City Green Court in Prague, Czech Republic (Richard Meier)
Openhouse in Los Angeles, USA (XTEN Architecture)
Besiktas Fischmarket, Turkey (GAD)
Crematory in Parma, Italy (Studio Termani)
Timmelsjoch Pass Experience, Austria (Werner Tscholl)
During many eras of history, architects aimed to construct buildings with pure shapes and clear geometry, while foregoing decorative elements.With the advent of Classical Modernity, minimalism has become a seminal architectural style. However, the approach of architects cannot be limited to Mies van der Rohe's dogma of 'Less is more', but corresponds rather to 'Less is all you need'.
Based on a selected range of contemporary buildings, this volume examines the question of how compelling esthetic impressions and expressions can be achieved with reduced shapes. Representing various types of structures, the chosen examples are mostly based on the concept of a simple comprehensive overall shape, focus on a few main materials as means of expression, and are comparatively simple to implement. Despite, or perhaps due to, the consistently applied limitations, the results are extremely remarkable