John Pawson: Themes and Projects

John Pawson is the foremost proponent of a minimal aesthetic in architecture and design. Already known to designers for his ascetic yet luxurious interiors, he has attained public acclaim for his high-profile retail projects such as the Calvin Klein flagship store in New York, his celebrity clients like Martha Stewart and his book Minimum.

This book looks at the spatial themes that preoccupy John Pawson's work through a close examination of a range of different projects. It examines how light, mass and structure inform the architecture, the role of ritual and order, as well as the integration of internal and external spaces. Six new projects, 'When Objects Work', Calvin Klein Paris, Vacherin Constantin, the marketmuseum, a private house in Germany and the Novy Dvur monastery are featured. There are eight essays on the effect of the work by Deyan Sudjic, Sam Hecht, Michael Craig-Martin, Phoebe Greenwood, Robert Winder, Kate Bucknell, Bruce Chatwin and Father Samuel. Like John Pawson Works, this book is a record of Pawson's developing approach to design and his unique position at the meeting point of art and design, and, through that, it offers much wider insights into culture, society and architecture.