This publication was initiated by David Chipperfield who also is responsible for concept and design. In four chapters he refers to topics he also writes on: „On Form“, „Language“, „Composition“, and „Materiality“. He did also choose for the images and architectural sketches and drawings.

Ω „As architects we must both be part of and stand apart from the culture within which we operate. To be effective we must embrace power but also distance ourselves, we must engage in dialogue and we must refuse to listen, we must explore the familiar and the unfamiliar, we must embrace history and reject it. Finally we must resolve our ideas in matter and form“. (David Chipperfield)

David Chipperfield presents a very personal „notebook“ that follows no fixed system, but rather documents the realisation of formal ideas from his own viewpoint, using sketches, plans and illustrations of built and unbuilt projects—a personal statement on his work to date. He explores the relationship between form and matter, both conceptually and in its concrete realisation in architecture.