ABSTRACT
Thirty selected projects are portrayed in this part of the book.
These projects adopt a variety of different approaches to the
questions of grounds and envelopes. Half of these projects
address the question of ground while the other half addresses
the question of envelope. Some projects even combine inter-
esting approaches to both ground and envelope. The differ-
ent ground-related projects address questions of continuous,
multiple and provisional grounds. They often either accentuate
existing terrain conditions such as slopes or embankments and
incorporate landscape features as an integral part of the archi-
tecture, or, in cases where terrain articulation has already been
erased by human intervention, construct new grounds and tec-
tonic landscapes. The envelope-related projects demonstrate
how the multiplication of envelopes and/or the deepening of the
threshold between exterior and interior can offer transitional and
interstitial spaces that provide a broader range of environmen-
tal conditions and habitational potential. None of the selected
projects coherently and decisively embodies the various aspects
and traits of intensely local and embedded architectures that are
addressed in the reflections of the first half of the book. Nor is
it the intention that this initial discussion reflects and contains a
definitive set of traits that could be used as some sort of hand-
book for design. On the contrary, each thought and each project
is an invitation to critically reflect and to boldly project further.
