FM X // Towards a Familiar Architecture

References are embedded in every architectural project, ranging from a specific detail to a broad concept. The reference, whether intentional or accidental, is inevitable because we learn about architecture by looking at other architecture. What creates interest is the way in which references are used: repeated, redrawn, reimagined, reinterpreted, represented, restored, rewritten, and much more.

As implied by the title of this issue, “Towards a Familiar Architecture,” we believe that references can be recognized. A trained eye can trace elements within an architectural project back to their origins. But in the present moment, when the cross-pollination of disciplines is exponentially intensified by digital means of communication and record keeping, a spread of references is occurring. There are no limits to the where, when, and what of a reference. This issue of Fresh Meat investigates the role references play in contemporary architecture through projects and opinions that take on the reference in different ways.