Re-readings is an authoritative testament to the complex process of remodelling existing buildings. Although buildings have always been reused, the process of doing so has rarely been treated as an artform. In recent years, however, a huge amount of press coverage has been devoted to remodelling projects such as the Tate Modern in London, the Baltic Art Factory in Gateshead, the Grand Louvre pyramid and courtyard, and the Reichstag in Berlin, to name but a few.

By attracting prestigious architects to its practice, it would appear that remodelling, once the dowdy cousin of the more glamorous architecture, has gained a new respectability. Re-readings responds to remodelling as an artform, making sense of the considerable structural, aesthetic, environmental, contextual and programmatic challenges of remodelling existing buildings. Illustrated throughout with a rich international portfolio of case studies, it explains the theory behind the way that architects and designers interpret and adapt buildings.