This book tracks the course of the relationship between an architect and his clients, between an architect and the design briefs set for him, and between the architect and his own intellectual approach to design and its impact on his work. The author seeks to make the emotional and artistic content of John Pawson's work explicit through a close examination of a range of different projects. Sudjic's incisive text, aided by specially commissioned pictures, traces the design process, the architect's working methods and his philosophical approach. Sudjic considers the interaction between architect and client, the way in which design is influenced by the processes of construction and making, and explores the nature and significance of the finished scheme. This book is a record of John Pawson's developing approach to design and his unique position at the meeting point of art and design, and, through that, it offers much wider insights into culture, society and architecture.