Das Sammeln ist als produktives Werkzeug des Entwerfens in der Architektur bislang kaum erforscht worden. Dabei kennt die Architekturgeschichte zahlreiche Formen wie Muster-, Vorbild- oder Objektsammlungen, die immer neue Wissens- und Materialgrundlagen zuganglich machten. In diesem Buch gelingt erstmals eine fundierte Aufarbeitung dieses besonderen Entwurfswerkzeugs und seiner Operativitat, theoretisch begrundet und an Fallbeispielen der Geschichte und der Gegenwart belegt. Im Zentrum stehen dingliche Sammlungsgegenstande, die auf jeweils eigene Weise zu Referenzobjekten werden. Die Einzeldarstellungen widmen sich dem Sammeln im Entwurfsvorgang bei Ernoe Goldfinger, Renaat Braem, Rudolf Olgiati und Aldo Rossi sowie bei AFF Architekten und Vogt Landschaftsarchitekten.

Within the architectural design, planning, and construction processes, new valuations and revaluations are constantly taking place. Every decision is made based on existing reference values, even if the respective action is future-oriented and geared towards the creation of the new. At the same time, the preservation or further development of building structures is based on traditional thought patterns and continuously internalized value systems. This means that values are never static, even in building, but are subject to a process. This interdisciplinary volume focuses on processes of value appropriation, value internalization, and value formation. These processes are illustrated using selected examples from the history of building and planning from modern times to the present.

Transformation instead of demolition and new construction, continuing development instead of rupture: the principle of continuing the building process as an antidote to the modernist new-build paradigm is increasingly moving into focus in architecture and construction technology. It understands a building not so much as a product to be completed, but as a continuing process; it focuses on the continuity of places and buildings and poses new questions as to their completeness and authentic authorship, their durability and sustainability. The volume focuses on the technical and artistic processes of conversion and adaptation, as well as on the changing values and interpretation patterns of society that are expressed in the new orientation of existing buildings by the continuation of the construction process.