Introduction

This book has been with me since I set up Jan Kattein Architects some ten years ago. It evolved as I devised a corporate identity, as I received my first commission and as I completed my first project on site. Writing became a means to navigate the labyrinthine landscape of conflicting ideas, discordant agendas and jarring opinions that mark the architectural process. While maturing as an architect, writing became a means to an end. It provided an invisible sounding board for design decisions, the omnipresent dialogue partner when rehearsing tricky client meetings and the paternal master ensuring excellence during the construction process. When writing and re-writing sections of this book over the years, I have come to understand that writing and designing have one common peculiarity which sets them apart from many other disciplines, they are never finished. A good writer or architect knows when to sum up one’s intentions, tie up lose threads and come to an interim conclusion. The Architecture Chronicle is my interim conclusion on the subject of architectural practice.