Liquid Threshold

After 20 years of practice, structural engineering firm Atelier One has gained an international reputation for specialising in challenging projects.This first volume documents the inspiring diversity of Atelier One's work and charts the fascinating creative pursuits undertaken with artists,architects and designers, including Marc Quinn, Anish Kapoor, Will Alsop, Mark Fisher and Softroom. The book includes appreciations of the work from an external perspective, including a previously unpublished photo essay by Magnum photographer Peter Marlow. More detailed project descriptions are provided by Atelier One directors Neil Thomas and Aran Chadwick, giving unparalleled insights into how the projects evolved and how various challenges were addressed. The practice's unique approach of taking complex propositions and translating them through a language of first principles results in some extraordinary conclusions and is the essence of what distinguishes Atelier One's output.

Contributors include Will Alsop, Patrick Bellew, Alan Brookes and Peter Cook.

‘This is not a book for engineers alone; instead, it should be read by all architects who are assenbling their next design team. Engineers must not simply be use to work things out. As Peter Cook puts it in his introduction, they should always be brought in 'at the thinking end of this complex professional sequence.' (The Architectural Review)