The 39 degree dissertations evaluated and shortlisted by the curators of this book focus on the environmental aspects of the retrieval of disused industrial building stock, on the cross-pollination between new and pre-existing fabric, and on certain innovative features of contemporary architecture. The projects were not chosen on the basis of standard criteria, nor do they offer a catalogue of current designs as such; instead they offer a quest into an area of architectural design that will foster the reappraisal of the fundamental role of design research carried out in our universities.