Unified Design

Is the present obsession with the icon and the promotion of image over substance symptomatic of a general trend in contemporary architecture? Arup Associates provides the alternative: unified design. This straightforward, critical reflection on contemporary architecture -- a manifesto of sorts, polemical in parts, philosophical; and determined to set an honest agenda -- is divided into three sections. First, an explanation of unified design. Next, a demonstration of the sustainable agenda that is a the heart of this practice. Finally, a complementary series of essays by respected commentators outside of the practice place the vision of people-focused design in the context of other critical social thought.