Product Description

Now available in paperback for the first time, Informal offers a comprehensive account of Cecil Balmond's innovative approach to architecture and engineering.

Balmond is one of the most important structural engineers working in architecture today. 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 their structural designs. The borderline between structure and architecture thus becomes increasingly blurred. This process is explained in detail in Informal by reference to eight exemplary projects. Balmond elucidates the theoretical basis of his engineering solutions and his sketches transcend purely technical illustration--they are the key to his approach. Informal invites readers to rethink their understanding of the relationship between architecture and engineering.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #133907 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-30
• Original language: German
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Review
A Koolhaas-slick monograph with Balmond's own manifesto-style meditations on everything from fractal geometry to Victorian tiles. -- The New York Times

A riveting and articulate take on the chaos factor rapidly infiltrating engineering and architecture...A clear and highly engaging view ahead. -- Jay Merrick in The Independent

One of the most visionary and influential engineers of his generation. -- Architects' Journal

From the Publisher
Balmond's 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 architeectural plans is enhanced through a decisive development of its structural design. The borderline between structure and architecture thus becomes increasingly blurred. This process is explained in detail in "Informal" by reference to 8 exemplary projects. The author makes the theoretical basis of his engineering solutions understandable to the reader and his sketches are more than just purely techincal illustrations - they are the key o his approach. After reading "Informal", architects will have to rethink their understanding of many well-known buildings.

About the Author

Cecil Balmond is deputy chairman of the world-renowned engineering and design firm, Arup. He has collaborated with Rem Koolhaas, Philip Johnson, Daniel Libeskind, and Toyo Ito, among many others. His recent projects include Penn Bridge, Philadelphia; Coimbra Footbridge, Portugal; Battersea Power Station Twist, London; and Seattle Central Library, among others.

Customer Reviews

Not necessarily for engineers...
Peruse this book it extensively before you buy it. As an engineer, I feel it is long on graphics and musings but short on insight. I think his intended audience is architects more than fellow engineers. I think he wants to show them how engineers are also innovative and multidimensional designers, that we aren't just number-crunchers. A worthy goal, to be sure. But I was hoping to be wowed with project-specific responses to architectural challenges. I wasn't, but I don't consider basic overturning resistance and load transfer to be sheer brilliance. On major backflips of his designs, he holds his cards close. Also, Balmond correlates his work extensively to nature, frontier conceptual science and the arts in the tradition of great thinkers. But the correlations are rarely logical, nor do they show a consistent consciousness or developing method across his oeuvre. Were this not the case, I would be more inclined to believe these epiphanies occurred during actual design as opposed to monograph-writing. Also, it sure is a tiny book for $....

In his defense and perhaps my own, a disclaimer: in no way is this review intended to diminish Balmond's significance to the world of architectural structures. We as engineers aren't known for writing flourishes. And has anyone ever read a design monograph free of ego?

I would recommend What is a Bridge? by Pollalis or An Engineer Imagines by Peter Rice over this book. Both clearly convey the real experience and potential brilliance of the modern structural designer.

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.

Wow !
Informal is an extraordinary work. I guess the reason why it's so shocking is that the content of the book is not like those static structural forms or solutions that we see in structural class. The case studies that Balmond brings to the table are very recent and genuine by star architects. I guess I was shocked by the fact that all these architects are not structurally oriented architects such as Foster/ Piano/ Calatrava/ Hopkins. Rather, they are theoretically approaching architects such as Koolhaas/ Liebskind; or, tectonically approaching architects such as Siza. I never thought projects by them had anything to do with structural or mathmatical innovation. Reading Informal, one can easily detect where the originality lie in each project. Sometimes it's in the irregularity of geometry or sometimes it's in mathmatical mystery. Balmond contends that they are all in mother nature. Unlike a formal structural engineering (e.g. Peter Rice) Balmond's originality comes from the informal networks. In High-tech, the ingenuity of structural entity was condensed into joinery. Informal networks is much more diverse and complex than that. It is against the conventional formal structural idea of hierarchy/center/symmetry. Balmond argues, formal approach is defining a problem in a "fixed" or "contained" manner; hence, leading to a same old idea of solution/ detailing. In Informal, Balmond redefines it in a more active/dynamic geometry, to bring about unexpected realities. Sometimes through structural innovation and sometimes through special surface treatment, Balmond promoted and realized the ideas of star architects. Overall, he has freed architecture from the "Cartesian Cage".