Skilful architecture without gloss and bling bling In this book, Albert Kirchengast looks at three projects that may serve as models of further construction: Max Dudler, Franz Riepl and Stephen Sergison demonstrate an analogous approach to further construction at the scale levels of village, town and city. With their elementary "constructedness", clean proportions and elegant interplay of volumes in the urban space, these projects embody a permanence without affectation and fashionable elements and provide a meaningful and unassuming background to everyday life. In doing so, they not only answer the pressing question of the ecology of coexistence, but also provide a benchmark within our heterogeneous design culture. Photos by Helene Binet, David Schreyer and Stefan Muller as well as historical illustrations accompany the plea for a masterful 'middle way' in architecture. Architecture of permanence, without affectation and modish elements Three projects by Max Dudler, Franz Riepl and Stephen Sergison Photo spreads by Helene Binet, David Schreyer and Stefan Muller Albert Kirchengast, architectural theorist, author and lecturer at ETH Zurich

How can an abstract term like "Topology" become pertinent and effective to landscape thinking today? There is a schism between the way landscape is understood scientifically, either as a normative network or an environmental system, and the way the same place exists emotionally for people. This disparity which prevails in today's landscape calls for a change of approach, both in terms of action and perception. Topology, in this instance, is not confined to the science of continuous surfaces in mathematics, it can pay greater attention to deeper spatial, physical, poetic and philosophical values embedded in a long tradition of designed nature. The strength of landscape topology is that it can weave together and integrate heterogeneous fields of action into a single meaningful whole. It brings disciplines together on a common topological "vellum" capable of improving our understanding of landscape as a cultural construct with all its inherent beauty and strength.

Kirchengast betrachtet in seinem Buch drei Projekte mit modellhaftem Charakter: Max Dudler, Franz Riepl und Stephen Sergison demonstrieren auf den Massstabsebenen Dorf, Siedlung und Stadt ein analoges Weiterbauen. Mit ihrer elementaren "Gebautheit", guten Proportionen und dem eleganten Zusammenspiel der Volumina im stadtischen Raum verkoerpern sie eine Dauerhaftigkeit ohne Alluren und modische Zutaten, die zum sinnfalligen wie selbstverstandlichen Hintergrund des alltaglichen Lebens wird. Sie geben dabei nicht nur auf die drangende Frage der OEkologie unseres Zusammenlebens Antwort, sondern liefern einen Ankerpunkt in unserer heterogenen Gestaltungskultur. Fotos von Helene Binet, David Schreyer und Stefan Muller sowie historische Illustrationen begleiten das Pladoyer fur die gekonnte Architektur der Mitte.

Nature is not simply "green" or the "opposite of culture." Essentially, it is an intellectual construct. The relationship between man and Nature, for instance, articulates itself architectonically. Now what could one see as the possible role of Nature in projects of architects representative of the International Style (including successive echoes in postwar modernity), and how does Nature itself only become "visible" through the built environment? Based on key architecture projects, this fourth volume of the Landscript series attempts to instigate a change of perspective. In series of investigations, renowned researchers analyse architecture through the lens of its own inherent understanding of Nature. Their essays try to gain insights both into concepts of Nature in modernity, whose entire range of characteristics have yet to be explored, and into an architecture, whose relationship to Nature is usually only negotiated in disciplines like garden history. How does this finally relate to our present condition?

Die Architektur des in Munchen und Linz arbeitenden Architekten Franz Riepl steht fur Zuruckhaltung im Entwurf und fur Empfindsamkeit im Detail. Die Stimmigkeit, die seine Architektur im Alltag erreicht, basiert auf der Kenntnis von Vorbildlichem. So findet seine Baukunst zu verstandlicher Form. Sie entwickelt mit den Jahren Patina, die sinnlich erfahrbare Atmosphare verbreitet. Dieser seltenen Qualitat spurt das Buch nach: in einem Interview, in dem Riepl uber Raume und Moebel spricht; mit einem Fotoessay uber 6 Projekte: ein Vierkanthof, eine Wohnung, ein Wohnhaus, ein Fleischerei-Geschaft sowie zwei Gasthauser. Diese Bilder werden durch Plane und Zeichnungen erganzt. Ein Essay untersucht Riepls Umgang mit der Patina und mit der Nutzung neuerer Bauten.