Palimpsest: Strategies and Tactics for Intervening in Urban Landscapes

Palimpsest: Strategies and Tactics for Intervening in Urban Landscapes focuses on the application of urban and architectural design principles on cities and sites in transition. By incorporating shared views on appropriate practices and pedagogy, this book presents a range of design decisions that emerge from careful reading and analysis of the cultural and historical threads of a particular place to develop proposals that are embedded in the ethos of that place.

Design is not an isolated act but one that is woven into a larger physical fabric. By presenting a series of case studies of contemporary and historical practice, Palimpsest conveys the intertwined relationship between architecture and its context, where one relies upon the other. Readers will learn how to examine a larger fabric to help guide smaller scale interventions, and to see how these small scale interventions impact the wide-lens view of a city.

With written essays and numerous case studies from across North America and Europe, Palimpsest presents examples of techniques and methodology for contemporary and emerging practices, demonstrating different scales of proposals for related site conditions. Suitable for professionals and students of architecture and urban design, Palimpsest will provide readers with the tools necessary to propose intelligent, informed and considerate proposals at urban and architectural scales for cities in transition.