Survey / Matthew Wells ; edited by Sarah Handelman.

Zurich : Park Books ; Wincanton : Drawing Matter, [2021]

©2021

76 pages, 90 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (chiefly color), map, plans ; 30 cm + 1 sheet (28 x 21 cm).

Poster used as dust cover.

"When architects visit a building, and want to record or identify what they see, they take out a bundle of folded sheets in search of a blank piece of paper. These sheets may be ground plans, diagrams, sketches and ordnance maps. In one way or another, all are survey drawings, operating as both documentation and analysis, enabling an architect to examine certain conditions of the built environment, whether geometric, relational, material or technical. This book explores the history of the survey and its multiple forms in order to understand how the methods of recording what already exists can also be used to imagine what might be. Lavishly illustrated, with works from the collection of Drawing Matter and beyond, it addresses the multiple forms of the survey through focused studies - on John Soane, C R Cockerell, Viollet-le-Duc, Detmar Blow and Peter Märkli - alongside an extensive section of plates with commentaries by contemporary architects. In doing so, it maintains that while all surveys begin with the site, the outcomes are as idiosyncratic as their authors - and their methods have much to offer as tools in design practice."--Publisher's description.

English

November 29, 2021

Architecture iconographies

Includes bibliographical references.

History.