Download or read book Commodification And Spectacle in Architecture written by William S. Saunders and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than ever, architectural design is seen as a means to promote commercial goals rather than as an end in itself. Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, for example, simply cannot be considered apart from its intended role as a catalyst for the economic revitalization of Bilbao and its ability to attract tourist dollars, regardless of its architectural merits. A built environment intended to seduce consumers is more likely to offer instant gratification than to invite independent thought and reflection. But how harmful, if at all, is this unprecedented commercialization of architecture? Framed with a provocative introduction by Kenneth Frampton, the contributions to Commodification and Spectacle in Architecture stake out a variety of positions in the debate over the extent to which it is possible—or desirable—to escape from, resist, or suggest plausible alternatives to the dominant culture of consumer capitalism. Rejecting any dreamy nostalgia for an idealized present or past in which design is completely divorced from commerce—and, in some cases, celebrating the pleasures of spectacle—the individual essays range from indictments of particular architects and critiques of the profession to broader concerns about what the phenomenon of commodification means for the practice of democracy and the health of society. Bringing together an impressive and varied group of critics and practitioners, Commodification and Spectacle in Architecture will help to sharpen the discussion of how design can respond to our hypercommodified culture. Contributors: Michael Benedikt, Luis Fernández-Galiano, Thomas Frank, Kevin Ervin Kelley, Daniel Naegele, Rick Poynor, Michael Sorkin, Wouter Vanstiphout. William S. Saunders is editor of Harvard Design Magazine and assistant dean for external relations at the Harvard Design School. He is the author of Modern Architecture: Photographs by Ezra Stoller. Kenneth Frampton is Ware Professor of Architecture at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation and author of many books, including Labour, Work, and Architecture.
Download or read book Architecture and Spectacle A Critique written by Gevork Hartoonian and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-12-05 with total page 514 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focusing on six leading contemporary architects: Peter Eisenman, Frank Gehry, Bernard Tschumi, Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas and Steven Holl, this book puts forward a unique and insightful analysis of "neo-avant-garde" architecture. It discusses the spectacle and excess which permeates contemporary architecture in reference to the present aesthetic tendency for image making, but does so by applying the tectonic of theatricality discussed by the 19th-century German architect Gottfried Semper. In doing so, it breaks new ground by opening up a dialogue between the study of the past and the design of the present. The work of each discussed architect is seen as addressing a historiographical problem. To this end, and this is the second important aspect of this book, the chosen buildings are discussed in terms of the thematic of the culture of building (the tectonic of column and wall for example) rather the formal, and this through a discussion that is informed by the latest available theories. Having set the aesthetic implication of the processes of the digitalization of architecture, the book's conclusion highlights "strategies" by which architecture might postpone the full consequences of digitalization, and thus the becoming of architecture as ornament on its own right.
Download or read book Society Of The Spectacle written by Guy Debord and published by Bread and Circuses Publishing. This book was released on 2012-10-01 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Das Kapital of the 20th century,Society of the Spectacle is an essential text, and the main theoretical work of the Situationists. Few works of political and cultural theory have been as enduringly provocative. From its publication amid the social upheavals of the 1960's, in particular the May 1968 uprisings in France, up to the present day, with global capitalism seemingly staggering around in it’s Zombie end-phase, the volatile theses of this book have decisively transformed debates on the shape of modernity, capitalism, and everyday life in the late 20th century. This ‘Red and Black’ translation from 1977 is Introduced by Notting Hill armchair insurrectionary Tom Vague with a galloping time line and pop-situ verve, and given a more analytical over view by young upstart thinker Sam Cooper.
Download or read book The Architecture of Phantasmagoria written by Libero Andreotti and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2016-11-10 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a time of mass-mediated modernity, the city becomes, almost by definition, a constitutively ‘mediated’ city. Today, more than ever before, the omnipresence of media in every sphere of culture is creating a new urban ontology, saturating, fracturing, and exacerbating the manifold experience of city life. The authors describe this condition as one of 'hyper-mediation' – a qualitatively new phase in the city’s historical evolution. The concept of phantasmagoria has pride of place in their study; using it as an all-embracing explanatory framework, they explore its meanings as a critical category to understand the culture, and the architecture, of the contemporary city. Andreotti and Lahiji argue that any account of architecture that does not include understanding the role and function of media and its impact on the city in the present ‘tele-technological-capitalist’ society is fundamentally flawed and incomplete. Their approach moves from Walter Benjamin, through the concepts of phantasmagoria and of media – as theorized also by Theodor Adorno, Siegfried Kracauer, and a new generation of contemporary critics – towards a new socio-critical and aesthetic analysis of the mediated space of the contemporary city.
Download or read book The Resistant Object of Architecture written by Petra Čeferin and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-12-30 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Architecture’s role is becoming increasingly limited to serving the all-pervasive system of globalised capitalism and becoming a constituent, complicit part of its mechanism. The Resistant Object of Architecture addresses this problem, and does so in a way that represents a marked departure from predominant responses which, as the book shows, do not address the core issue. The book addresses this problem by focusing on the question "what is architecture?," and responds to this question by developing the immanent structural logic of architecture that enables it to work not only as an instrumental thinking practice, but as a practice of creative thinking. This means that it alone determines its issues, problems, and priorities, and precisely because of that it has the capacity and cogency to destabilise, indeed pierce holes in the system in which it operates. The Resistant Object of Architecture draws on various theoretical sources, from the psychoanalysis of Jacques Lacan and the philosophy of Alain Badiou, to contemporary architectural theory. In contrast to the predominant view of today, it demonstrates that architecture has an affirmative, transformative capacity. This book is an ideal read for those interested in architectural theory and history, analysis of contemporary architecture, and philosophy of architecture.
Download or read book The Global Architect written by Donald McNeill and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2009-06-02 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Global Architect explores the increasing significance of globalization processes on urban change, architectural practice and the built environment. In what is primarily a critical sociological overview of the current global architectural industry, Donald McNeill covers the "star system" of international architects who combine celebrity and hypermobility, the top firms, whose offices are currently undergoing a major global expansion, and the role of advanced information technology in expanding the geographical scope of the industry.
Download or read book Cities for Smart Environmental and Energy Futures written by Stamatina Th. Rassia and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-08-15 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cities for Smart Environmental and Energy Futures presents works written by eminent international experts from a variety of disciplines including architecture, engineering and related fields. Due to the ever-increasing focus on sustainable technologies, alternative energy sources, and global social and urban issues, interest in the energy systems for cities of the future has grown in a wealth of disciplines. Some of the special features of this book include new findings on the city of the future from the macro to the micro level. These range from urban sustainability to indoor urbanism, and from strategies for cities and global climate change to material properties. The book is intended for graduate students and researchers active in architecture, engineering, the social and computational sciences, building physics and related fields.
Download or read book Architecture s Evil Empire written by Miles Glendinning and published by Reaktion Books. This book was released on 2010-10-15 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Chicago to Toronto to Shanghai, cities around the world have sprouted “iconic” buildings by celebrity architects like Frank Gehry and Daniel Libeskind that compete for attention both on the skyline and in the media. But in recent years, criticism of these extreme “gestural” structures, known for their often-exaggerated forms, has been growing. Miles Glendinning’s impassioned polemic, Architecture’s Evil Empire, looks at how today’s trademark architectural individualism stretches beyond the well-known works and ultimately extends to the entire built environment. Glendinning examines how the global empire of the current modernism emerged—particularly in relation to the excesses of global capitalism—and explains its key organizational and architectural features, placing its most influential theorists and designers in a broader context of history and artistic movements. Arguing against the excesses of iconic architecture, Glendinning advocates a vision of modern renewal that seeks to remedy the shattered and alienated look he sees in contemporary architecture. Mingling scholarship with wry humor and a genuine concern for the state of architecture, Architecture’s Evil Empire will raise many heated debates and appeal to a wide range of readers, from architects to historians, interested in the built environment.
Download or read book Touching Architecture written by Anthony Brand and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-12-30 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is about perception, emotion, and affect in architecture: how and why we feel the way that we do and the ways in which our surroundings and bodies contribute to this. Our experience of architecture is an embodied one, with all our senses acting in concert as we move through time and space. The book picks up where much of the critique of architectural aestheticism at the end of the twentieth century left off: illustrating the limitations and potential consequences of attending to architecture as the visually biased practice which has steadily become the status quo within both industry and education. It draws upon interdisciplinary research to elucidate the reasons why this is counter-productive to the creation of meaningful places and to articulate the embodied richness of our touching encounters. A "felt-phenomenology" is introduced as a more-than visual alternative capable of sustaining our physical, emotional, and psychological well-being. By recognising the reciprocal and participatory relationship that exists between atmospheric affect and our (phenomenological) bodies, we begin to appreciate the manifold ways in which we touch, and are touched, by our built environment. As such, Touching Architecture will appeal to those with an interest in architectural history and theory as well as those interested in the topic of atmospheres, affect, and embodied perception.
Download or read book WIDEOPEN written by Tourette Journal and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2014-12-02 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tourette_Journal looks at architecture as a loose and ever-changing discipline, dealing with everything spatial directly and by way of digital culture, shifting institutional ground, political and sociological issues, representational modes, drones and gorillas. Tourette recognizes the power of architectural discourse in the shaping of the discipline and the profession, and wishes to provide an open platform for the proliferating of ideas, debate and disagreement on issues related to the project of architecture in contemporary culture.
Download or read book Capital Cardiff 1975 2020 written by Alan Hooper and published by University of Wales Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 834 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examining how the city of Cardiff has managed to transform itself in recent years, this book analyses the way in which its local governments have promoted an economic, social, cultural, physical and environmental transformation through a wide range of policy initiatives and partnerships with governments, agencies and enterprises.
Download or read book The Sociology of Architecture written by Paul Jones and published by Liverpool University Press. This book was released on 2011-01-01 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on sociological theories to assist understanding of how political power operates in the cultural sphere, The Sociology of Architecture frames the discipline as a field of symbolic and material conflict over social identities. This volume contests the notion of architecture as an apolitical endeavor and suggests that major architectural projects can act as tangible expressions of the ultimately contested nature of collective identities, thus shedding light on how those with power both legitimate and mark their position in the world.
Download or read book Urban Transformations through Exceptional Architecture written by Nadia Alaily-Mattar and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-05-30 with total page 165 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Urban Transformations through Exceptional Architecture focusses on the nexus between architecturally exceptional projects and the city. It addresses the following questions: How can the complexity of these projects be comprehended? What roles do the political contexts play in the commissioning of such projects and what audiences do these projects serve? How has the granting of professional recognition for architects changed and what will this change mean to measures of exceptionality in architectural design? What roles do the architectural competitions play in the process of commissioning the design of architecturally exceptional projects, and do design competitions as an urban planning tool grant high value designs? Architecturally exceptional projects are situated in physical urban fabrics. How can this situatedness be analysed and what different values does the urban design dimension of these projects add? By considering diverse aspects of architecturally exceptional projects, the chapters in this book utilise a variety of research methods. They bring into dialogue a range of themes regarding the architectural, urban design and political aspects of these projects. This volume illustrates that multidisciplinarity might well be the best strategy to balance the risks of over simplification and the challenges of complexity in analysing these exceptional projects and the city in its ever-transformative process. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Urban Design.
Download or read book Design Capital written by Sherry McKay and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-07-29 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Well-designed infrastructure brings social value that far exceeds its initial construction expenditure, but competition for scarce government funds and a general public perception of infrastructure as mere efficiency, has often left design ill-considered. This book provides designers with the tools needed to argue for the value of design: the ‘design capital’ as the authors term it. In naming and defining design capital, design can once again become part of the discussion and realization of every infrastructure project. Design Capital offers strategies and tools for justifying public spending on design considerations in infrastructure projects. Design has the ability to make infrastructure resonate with cultural or social value, as seen in the case studies, which bestows infrastructure with the potential to accrue design capital. Support for this proposition is drawn from various methodologies of economic valuation and Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital, explanation of design methodology and education and a series of historical and contemporary case studies. The book also addresses some of the more controversial outcomes associated with contemporary infrastructure: gentrification, globalization and consumer tourism. With this book, designers can make a stronger case for the value of design in public infrastructure.
Download or read book Cities and Design written by Paul L. Knox and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2010-07-12 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cities, initially a product of the manufacturing era, have been thoroughly remade in the image of consumer society. Competitive spending among affluent households has intensified the importance of style and design at every scale and design professions have grown in size and importance, reflecting distinctive geographies and locating disproportionately in cities most intimately connected with global systems of key business services. Meanwhile, many observers still believe good design can make positive contributions to people’s lives. Cities and Design explores the complex relationships between design and urban environments. It traces the intellectual roots of urban design, presents a critical appraisal of the imprint and effectiveness of design professions in shaping urban environments, examines the role of design in the material culture of contemporary cities, and explores the complex linkages among designers, producers and distributors in contemporary cities, for example: fashion and graphic design in New York; architecture, fashion and publishing in London; furniture, industrial design, interior design and fashion in Milan; haute couture in Paris and so on. This book offers a distinctive social science perspective on the economic and cultural context of design in contemporary cities, presenting cities themselves as settings for design, design services and the ‘affect’ associated with design.
Download or read book A Companion to Sport written by David L. Andrews and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-06-21 with total page 634 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Companion to Sport brings together writing by leading sports theorists and social and cultural thinkers, to explore sport as a central element of contemporary culture. Positions sport as a crucial subject for critical analysis, as one of the most significant forms of popular culture Includes both well-known social and cultural theorists whose work lends itself to an interrogation of sport, and leading theorists of sport itself Offers a comprehensive examination of sport as a social and cultural practice and institution Explores sport in relation to modernity, postcolonial theory, gender, violence, race, disability and politics
Download or read book The SAGE Handbook of Architectural Theory written by C. Greig Crysler and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2012-01-20 with total page 777 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Offers an intense scholarly experience in its comprehensiveness, its variety of voices and its formal organization... the editors took a risk, experimented and have delivered a much-needed resource that upends the status-quo." - Architectural Histories, journal of the European Architectural History Network "Architectural theory interweaves interdisciplinary understandings with different practices, intentions and ways of knowing. This handbook provides a lucid and comprehensive introduction to this challenging and shifting terrain, and will be of great interest to students, academics and practitioners alike." - Professor Iain Borden, UCL Bartlett School of Architecture "In this collection, architectural theory expands outward to interact with adjacent discourses such as sustainability, conservation, spatial practices, virtual technologies, and more. We have in The Handbook of Architectural Theory an example of the extreme generosity of architectural theory. It is a volume that designers and scholars of many stripes will welcome." - K. Michael Hays, Eliot Noyes Professor of Architectural Theory, Harvard University The SAGE Handbook of Architectural Theory documents and builds upon the most innovative developments in architectural theory over the last two decades. Bringing into dialogue a range of geographically, institutionally and historically competing positions, it examines and explores parallel debates in related fields. The book is divided into eight sections: Power/Difference/Embodiment Aesthetics/Pleasure/Excess Nation/World/Spectacle History/Memory/Tradition Design/Production/Practice Science/Technology/Virtuality Nature/Ecology/Sustainability City/Metropolis/Territory. Creating openings for future lines of inquiry and establishing the basis for new directions for education, research and practice, the book is organized around specific case studies to provide a critical, interpretive and speculative enquiry into the relevant debates in architectural theory.
