Vital Architecture

From the Pantheon in Rome to the Zollverein in Essen, "vital architecture" describes buildings with a future value, buildings whose architecture determines and guarantees their lifespan. The spatial quality of such buildings is the core of their value and sustainability, even--or especially--when their use changes.

Vital Architecture focuses on the clients, users, architects and designers of such buildings. Written by Ruurd Roorda and Bas Kegge, the book documents and interprets 20 of these vital buildings with plans, sections, diagrams and photographs by Roel Backaert. Offering a spatial analysis of both instantly recognizable architectural icons and common, everyday existing buildings drawn from a period ranging from the beginning of the Christian era to the present, Vital Architecture develops a methodology to account for the lifespan of buildings, and offers inspiration for creating something for the future.