Subject to such constraints two critical strategies proffer themselves for the mediation of late modern urban environment: first, the practice of landscape design in the traditional sense of the term; and second, the conception and realization of large institutional structures as megaforms. The former suggests itself as a means for softening and unifying the random character of the megalopolis; the latter proffers the possibility of organizing large complexes into continuous horizontal forms closely connected to the ground. Where this occurs, the building assumes a topographic character of its own; it becomes, in effect, a landmark or place-form. A number of late modern building types suggest themselves as possible vehicles for this operation, ranging from cultural complexes to transportation interchanges, from office parks to convention centres, from hospitals to shopping malls, from sports complexes to university facilities. Moreover, any of these types may be combined with each other to form hybrid programmes housed under a single roof. For this year's seminar we have invited a number of practitioners who, in one way or another, have been engaged in the creation of such forms.

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