Images, Artifacts, Architecture

This book chronicles 25 years of design research at SU11 Architecture + Design, where ideas, concepts, and techniques have both shaped and been shaped by the evolution of digital and post-digital paradigms. The projects presented here reflect an era defined by the rise of new technological tools, their rapid proliferation, and the counter-movements critiquing some of their consequences—such as increasing formal homogeneity and the tendency to foster a new “universal” style.

Through 22 individual projects, the book offers an eyewitness account of a practice deeply embedded in these transformations. As readers explore these works, they will uncover the influences, concepts, and techniques that have shaped SU11’s pioneering design strategies. Organised around distinct conceptual and aesthetic themes, the projects trace a disciplinary arc, positioning them within the broader digital and post-digital discourse. Two guiding questions drive SU11’s research: How do technological innovations intersect with contemporary cultural needs and desires? And how can such entwinements be effectively represented through architectural images, artifacts, and buildings? The evolution of these inquiries forms the core of SU11’s design research and the subject of this book.

Ferda Kolatan is a founding director of SU11 Architecture + Design and an Associate Professor at UPenn. His work has been published and exhibited globally; he authored Misfits & Hybrids (2024) and coauthored Meander: Variegating Architecture (2010).