Edited by Neil Spiller and Aleksandra Wagner

American architect Lebbeus Woods (1940–2012) remains a quiet hero not only among his colleagues, but also for architectural students intrigued by the ideas and fluent beauty of his powerful graphic verve, and also his writing. His projects from the mid-1980s until the end of his life have been widely published. This AD, in collaboration with the Estate of Lebbeus Woods, explores the earlier period beginning in the late 1960s, when Woods was honing his draughtsmanship and theoretical positions while experimenting with a variety of themes and different modes of expression. When he burst onto the international architectural scene with the solo exhibition and accompanying catalogue Lebbeus Woods: Origins, at the Architectural Association, London in 1985, some wondered how anyone could emerge so fully formed, from nowhere. Working against the logic of 'nowhere', this issue charts his early trajectory through the largely unpublished drawings and texts, linking them with what came after. With contributions by Joseph Becker, Aaron Betsky, Peter Cook, Mark Dorrian, Riet Eeckhout, Kevin Erickson, Jörg H. Gleiter, Sharon Irish, Eliyahu Keller, Lawrence Rinder, Ashley Simone, and Ben Sweeting.