective design teams in the London, Berlin, Milan and Shanghai offices, so demonstrating the desire to address cultural, professional and intellectual challenges.

This overview contains key buildings known for their iconic architectural vocabulary like  tje Cemetery chapel and visitor centre, Inagawa; the Royal Academy of Arts, London; the refurishment of Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin; the Valentino store concept; Hoxton Press residential development, London; Museum of Natural History, Zheijiang; Amorepacific Headquarters, Seoul; West Bund Art Museum, Shanghai; Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich; Music Venue, Edinburgh; Procuratie Vecchie on Piazza San Marco, Venice; Fundacion RIA research project, Galicia.

Images: David Chipperfield Associates, Valentino Flagship Store, New York, 2018 // David Chipperfield Associates, Figge Art Museum, Iowa, 2004 // All images courtesy of DCA.

David Chipperfield Associates
Monograph by Rik Nys
Designed by Morgan Studios
https://davidchipperfield.com/
http://www.morganstudio.co.uk/

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