Building Narratives: Instances from the Architecture of Dialogue
Keywords:
integrated design, design communication, architectural data, building process, design briefSynopsis
When an architect joins a project today, it is already moving. Political ambitions are set, budgets allocated, technical constraints defined. Projects unfold across years, through shifting coalitions of clients, institutions, engineers, and regulators. Designing buildings of civic ambitions and spatial quality demands navigating this complexity, maintaining coherence across a process that is always in motion.
Building Narratives examines how design communication operates within these conditions. Drawing on three Amsterdam projects by KAAN Architecten, it traces how narrative functions as an operational instrument: the structure that keeps collective work legible across disciplines, procurement phases, and changing stakeholders. Through SPOT's design as negotiation in a market-driven context, the New Amsterdam Courthouse's design as integration of competing institutional demands, and Schiphol Terminal's design as activation amid continuous change, the book develops a framework grounded in Dutch practice and rooted in the specific conditions of contemporary architectural production.
Richly illustrated with diagrams, drawings, and models, Building Narratives makes visible what usually remains implicit: the collective intelligence through what architecture thinks. Developed through an ongoing collaboration between KAAN Architecten and the Complex Projects research group at Delft University of Technology, it is written for architects, urban designers, students, and decision-makers navigating the complexity of contemporary practice.
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Data Availability Statement
No new data were created or analysed in the preparation of this publication. Therefore, data sharing is not applicable. Details of referenced sources can be found in the text and image credits.
