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Bruno Latour is one of the leading figures in Social Sciences today, but his contributions are also widely recognised in the arts. His theories 'flourished' in the 1980s in the aftermath of the structuralism wave and generated new concepts and methodologies for the understanding of the social. In the past decade, Latour and his Actor-Network Theory (ANT) have gained popularity among researchers in the field of architecture.

Latour for Architects is the first introduction to the key concepts and ideas of Bruno Latour that are relevant to architects. First, the book discusses critically how specific methods and insights from his philosophy can inspire new thinking in architecture and design pedagogy. Second, it explores examples from architectural practice and urban design, and reviews recent attempts to extend the methods of ANT into the fields of architectural and urban studies. Third, the book advocates an ANT-inspired approach to architecture, and examines how its methodological insights can trace new research avenues in the field, reflecting meticulously on its epistemological offerings.

Drawing on many lively examples from the world of architectural practice, the book makes a compelling argument about the agency of architectural design and the role architects can play in re-ordering the world we live in. Following Latour's philosophy offers a new way to handle all the objects of human and nonhuman collective life, to re-examine the role of matter in design practice, and to redefine the forms of social, political and ethical associations that bind us together in cities.

"Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, and Frank Gehry were experimental architects: all worked visually, and arrived at their designs by discovering forms as they sketched. Their styles evolved gradually over long periods, and all three produced the buildings that are generally considered their greatest masterpieces after the age of 60. In contrast, Maya Lin is a conceptual architect: her designs originate in ideas, and they arrive fully formed. The work that dominates her career, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, was designed as an assignment for a course she took during her senior year of college. The dominance of a single early work makes Lin's career comparable to those of a number of precocious conceptual innovators in other arts, including the painter Paul Sérusier, the sculptor Meret Oppenheim, the novelist J.D. Salinger, and the poet Allen Ginsberg"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site

In the mid-Nineteenth century young Giovan Battista Filippo Basile decided to pursue his career of architecture. He didn't know he was going to be the founder of a dynasty of professionals. A dynasty that characterized the artistic culture of Sicily for about a century. His son, Ernesto, can be inserted between the genial personalities of the European art scene of all time. He will be the protagonist of Italian Art Nouveau. Grandsons, Roberto and Giovan Battista Filippo Jr., carry the paternal language to contemporary in many works at the turn of the Second World War. From Neoclassicism to Rationalism, through Eclecticism and Modernism, Basile architects and engineers have followed the evolution of styles from the Nineteenth to the Twentieth century. They captured significant architectural works, some of which remain among the most symbolic and representative architectures of the Italian Reign. Among them, there are great works such as the Massimo Theater in Palermo by Giovan Battista Filippo Basile, the most monumental of the peninsula, or the palace of Parliament in Rome, entirely designed by Ernesto, except for the Bernini's facade. In particular, Ernesto proved his talent as contemporary pioneer of design from magnificent buildings to individual pieces of furnishings. In addition to this official productions there are other theaters, many buildings with offices for different institutions (like municipalities, prefectures, banks and insurance companies), private residences, noble tombs, monasteries, memorials, exhibition halls, hospitals, but also furnitures. The successful activities of these three generations of architects is documented by the materials of the Basile Archive, one of the richest in Europe with 8000 drawings and 13000 cards of documents.

There is a growing consensus that professional work faces an uncertain future. However, debates have tended to take a macro focus, underplaying the role of individuals' accounts of their working lives. In this article we focus on UK architecture, examining how public-sector and private-sector architects construct the purpose and process of their occupation, applying the concept of discourse to explore and explicate the different versions expressed in individuals' accounts. We argue that architecture is constituted in the modes of creative endeavour, business activity and public service. The discourses that are mobilized, and the occasions of their production, reflect architects' orientations to the diverse challenges facing their profession, particularly concerning the role of creativity in the purpose and practice of architecture.

The Origins of Sustainability -- Ecological Modernisation -- Environmental Ethics -- Society and Technology -- Engineering Consumption -- Sustainable Urban Water Systems -- Engineering, Technology and Ethics. - Sustainable development is one of the key challenges of the twenty-first century. The engineering profession is central to achieving sustainable development. To date, engineering contributions to sustainability have focused on reducing the environmental impacts of development and improving the efficiency of resource use. This approach is consistent with dominant policy responses to environmental problems, which have been characterised as ecological modernisation. Ecological modernisation assumes that sustainability can be addressed by reforming modern society and developing environmental technologies. Environmental philosophers have questioned these assumptions and call into question the very nature of modern society as underlying the destruction of nature and the persistence of social inequality. Central to the crises of ecology and human development are patterns of domination and the separation of nature and culture