Prof. Federica Goffi announces release of new book: (Un)Common Precedents in Architectural Design
October 7, 2025
(Un)Common Precedents in Architectural Design, edited by Professor Federica Goffi, Isabel Potworowski, and Kristin Washco, will be available in December 2025.
(Un)Common Precedents in Architectural Design considers the value of common and uncommon precedents in architectural practice and pedagogy. The 30 contributors investigate under-acknowledged precedents in education and practice.
The publication resulted from the Carleton Research Practice of Teaching Collaborative (CRIPTIC) international symposium AGORA II held at the Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism (ASAU) in 2023. It was organized by Professor Federica Goffi, and ASAU PhD graduates Dr. Isabel Potworowski (University of Cincinnati) and Dr. Kristin Washco (Virginia Tech).
The book published by Routledge Architecture will be available through Carleton University’s MacOdrum Library in digital format, and for purchase as a hardback, paperback, or e-book at Routledge
(Un)Common Precedents in Architectural Design calls for an attentive examination of the uncommon that inspires creativity, prompting a re-examination of both common and marginalized precedents. Precedents and their origins can be idiosyncratic, and it is not surprising that they often lead to unpredictable outcomes. The uncommon is explored as an undervalued, unregulated, and informal approach to precedents, acknowledging a radical imagination in architectural design that extends beyond visual and typological considerations, expanding the field of influence beyond buildings to investigate interdisciplinary exchanges and a multisensory imagination.
This book addresses a critical need to re-examine architectural precedents, understanding why, how, and what we study to reveal the intentions, transmedia explorations, and referents behind the workings of a more inclusive architectural imagination nurtured in multicultural practices and teaching environments.
(Un)Common Precedents thus underlines the non-conformity and inordinance of precedents and the necessity of their divergence, drawing attention to different socio-political contexts that resist, reject, and replace the canonization of precedents based on dominant ocular-centric approaches with local, experiential, transdisciplinary, and uncommon ones.
The book offers an alternative to the compulsion to normalize, universalize, repeat, restate, and re-enact, transforming the documentation of far-removed precedents through first-person experiences.
Thirty contributors bring diverse perspectives to a timely inquiry into the issue of creativity, inspiration, and imagination in architectural design.
The volume is divided into three parts: Part 1: (Un)Common Intentions: Why We Study Precedents; Part 2: (Un)Common References: What We Study; Part 3: (Un)Common (Trans)Media and Methods: How We Study Precedents.
The contributors are:
Wanda Dalla Costa | Federica Goffi | Isabel Potworowski | Kristin Washco | Jodi La Coe | Berrin Terim | Claudio Sgarbi & Talia Trainin | Marc Neveu | Maria João Moreira Soares & João Miguel Couto Duarte | Jhono Bennett | Yvette Putra | Jesse Stewart | Paola Zellner Bassett | Ashley Mason | Aurélie Dupuis | Janine Debanné | Donald Kunze | Izumi Kuroishi | Yoonchun Jung | Klaske Havik | Suzanne Harris-Brandts | Nina Vollenbröker | Naomi Gibson | Anca Matyiku | Jonathan Tyrell | Thi Phuong-Trâm Nguyen | Bruno Silvestre | Camila Mancilla | Pari Riahi | Sheryl Boyle | Ken Albala
Critic Reviews:
“Inclusive and playful, meticulous and thoughtful, the essays of this long-needed book liberate designers in their pursuit of architectural inspiration. Gems lurking in unexpected places—dismissed for years—are brought brilliantly to the fore by an impressive group of contributing authors. (Un)Common Precedents will fast become a classic.”
Dr. Angeliki Sioli, Associate Professor, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, TU Delft.
“Architectural imagination is an open search. This collection navigates new paths of inquiry, leading architects to an expanded repertoire of knowledge and inspiration. From fields of music, literature, gastronomy, and Indigenous engagement, uncommon precedents appear as cunning protagonists in an architectural story ever unfolding. Be prepared to rethink the exemplary.”
Dr. Lisa Landrum, Professor and Chair, Department of Architectural Science, TMU. Co-editor, Theatres of Architectural Imagination.
“What inspires architectural ideas and designs? This resourceful book provides many ingenious answers, valuable for students, practitioners, and scholars alike. Reaching far beyond traditional typology like J.N.L. Durand’s imposition of a grid to regularize all architectural history, (Un)common Precedents explores alternative contemporary and historical approaches that open and examine possibilities in media, materials, spatial justice, environmentalism, and much more across the arts to inform the architectural imagination.”
Dr. Paul Emmons, Patrick and Nancy Lathrop Professor of Architecture, Virginia Tech.
The forthcoming book (Un)Common Precedents in Architectural Design, edited by Federica Goffi, Isabel Potworowski, and Kristin Washco, will be presented at the AGORA III symposium, MEDIATING MATTER(S) Architecture and Bodily Affects, organized by Carleton Research | Practice of Teaching | Collaborative (CRIPTIC)
The public event is free and will take place on Thursday and Friday, October 23-24, 2025.
See the full schedule and register on the Agora III CRIPTIC webpage.
Watch the event live on the ASAU YouTube channel.
About Carleton Research | Practice of Teaching | Collaborative
C R | P T | Collaborative is chaired by Dr. Federica Goffi. The collaborative is formed by PhD Candidates, PhD students, Post-Professional Master students, and faculty of the Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. The Collaborative founded in 2019 pursues research in the humanities with a diverse research agenda that reflects the interests of the collaborators through the Practice of Teaching in academic settings in architecture.
C R | P T | C activities include research, publications, symposia, workshops, performances, podcasts, and exhibits.
C R | P T | C works | transmediate between the written word and epistemic constructions.