New book on site and design theory features work by Prof. Lisa Moffitt

A new book, Site Matters: Strategies for Uncertainty through Planning, features the design and student work of the Azrieli School’s Associate Professor Dr. Lisa Moffitt.

The book, by Andrea Kahn and Carol Burn, is a second edition, published by Routledge in December 2020. It assembles essays from architects, landscape architects, urban designers, planners, historians, and artists to explore ways to physically and conceptually engage site.

“In the era of the Anthropocene, site matters are more pressing than ever,” Kahn and Burn write.

“Building on the concepts, theories, and multidisciplinary approaches raised in the first edition, this publication strives to address the changes that have taken place over the last 15 years with new material to complement and re-position the initial volume.”

Moffitt’s work illustrates Burn’s essay, Adaptive Systems: Environment, Site, and Building.

The essay includes photographs and drawings of Moffitt’s full-scale site installation Wind Grid, her design-build project House on Limekiln Line, and her Wind Tunnel V4 prototype.

It also includes student fieldwork and environmental models from the Master of Architecture studio at the University of Edinburgh, titled Streamlines, Vortices & Plumes in the Blue Lagoon and Bath.

The projects offer a range of conceptual tools and approaches, including fieldwork and live models, for engaging with complex contextual and environmental concerns that extend beyond conventional site boundaries.

Moffitt joined the Azrieli School in 2020. She was previously a tenured academic at the University of Edinburgh.

Her design, research, and teaching are prompted by a deep compulsion to make things that question how architecture materially alters, impacts, and constructs new environments in light of climate change.