The text of free-form architecture: qualitative study of the discourse of four architects

One of the major developments in architecture in the past twenty years is the liberation of formal expression and organisation in architecture to reflect the heterogeneous nature of our current cultures and contexts. Antithetical to the hegemony of modernist formalism, this 'free-form architecture' is characterised by a free-flowing expression that seeks to simultaneously reflect and reconcile the inevitability of a diversity of forces influencing any architectural design. Despite its proliferation, there seems to be a lack of rigorous research on the types of factors that these architects consider during their process of design, which would provide a better understanding on the diverse range of design considerations behind the provocative architectural forms. This study adopts the well established qualitative research methodology of grounded theory to examine the architects' own discourse to establish a hierarchical structure of factors of free-form architecture from this primary source of data. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.