"This book presents fully illustrated case studies of 12 of Ian Ritchie's most innovative projects, including the soaring circulation towers in the Reina Sofia Museum of Modern Art in Madrid; the Main Hall of the International Exhibition Center in Leipzig, Germany, which was designed to explore new potentialities for transparency; and the now-famous experimental greenhouse at Terrasson-Lavilledieu in France, where the structure was literally carved out of the surrounding topography."--BOOK JACKET. "All the illustrations are accompanied by detailed descriptions of the design process, and interspersed with the case studies are mini-essays by Ritchie himself, which eloquently express the philosophical and architectural principles that inform his work. The illustrations and text exemplify Ritchie's belief that the architect has a duty to use the newest technology and best materials in a way that "carries the signature of the designer," working all the time within an environmentally driven aesthetic."--BOOK JACKET.