This issue of arq opens with Christopher Piatt's reflections on four houses designed by studioKAP, the firm that he co-directs (pp. 106-126). Platt inquires into architecture's abilities to transform the place it occupies, and the transformation of architecture by that place. 'Could site itself be a gift to an architectural project', he asks, 'and could the same project return the favour to the site with unexpected and welcome qualities?'. Platt evokes implicitly the notion of gift economy, which was developed through the work of anthropologists such as Jonathan Parry, particularly inspired by the idea of online trading communities. In gift cultures, exchanges are made but not directly monetised. Goods or services are given without the expectation of immediate or future reward. This is the relationship between architecture and site that Platt advocates ： where architect and architecture benefit from the qualities and characteristics of the place, given without debt, and where a site is remade for the better through its transactions with thoughtful architecture.
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