Art and Architecture: A Sublime Synthesis (Architectural Design)

The link between architecture and art and the sublimity it can create has a history that stretches back millennia. From cave paintings to the stained glass and saintly icons in churches and cathedrals, to the geometric and calligraphic treatments of mosques and contemporary artists channelling architecture and vice versa, and so much else. This AD is about the contemporary interactions between living artists and architects, and the artistic practices, such as poetry and abstractions, that architects adopt to develop ideas for their projects.

The issue features artists, architects, curators, musicians, poets and designer craftspeople, illustrating the current rich mix of architectonic constructions, interventions and set pieces that range from musical performance to exhibition designs, glass works and digital 3D scanning. It lays out the wide spectrum and beauty of these sublime correspondences, with contributions from architects about their own artistic practices, and creative works viewed through the eyes of architectural commentators. An explosion of colour, form and creative tactics for making multifaceted work that above all is architectural, it offers a cornucopia of possibilities.

Contributors: Peter Baldwin, Kathy Battista, Nic Clear, Mathew Emmett, Paul Finch, Paul Greenhalgh, Hamed Khosravi, Eva Menuhin, Felix Robbins, and Simon Withers.

Featured architects and artists: a-project, Captivate, Brian Clarke, Andy Goldsworthy, Barbara Hepworth, Danny Lane, Ben Johnson, Brendan Neiland, Ian Ritchie, and Zoe Zenghelis.