Jean Nouvel, Rem Koolhaas, Bjarke Ingels and Norman Foster - all these cutting-edge architects have at some time used comic strips to present their projects or to reflect on the socio-political context that shaped them. There are other architects with a surprising diversity of architecture in the comic strip format to their name. Willem Jan Neutelings and the Californian Wes Jones have even won international competitions with them.
Bricks & Balloons brings together a wealth of architectural projects that reach out to the world of comics, many published here for the first time. There are also a number of comic-strip creators who have made existing or imaginary buildings a key feature of their work, thereby expressing their perspective on architectural and urban issues. The comic strip medium has proved to be of importance for architecture in three ways: as architecture criticism, as a form of presentation (or representation) and in a few instances even as a method of designing or part of the design process. The book is based on unique first-hand information collected during dozens of interviews with architects and comic strip artists. It sheds light on how such work comes about, what drives architects to resort to this unconventional medium, the response they get from it and the potentials they see for architecture in the use of comics, the 'ninth art'.