This title presents six series of highly inventive drawings created between 1972 and 1988 by Rem Koolhaas and Elia Zenghelis, Peter Eisenman, Bernard Tschumi, Daniel Libeskind, and Thom Mayne—young architects who went on to establish major international reputations. In the early 1970s, a sluggish world economy had all but curtailed new building, moving the most talented architects into an academic environment. Encountering a turbulent intellectual scene there, they used graphic experimentation as a primary means of researching the connections between architecture, philosophy, film, and contemporary culture. The stage was thus set for an eruption of "paper architecture" of incomparable beauty, brilliance, and depth.

Each suite of drawings, fully illustrated with superb reproductions, offers great insight into the creative processes of these great architects. To put this "paper architecture" into a broader historical context, Jeffrey Kipnis and Terence Riley provide introductory texts as well as concise commentaries on each of the projects. 180 pp.; 173 illus.