FROM BREAKING GROUND TO ‘BREAKING THE BOX’, DESIGNERS LOVE TO TAKE THINGS APART AND PLAY WITH THE PIECES. WE RELY ON TAXONOMIES AND RULES OF THUMB TO HELP US UNDERSTAND UNDERLYING LOGICS. WORK IS OFTEN JUDGED BY ITS ABILITY TO BE SYSTEMATICALLY DISSEMINATED TO OTHER ARCHITECTS. PROJECTS ARE BROKEN DOWN BY COMPONENT, BY PROGRAM, BY TYPOLOGY. IN THIS SECOND ISSUE, GALT. SEEKS OUT TO BREAK EVERYTHING.

The design process can also involve a different sort of breaking: deviating from the norm and questioning the boundaries of architecture. Designers such as Sean Lally and Malkit Shoshan ‘break the box’ through a multitude of media: responsive environments, cross-disciplinary advocacy, advanced computational methods, and prototyping novel ways to inhabit space. ‘Breaking architecture’ is also defined by transgression. Bypassing exterior facades and engaging with the interior enables us to enter a realm in which users have more control over the built environment than architects. Although as-built conditions impose spatial order, inhabitants find ways to subvert spaces to reflect their ideals.