As a tendency toward formalism returns to architecture, a number of practitioners are investigating the outer limits of tectonic expression. Vanguard architects are extending the boundaries of conventional construction to respond specifically to programmatic and site requirements. Capturing this dynamic work, Radical Tectonics presents four practices whose buildings push poetic construction to new extremes. All in their own way and according to local sensibility and conditions, Günther Behnisch (Stuttgart), Enric Miralles (Barcelona), Patkau Architects (Vancouver), and Mecanoo (Delft) focus on the art of construction and innovative craftsmanship. From Behnisch's contextual awareness of particular social and political environments to Miralles's building as land form, from Patkau's funky vernacular to Mecanoo's playful manipulation of program and landscape, these studies confront architecture's very nature with vigor and provocation. The work in Radical Tectonics champions the ingenuity of craft and the exploration of surface form and creative expression to set new benchmarks of spatial complexity for the twenty-first century.

4 X 4: a new series on contemporary international architecture. Each title includes:

• 4 concise architect profiles

• 16 influential projects

• a reference section