Whether in a re­si­den­tial city sett­le­ment, a ce­ment fac­tory, or a small sub­ur­ban house, the ar­chi­tec­ture pro­du­ced by the Mu­nich firm Kurt Acker­mann and Part­ners is al­ways dis­tinc­tive: its func­tio­na­lism and cla­rity of con­struc­tion have car­ved a niche for the firm in today's de­sign mar­ket, with the qua­lity and grace of the built pro­duct en­su­ring its lon­ge­vity. Their gui­ding prin­ciple, a clas­sic in mo­dern de­sign, is that a building's func­tion should be vi­si­ble in its con­struc­tion and de­sign. They re­ject ar­chi­tec­tu­ral trends and sen­sa­tio­nal fea­tures, and ins­tead focus on de­ve­lo­ping their own trade­mark style. For this re­a­son they have won many ar­chi­tec­tu­ral pri­zes. »Ackermann and Part­ners: Buil­dings and Projects 1978-1998« de­mons­tra­tes the clear, sim­ple be­auty that is born of these prin­ci­ples. The ice rink in the Olym­pic Park in Mu­nich ap­pears light­weight and ele­gant, with pain­terly light and shadow ef­fects play­ing a de­cisive role in the de­sign. The water pu­ri­fi­ca­tion plant Gut Ma­ri­en­hof in Mu­nich de­mons­tra­tes a bril­li­ant ste­reo­metric con­fi­gu­ra­tion of the basic con­struc­tion ele­ments. The ex­hi­bi­tion hall at the Ha­no­ver trade fair is floo­ded with light and is a fa­sci­na­ting ex­ample of highly de­ve­l­o­ped en­ergy tech­no­logy. Nu­merous il­lus­tra­ti­ons, plans and de­scrip­ti­ons of projects in this vo­lume present the re­a­der with a func­tio­nal and aes­t­he­tic ar­chi­tec­ture free of short-lived de­sign fads.