The limitations of the Modernist palette have long been recognized and contemporary architects are looking to the ancient values of stone to give new expression to their ideas. Its permanence is increasingly used to express a sense of civic stability or ground the fluid forms of contemporary architecture. New Stone Architecture explores the ideas that underpin today's stone renaissance. The introduction uncovers stone's expressive possibilities and describes the latest technologies that make the new forms possible. This is followed by 33 case studies from around the world, including work by Michael Hopkins, Kengo Kuma and Renzo Piano.

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David Dernie is a practising architect and lecturer at the University of Cambridge, where he runs a design studio and researches the uses of materials in architecture. He is the author of Victor Horta (1995), The Villa d'Este at Tivoli (1996) and the forthcoming Architecture, Imagination and Material Culture.