Product Description

The innovative structural designs of Cecil Balmond underpin architectural forms and give them their own integrity. Balmond's collaborative work with architects such as Daniel Libeskind, Rem Koolhaas and James Stirling demonstrates the process of fusion between architecture and his engineering. His structural thinking differs from that of other engineers in his field in its completely new conception of the engineer's contribution to architecture. The plasticity of architectural plans is enhanced through a decisive development of its structural design. The border line between structure and architecture thus becomes increasingly blurred. In this book, the process is explained by reference to eight projects through which the author makes the theoretical basis of his engineering solutions understandable for the reader.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #588119 in Books
• Published on: 2002-10-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 7 pages

Jennifer Kabat, Wired, April 2001
Cecil Balmond has a simple plan to reinvent architecture: Break down the cage that separates structural engineering from design.

Rem Koolhaas
Balmond has, almost single-handedly, shifted the ground in engineering, and therefore enabled architecture to be imagined differently.

Deyan Sudjic, The Observer, October 27, 2002
Informal has a typographic elegance that makes it look like no previous engineering book... it could be the next Brief History of Time - but with pictures.

Customer Reviews

A dialogue
Informal is a terrific read; it places me right at the table as the author engages with his architect collaborators pursuing innovative building designs. The range is fascinating, from a box shape in the Villa Bordeaux to a curvilinear form in the Arnhem Interchange to the serene and effortless canopy in Lisbon. In each project the author establishes simple initial moves which lead ultimately to new configurations and importantly develops throughout the book a rigorous basis for exploring the non linear. This is welcome in an age when so much architectural form making is whimsical. As an architect I was fascinated how this book also brings out the lyrical and poetic inherent in structure. Best of all perhaps is the 27 sectioned speculation at the end on the anatomy of form, and an insight into the structure of organisation itself. In conjunction with his intriguing earlier book Number 9 Balmond sets out a new agenda for designers everywhere, including architects and engineers.

A dialogue
Informal is a terrific read; it places me right at the table as the author engages with his architect collaborators pursuing innovative building designs. The range is fascinating, from a box shape in the Villa Bordeaux to a curvilinear form in the Arnhem Interchange to the serene and effortless canopy in Lisbon. In each project the author establishes simple initial moves which lead ultimately to new configurations and importantly develops throughout the book a rigorous basis for exploring the non linear. This is welcome in an age when so much architectural form making is whimsical. As an architect I was fascinated how this book also brings out the lyrical and poetic inherent in structure. Best of all perhaps is the 27 sectioned speculation at the end on the anatomy of form, and an insight into the structure of organisation itself. In conjunction with his intriguing earlier book Number 9 Balmond sets out a new agenda for designers everywhere, including architects and engineers.

Making engineering appealing
Cecil has achieved what I have always thought to be impossible - giving Structural Engineering sex-appeal. If a few more of our structural engineers had a fraction of Cecil's vision and ceativity, our buildings and lives would be that much more pleasant. This book would be inspirational for anyone considering a career in engineering. A remarkable acheivement.