Calm Collected

New monograph on David Chipperfield Architects published by Walther König

Having sold out the first edition of its ‘David Chipperfield Architects’ monograph, publisher Walter König has produced a substantial revised second edition that includes 32 buildings currently under construction or completed in the intervening four years – such as the Inagawa cemetery chapel in Japan and the Museo delle Culture (MUDEC) in Milan.

More than 60 projects are presented overall, from the early small buildings in Japan to recent large-scale museum and gallery buildings around the world. While the more complex, significant projects are shown in some depth (the Neues Museum gets 20 pages, with archive images, analytical drawings and models as well as plans and beautiful photographs), other projects are presented much more succinctly: BBC Scotland’s headquarters is dealt with in just three large photos, a location plan and a section.

Nevertheless, the book successfully conveys the architect’s spatial and material concerns, and well chosen imagery leaves a strong impression of the atmospheres evoked by DCA’s buildings. Essays by Fulvio Irace, Bernhard Schulz and Luis Fernández-Galiano lend additional depth.