Cosmopolitan Ground edited by Scott Balmforth and Gerard Reinmuth

First published: August 2007
ISBN: 978-0-9775325-3-7
Price: $65 (plus $2.00 postage and handling within Australia, $4.00 international)
Print run: 2,000
Size: 230 x 230 mm, 200pp

Cosmopolitan Ground suggests a mode of collaboration between architecture and philosophy, where both professions retain their autonomy but are enriched via their reference to one another.

It achieves this through its collection of essays juxtaposed against contemporary architectural work by Terroir, an Australian architectural practice whose buildings are the result of research in philosophy, art and popular culture. The essays were developed through discussion and debate at two key symposia: 'Cosmopolitanism and Place: the designs of resistance', held at the University of Technology, Sydney; and the Terroir Symposium, held at the University of Tasmania's School of Architecture.

The works explored in this book - both completed buildings and competition entries - have been underpinned by RMIT University's invitational postgraduate programme. These works include the award-winning Peppermint Bay restaurant in Woodbridge, south of Hobart; designs for COFA, Canberra Library and Prague Library; and a number of inner city projects currently under construction. It also features pieces from exhibitions and installations.

Cosmopolitan Ground is designed to express Terroir's design process, and contains a collection of images of their buildings as well as the ideas behind them. Specifically, the book sets extended essays from key philosophers in parallel to descriptions of the practice's work. Readers can explore one or the other, or switch between both via the split format of the book.

It is an academic publication aimed at architects, architectural philosophers and students.

Terroir was formed in 1998 and simultaneously opened two offices - in Sydney and in Hobart. The practice was formed in response to the interests of the three partners, who's combined interests and fields of activity encompass all aspects of architectural practice including teaching, writing, architectural, urban and interior design and project management and procurement.

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