When Le Corbusier wrote Towards a New Architecture, he found his argument in the zeitgeist established by industrial production and modes of modern transportation. He produced one of the key manifestos of modernism using his obsession with technologies of the time as a springboard. This cross-pollination is not an isolated incident; many prominent architects have used non-architectural sources for inspiration; Eisenman: linguistics, Venturi and Scott Brown: signage and billboards, Hadid: Constructivist paintings. Architects have also become well known for their work outside of architecture: the Eames’ Powers of Ten and furniture, Michelangelo for paintings and sculptures, Jefferson as president of the United States. OMA even started a research branch, AMO, to explore problems that architecture is not able to solve.

Valuable ideas can be found in many, sometimes unexpected places. In this issue, we encourage everyone to look at our collective interests, musings and obsessions not as unrelated pastimes or frivolous distractions, but as rigorous research projects, valuable idea incubators, and necessary inspirations. It is our belief that by looking at anything but architecture, we can find value and potential in our smallest ideas.