Julia van den Hout – författare

In Western culture, from an early age we are ingrained with the notion that weight in building construction equals strength as evinced even in children's stories such as the 'The Three Little Pigs'. This idea of the relative strength of mass pervades our culture as a fundamental truth, but heavy materials are not intrinsically stronger than lighter ones. While time will be needed to remove the biases that we carry in our cultural DNA, our perception of strength has begun to shift. If we look at the historical evolution of architecture - from the massive pyramids of Egypt to the framed structures of Greek and Roman construction, to the lighter Gothic vaulting and eventually modern architecture of the twentieth century - we see a continuous, almost linear progression from solid mass construction to diaphanous skins of glass and steel. This is our historic journey from mass to membrane.

In With Reference, Soo Chan of SCDA explores the fundamentals of architecture - going back to inspirations and precedents, examining basic building blocks and core values - in search of a universal spatial vocabulary for contemporary practice.As practice becomes increasingly globalised and fragmented, the applied design language has to absorb nuances of climate, craft, culture, and place. Through a rich diagrammatic analysis of seminal projects by SCDA as well as masters of architecture around the world, With Reference argues for the revival of a rule-based design language.

Forest to Frame: Regenerative Timber Architecture explores diverse themes in advanced wood design—such as tall timber, hybrid structures, sustainable and equitable sourcing, and next generation materials—through 14 projects and research studies by LEVER Architecture. A leading practice recognised for its design excellence and material innovation, their approach demonstrates how architecture can transform supply chains, strengthen communities, and deepen our relationship to the landscapes from which our materials are drawn. At once practical and visionary, these projects illustrate a path toward buildings that give more than they take—environmentally, socially, and culturally.LEVER Architecture, based in Portland, Oregon, and Los Angeles, have earned international acclaim with their designs. They create models for making real change in the building industry, and expand our understanding of wood innovation as something deeper and more nuanced than a single product like cross-laminated timber. Behind their projects are individual stories that signal the impact of material choices and their ability to address some of the pressing challenges of our time.

Pratt Sessions presents a series of conversations between notable practitioners and thinkers. It is a distributed symposium that is curated and yet open-ended.