Standing on the south bank of the Thames opposite the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott's vast brick edifice, with its tower of 325 feet, dominates the scenery and ranks among the most imposing structures of central London. Yet, after its closure in 1981, the Bankside Power Station was rendered invisible to the public eye by its redundancy and the frequent threat of demolition. The reopening of Bankside in May 2000 as London's first national gallery of modern and contemporary art restores the grandeur of Scott's design and regenerates a much neglected area of the city.The conversion to art gallery by the Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron is marked by its extreme simplicity, at once enhancing the physical presence of the original architecture and completely transforming its derelict and impenetrable interior into an accessible, light-filled exhibition center. The tremendous affinity of contemporary art with ex-industrial settings has inspired a design that retains the monumental scale of the Turbine Hall and skillfully offers a range of spaces for widely differing types of art on the multiple floors of the Old Boiler House.This publication follows the story of the Bankside project and presents a stunning photographic account of every stage of its transformation. Including an interview with Jacques Herzog and Nicholas Serota, director of the Tate, it provides a detailed analysis of Herzog and de Meuron's design and redefines the Tate's role within contemporary culture.

Herzog & de Meuron's architecture reflects their ability to produce designs which merge the physical constraints of construction with underlying ideas and concepts. Their imaginative use of material and the clarity of their designs are characteristics of their work. The postcards include the following buildings: Ricola storage building, Laufen and Mulhouse; Railway Engine Depot and Signal box, Basel; Atelier Rémy Zaugg, Mulhouse; Dominus Winery, California.

Located in Mexico City, Tatiana Bilbao Estudio is well known internationally for its use of traditional Mexican construction techniques, the highly sculptural effects of its buildings and its unusually collaborative approach toward each client. Founded by Tatiana Bilbao (born 1972) in 2004, its completed buildings include the Gratitude Open Chapel in La Ruta del Peregrino, Gabriel Orozco's house in Roca Blanca and the botanical garden in Culiacan. This volume appraises the studio's work to date in four thematic sections: Inhabiting, Space, Collage and Context. The texts by Patrick Charpenel, Simon Hartmann, Raymund Ryan and a conversation with Gonzalo Ortega address Bilbao's uniquely contemporary architectural language, which combines the efficient use of materials, optimal function and an original design with a discreet aesthetic that always conveys a responsiveness toward landscape.

Examen de cuatro arquitectos en cuya obra el componente táctil de la artesanía y la luminosidad de su sencilla exposición se combinan refinándose hasta un grado sin precedentes. Aunque los arquitectos -David Chipperfield (Londres), Waro Kishi (Kyoto), Eduardo Souto de Moura (Lisboa) y Tod Williams y Billie Tsien (Nueva York)- proceden de culturas muy diferentes, su arquitectura manifiesta una extraña visión de pureza y serenidad independientes del tiempo y el espacio. Desde las delicadas reinterpretaciones que hace Chipperfield de las formas históricas hasta la exquisita contención que refleja la imponente obra de Kishi, pasando por el robusto pero elemental uso de lo vernacular en Souto de Moura y por la experimentación con el plano de Williams y Tsien, todos hallan su máxima expresión por medio del ingenioso uso de los materiales y la manipulación rigurosa de la forma. En contra de los excesos del posmodernismo y reinterpretando el espíritu del movimiento moderno, este libro habla de una arquitectura sutilmente afilada y cuidadosamente forjada, sublime y resonante.

Edited by Raymund Ryan. Essays by Ai Weiwei and Mirko Zardini. Foreword by Richard Armstrong.