Initiated by the ‘Borders & Territories’ (B&T) group at the Faculty of Architecture of the Delft University of Technology, the publication series Modi Operandi is a venue for publishing the works of a young generation of architects, dedicating particular attention to B&T’s graduation projects. The aim is to become an influential platform for discussion and debate on the work of a new generation of architects.

Attempting to present and critically examine innovative ideas on the conception and elaboration of the tools and techniques of architecture, Modi Operandi offers opportunities for this new generation of architects to access, and involve with, an academic debate at a time in which the means and methods of architectural design as a whole – from research and design approaches, to disciplinary knowledge and educational methods – are undergoing a radical and irreversible transformation towards territories that are still obscure regarding its theoretical and historical reflection.

At the basis of the publication series lies the attempt to understand the contemporary work of architecture and its particular specificity regarding experimental approaches to the architectural, urban and territorial project, a project that is in need of reconsidering its instruments, the way it is constructed and the specificity of the knowledge on which it is built. The Modi Operandi do not address a prescriptive position or a particular tendency towards an architectural project, rather it engages the challenge and the struggle to map a diffuse system of approaches to architectural research and design, the construction of that process, the theoretical reflection it engages and the idea of architecture it implies.

Each issue is written, illustrated, and designed by one or more authors, offering the opportunity to develop its unique character. Each issue will also be enriched by critical commentaries and reflections offered by an invited (external) scholar and/or renowned architect, while a scientific committee will review all editorial proposals and activities. 

The publishing formats of the projects are intended to underline the fundamental importance of images, maps and drawings as a privileged field of architectural study.

Delft, 2022
Stefano Milani,
Marc Schoonderbeek,
Negar Sanaan Bensi,
Modi Operandi Series Editors