Asking, Looking, Playing, Making

Design is a process that requires freedom and rigour, expansion and focus. But how can a place be transformed through a tangible, meaningful vision?

This insightful guide from leading architects Tonkin Liu offers an insider’s view of a proven design framework for architectural design. It breaks down the design process into four essential stages: Asking, Looking, Playing and Making. As a naturefocused storytelling toolkit that questions, abstracts and amplifies a project’s particularities, it reveals how a design process can generate buildings that are rooted in a sense of place. It focuses on human relationships with nature, drawing principles from nature as the basis for design.

Asking, Looking, Playing and Making is applied by Tonkin Liu to all their studio’s projects, from design competitions to completed works. Case Studies of six built projects show how the framework works in practice, and includes the Singing Ringing Tree, Tower of Light and York Minster Heritage Quad.

Mike Tonkin is an architect with 35 years of international experience, and founded Tonkin Liu with Anna Liu in 2002. He has lectured and been an international visiting critic, most recently in the role of External Examiner for MArch at the Bartlett and is currently a teaching fellow at Bath University.

Anna Liu is an architect with over 18 years of experience, encompassing practice and teaching in the UK, China, Japan, the US and Taiwan. She founded Tonkin Liu with Mike Tonkin in 2002 and leads the studio's public landscape and sculpture projects.

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