Unified Design by Arup Associates

To be published May 2008

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, a radical pan-disciplinary approach that focuses on people from the outset, through the united vision of architects, engineers, artists and social scientists. Arup Associates rejects the imposition of an external image. There can be no standard solutions and no predefined styles. Instead, design must evolve from fundamental research and experiential goals, to form a holistic architecture entirely driven by a 'whole life' sustainability that maintains human culture – tradition, religion, the intangible components of humanity – in the face of modernity.

The work is introduced by The Guardian’s architecture critic Jonathan Glancey. The Independent’s Jay Merrick examines with Declan O’Carroll of Arup Associates the meaning of Unified Design, while leading environmental expert and author Herbert Girardet discusses with Michael Beaven of Arup Associates the sustainable agenda that is at the heart of the practice. Author and architect Juhani Pallasmaa reprioritises the importance of the senses in the design of the built environment and Professor Leon van Schaik of RMIT explores memory and spatial intelligence in the creation of architecture. Edited by Paul Brislin.

Arup Associates was started by Sir Ove Arup more than four decades ago. It is the architectural design studio of the multinational consulting engineering group Arup. The studio has always practiced multidisciplinary design, where engineers and architects work side by side. Unified Design takes this philosophy into the 21st century.

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Unified Design by Arup Associates - Published by Wiley
9780470723319 £24.99  Hardback