Rob Krier, Cité Judiciaire, Luxembourg

With the 'Cité Judiciaire' Rob Krier, perhaps the only urban-planningartist among Germany's architects, has, for the first time in30 years, completed a major urban project in his home country ofLuxembourg. With regard to its authorship, this is a true 'family project'. With the significant contribution of his brother Léon to themasterplan for the site, which is situated opposite his parentalhome, Krier has, in his own words, fulfilled a 'youthful dream'.Krier's son-in-law and office partner, Christoph Kohl was involvedin the execution, as was his distant relation and Luxembourgiancontact architect, Jean Herr.The concept reaches far beyond Luxembourg's borders in itssignificance, as Krier's crew has formulated something of a manifestofor classical European urban architecture. Rather than a furtherhigh-rise for this European city, an entire quarter has been createdwith public roads, lanes and squares in which the various judicialdepartments are distributed across eight buildings. The plotstructure, small-sized units and traditional plasterwork façades withtheir three-dimensional sculpted details all enhance the quarter'svitality, as does the masterful treatment of spatial divisions.This new approach is decisive in solving an ever more complexconstruction problem in contemporary urban planning: the integrationof major administration complexes into the existing make-upof the city. In Luxembourg, the Kriers have succeeded in providingmodel evidence that, even today, this task can be achieved bymeans of top-quality architecture, without having to forfeit anythingin terms of the modernity of equipment, the parsimony of economicalexecution, the reduction of energy consumption, or in the basicdemands of public proximity.With this publication, Rob Krier has created a novelty in architecturalliterature. It is the first volume in sketchbook format of a serieswhich document the design process from the first hand-drawnsketches, right through to realisation. Here, the entire