Architecture And The Unconscious

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Architecture and the Unconscious

Author : John Shannon Hendrix
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317179269
Total Pages : 300 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (171 download)

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Book Synopsis Architecture and the Unconscious by : John Shannon Hendrix

Download or read book Architecture and the Unconscious written by John Shannon Hendrix and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-06-17 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There are a number of recent texts that draw on psychoanalytic theory as an interpretative approach for understanding architecture, or that use the formal and social logics of architecture for understanding the psyche. But there remains work to be done in bringing what largely amounts to a series of independent voices, into a discourse that is greater than the sum of its parts, in the way that, say, the architect Peter Eisenman was able to do with the architecture of deconstruction or that the historian Manfredo Tafuri was able to do with the Marxist critique of architecture. The discourse of the present volume focuses specifically for the first time on the subject of the unconscious in relation to the design, perception, and understanding of architecture. It brings together an international group of contributors, who provide informed and varied points of view on the role of the unconscious in architectural design and theory and, in doing so, expand architectural theory to unexplored areas, enriching architecture in relation to the humanities. The book explores how architecture engages dreams, desires, imagination, memory, and emotions, how architecture can appeal to a broader scope of human experience and identity. Beginning by examining the historical development of the engagement of the unconscious in architectural discourse, and the current and historical, theoretical and practical, intersections of architecture and psychoanalysis, the volume also analyses the city and the urban condition.

The Political Unconscious of Architecture

Author : Nadir Lahiji
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317020685
Total Pages : 352 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (17 download)

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Book Synopsis The Political Unconscious of Architecture by : Nadir Lahiji

Download or read book The Political Unconscious of Architecture written by Nadir Lahiji and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-02-24 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thirty years have passed since eminent cultural and literary critic Fredric Jameson wrote his classic work, The Political Unconscious: Narrative as a Socially Symbolic Act, in which he insisted that 'there is nothing that is not social and historical - indeed, that everything is "in the last analysis" political'. Bringing together a team of leading scholars including Slavoj Zizek, Joan Ockman, Jane Rendell, and Kojin Karatani, this book critically examines the important contribution made by Jameson to the radical critique of architecture over this period, highlighting its continued importance to contemporary architecture discourse. Jameson's notion of the 'political unconscious' represents one of the most powerful notions in the link between aesthetics and politics in contemporary discourse. Taking this, along with other key concepts from Jameson, as the basis for its chapters, this anthology asks questions such as: Is architecture a place to stage 'class struggle'?, How can architecture act against the conditions that 'affirmatively' produce it? What does 'the critical', and 'the negative', mean in the discourse of architecture? and, How do we prevent architecture from participating in the reproduction of the cultural logic of late capitalism? This book breaks new ground in architectural criticism and offers insights into the interrelationships between politics, culture, space, and architecture and, in doing so, it acts as a counter-balast to the current trend in architectural research where a general aestheticization dominates the discourse.

Architecture and the Mimetic Self

Author : Lucy Huskinson
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351247301
Total Pages : 254 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (512 download)

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Book Synopsis Architecture and the Mimetic Self by : Lucy Huskinson

Download or read book Architecture and the Mimetic Self written by Lucy Huskinson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-02-02 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Buildings shape our identity and sense of self in profound ways that are not always evident to architects and town planners, or even to those who think they are intimately familiar with the buildings they inhabit. Architecture and the Mimetic Self provides a useful theoretical guide to our unconscious behaviour in relation to buildings, and explains both how and why we are drawn to specific elements and features of architectural design. It reveals how even the most uninspiring of buildings can be modified to meet our unconscious expectations and requirements of them—and, by the same token, it explores the repercussions for our wellbeing when buildings fail to do so. Criteria for effective architectural design have for a long time been grounded in utilitarian and aesthetic principles of function, efficiency, cost, and visual impact. Although these are important considerations, they often fail to meet the fundamental needs of those who inhabit and use buildings. Misconceptions are rife, not least because our responses to architecture are often difficult to measure, and are in large part unconscious. By bridging psychoanalytic thought and architectural theory, Architecture and the Mimetic Self frees the former from its preoccupations with interpersonal human relations to address the vital relationships that we establish with our nonhuman environments. In addition to providing a guide to the unconscious behaviours that are most relevant for evaluating architectural design, this book explains how our relationships with the built environment inform a more expansive and useful psychoanalytic theory of human relationship and identity. It will appeal to psychoanalysts and analytical psychologists, architects, and all who are interested in the overlaps of psychology, architecture, and the built environment.

The Political Unconscious of Architecture

Author : Nadir Lahiji
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317020677
Total Pages : 388 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (17 download)

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Book Synopsis The Political Unconscious of Architecture by : Nadir Lahiji

Download or read book The Political Unconscious of Architecture written by Nadir Lahiji and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-02-24 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thirty years have passed since eminent cultural and literary critic Fredric Jameson wrote his classic work, The Political Unconscious: Narrative as a Socially Symbolic Act, in which he insisted that 'there is nothing that is not social and historical - indeed, that everything is "in the last analysis" political'. Bringing together a team of leading scholars including Slavoj Zizek, Joan Ockman, Jane Rendell, and Kojin Karatani, this book critically examines the important contribution made by Jameson to the radical critique of architecture over this period, highlighting its continued importance to contemporary architecture discourse. Jameson's notion of the 'political unconscious' represents one of the most powerful notions in the link between aesthetics and politics in contemporary discourse. Taking this, along with other key concepts from Jameson, as the basis for its chapters, this anthology asks questions such as: Is architecture a place to stage 'class struggle'?, How can architecture act against the conditions that 'affirmatively' produce it? What does 'the critical', and 'the negative', mean in the discourse of architecture? and, How do we prevent architecture from participating in the reproduction of the cultural logic of late capitalism? This book breaks new ground in architectural criticism and offers insights into the interrelationships between politics, culture, space, and architecture and, in doing so, it acts as a counter-balast to the current trend in architectural research where a general aestheticization dominates the discourse.

Un-Conscious-City

Author : Wiel Arets
Publisher : Actar D, Inc.
ISBN 13 : 1638408491
Total Pages : 280 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (384 download)

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Book Synopsis Un-Conscious-City by : Wiel Arets

Download or read book Un-Conscious-City written by Wiel Arets and published by Actar D, Inc.. This book was released on 2022-02-25 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: No one demands that people move to cities; people tend to do so, on their own. People choose to move to cities for opportunity. Such choices are often made unconsciously, as they are based on rules, traditions, and local communities–or a combination of all three. Un-Conscious-City explores and unravels Dutch architect Wiel Arets’ kaleidoscopic viewpoints on the ways the collective, unconscious decisions taken by the world’s citizens throughout time–a process that remains invisible to the naked eye–are now working to transform and shift the physical, sensory, and emotional experiences of human beings, as they navigate and live in today’s metropolises as well as the countryside. People tend to only belong to one religion, one society, or one club–which completely defines their existence. One day most human beings will live in a globalnomadic-urban-condition; this will soon be amplified to unknown heights. Un-Conscious-City raises questions, predicaments, and ideals regarding the future of our cities, while recognizing their limitations. Wiel Arets–renowned architect, writer, and thinker–identifies this condition as the Un-Conscious-City.

Geometry of the Unconscious

Author : Jyanzi Kong
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9789812458780
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (587 download)

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Book Synopsis Geometry of the Unconscious by : Jyanzi Kong

Download or read book Geometry of the Unconscious written by Jyanzi Kong and published by . This book was released on 2011-08 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The experience of seeing space in its relationship with matter is inherent in the gap between the visible and invisible in architecture. This book examines architecture where the complexities of chance, atmosphere, situation and circumstance are amalgamated into geometry of the unconscious. From this, new architecture can be realised not only based upon accepted norms of modernity but also upon cultural context and origin. Such geometry is an endpoint that involves a continuity of perception, conception and action. Contents: Counterfeiting the Libido: The Crisis of Architectural Production in a 'Decolonised' Archipelago The Trinity of Creation: Seeing, Doing and Thinking Geometry of the Unconscious and its Phenomenological Position BeingSpace Constellation of the Uncertain AUTHOR: Jyanzi Kong began teaching at the Department of Architecture, Cornell University. Subsequently, he taught at the College of Architecture, University of Houston and Montana State University. Since 1985, he taught at the School of Architecture, National University of Singapore and the Raffles Institute of Design, DongHua University in Shanghai. He has served as Guest Critic at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University and several American schools of architecture, including SCI-ARC. He has presented papers in various international conferences including the Union of International Architects in Barcelona, 1996. His professional practice covered both sides of the Atlantic. He was Architect-in-Design with the office of O M Angers in Cologne, Germany, while on the American Coast he worked with several architectural firms. Jyanzi conducts architectural explorations in design studios and lectures on contemporary topics related to architecture and its urban determinants.

Freud for Architects

Author : John Abell
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 9780429423253
Total Pages : 126 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (232 download)

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Book Synopsis Freud for Architects by : John Abell

Download or read book Freud for Architects written by John Abell and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020 with total page 126 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Freud for Architects explains what Freud offers to the understanding of architectural creativity and architectural experience, with case examples from early modern architecture to the present. Freud's observations on the human psyche and its influence on culture and social behaviour have generated a great deal of discussion since the 19th century. Yet, what Freud's key ideas offer to the understanding of architectural creativity and experience has received little direct attention. That is partly because Freud opened the door to a place where conventional research in architecture has little traction, the unconscious. Adding to the difficulties, Freud's collection of work is vast and daunting. Freud for Architects navigates Freud's key ideas and bridges a chasm between architecture and psychoanalytic theory. The book highlights Freud's ideas on the foundational developments of childhood, developments on which the adult psyche is based. It explains why and how the developmental stages could influence adult architectural preferences and preoccupations, spatial intuition, and beliefs about what is proper and right for architectural design. As such Freud for Architects will be of great interest to students, practitioners and scholars in a range of disciplines including architecture, psychoanalysis and philosophy"--

Form Follows Libido

Author : Sylvia Lavin
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262622130
Total Pages : 193 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (626 download)

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Book Synopsis Form Follows Libido by : Sylvia Lavin

Download or read book Form Follows Libido written by Sylvia Lavin and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2007-09-28 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How modern architecture came to embrace the urges and fears of the affective unconscious. "Eight million Americans a year cool their heels in psychiatric waiting rooms. Design can help lower this nervous overhead."—Richard Neutra, 1954 Sylvia Lavin's Form Follows Libido argues that by the 1950s, some architects felt an urge to steer the cool abstraction of high modernism away from a neutral formalism toward the production of more erotic, affective environments. Lavin turns to the architecture of Richard Neutra (1892-1970) to explore the genesis of these new mood-inducing environments. In a series of engaging essays weaving through the designs and writings of this Vienna-born, California-based architect, Lavin discovers in Neutra a sustained and poignant psychoanalytic reflection set in the context of a burgeoning psychoanalytic culture in America. Lavin shows that Neutra's redirection of modernism constituted not a lyrical regression to sentimentality but a deliberate advance of architectural theory and technique to engage the unconscious mind, fueled by the ideas of psychoanalysis that were being rapidly disseminated at the time. In Neutra's responses to a vivid range of issues, from psychoanalysis proper to the popular psychology of tele-evangelical prayer, Lavin uncovers a radical reconstitution of the architectural discipline. Arguing persuasively that the received historical views of both psychoanalysis and architecture have led to a suppression of their compelling coincidences and unorthodoxies, Lavin sets out to unleash midcentury architecture's hidden libido. Neither Neutra nor psychoanalysis emerges unscathed from her investigation of how architecture came to be saturated by the intrigues of affect, often against its will. If Reyner Banham sought to put architecture "on the couch," then Lavin, through Neutra, leaps beyond Banham's ameliorative aim to lure contemporary architecture into the lush and dangerous liaisons of environmental design.

Architecture and Ritual

Author : Peter Blundell Jones
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1472577493
Total Pages : 390 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (725 download)

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Book Synopsis Architecture and Ritual by : Peter Blundell Jones

Download or read book Architecture and Ritual written by Peter Blundell Jones and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-08-25 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Architecture and Ritual explores how the varied rituals of everyday life are framed and defined in space by the buildings which we inhabit. It penetrates beyond traditional assumptions about architectural style, aesthetics and utility to deal with something more implicit: how buildings shape and reflect our experience in ways of which we remain unconscious. Whether designed to house a grand ceremony or provide shelter for a daily meal, all buildings coordinate and consolidate social relations by giving orientation and focus to the spatial practices of those who use them. Peter Blundell Jones investigates these connections between the social and the spatial, providing critical insights into the capacity for architecture to structure human ritual, from the grand and formal to the mundane. This is achieved through deep readings of individual pieces of architecture, each with a detailed description of its particular social setting and use. The case studies are drawn from throughout architectural history and from around the globe, each enabling a distinct theoretical theme to emerge, and showing how social conventions vary with time and place, as well as what they have in common. Case studies range from the Nuremberg Rally to the Centre Pompidou, and from the Palace of Westminster to Dogon dwellings in Africa and a Modernist hospital. In considering how all architecture has to mesh with the habits, beliefs, rituals and expectations of the society that created it, the book presents deep implications for our understanding of architectural history and theory. It also highlights the importance for architects of understanding how buildings frame social space before they prescribe new architectural designs of their own. The book ends with a recent example of user participation, showing how contemporary user interest and commitment to a building can be as strong as ever.

Architecture

Author : Martin van der Linden
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 9813346582
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (133 download)

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Book Synopsis Architecture by : Martin van der Linden

Download or read book Architecture written by Martin van der Linden and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-03-12 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The question of what architecture is answered in this book with one sentence: Architecture is space created for human activities. The basic need to find food and water places these activities within a larger spatial field. Humans have learned and found ways to adjust to the various contextual difficulties that they faced as they roamed the earth. Thus rather than adapting, humans have always tried to change the context to their activities. Humanity has looked at the context not merely as a limitation, but rather as a spatial situation filled with opportunities that allows, through intellectual interaction, to change these limitations. Thus humanity has created within the world their own contextual bubble that firmly stands against the larger context it is set in. The key notion of the book is that architecture is space carved out of and against the context and that this process is deterministic.

The Architecture of Psychoanalysis

Author : Jane Rendell
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1786730480
Total Pages : 309 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (867 download)

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Book Synopsis The Architecture of Psychoanalysis by : Jane Rendell

Download or read book The Architecture of Psychoanalysis written by Jane Rendell and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-03-01 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this thought-provoking book, Jane Rendell explores how architectural space registers in psychoanalysis. She investigates both the inherently spatial vocabulary of psychoanalysis and ideas around the physical 'setting' of the psychoanalytic encounter, with reference to Sigmund Freud, D.W. Winnicott and Andre Green. Building on the innovative writing methods employed in Art and Architecture and Site-Writing, she also addresses the concept of architecture as 'social condenser' a Russian constructivist notion that connects material space and community relations. Tracing this idea's progress from 1920s Moscow to 1950s Britain, Rendell shows how interior and exterior meet in both psychoanalysis and architectural practice. Illuminating a novel field of interdisciplinary enquiry, this book breathes fresh life into notions of social space."

Freud for Architects

Author : John Abell
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 0429751451
Total Pages : 126 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (297 download)

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Book Synopsis Freud for Architects by : John Abell

Download or read book Freud for Architects written by John Abell and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-11-22 with total page 126 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Freud for Architects explains what Freud offers to the understanding of architectural creativity and architectural experience, with case examples from early modern architecture to the present. Freud’s observations on the human psyche and its influence on culture and social behavior have generated a great deal of discussion since the 19th century. Yet, what Freud’s key ideas offer to the understanding of architectural creativity and experience has received little direct attention. That is partly because Freud opened the door to a place where conventional research in architecture has little traction, the unconscious. Adding to the difficulties, Freud’s collection of work is vast and daunting. Freud for Architects navigates Freud’s key ideas and bridges a chasm between architecture and psychoanalytic theory. The book highlights Freud’s ideas on the foundational developments of childhood, developments on which the adult psyche is based. It explains why and how the developmental stages could influence adult architectural preferences and preoccupations, spatial intuition, and beliefs about what is proper and right for architectural design. As such, Freud for Architects will be of great interest to students, practitioners, and scholars in a range of disciplines including architecture, psychoanalysis, and philosophy.

Architecture and Collective Life

Author : Penny Lewis
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1000457508
Total Pages : 416 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (4 download)

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Book Synopsis Architecture and Collective Life by : Penny Lewis

Download or read book Architecture and Collective Life written by Penny Lewis and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-10-28 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book addresses the complex relationship between architecture and public life. It’s a study of architecture and urbanism as cultural activity that both reflects and gives shape to our social relations, public institutions and political processes. Written by an international range of contributors, the chapters address the intersection of public life and the built environment around the themes of authority and planning, the welfare state, place and identity and autonomy. The book covers a diverse range of material from Foucault’s evolving thoughts on space to land-scraping leisure centres in inter-war Belgium. It unpacks concepts such as ‘community’ and ‘collectivity’ alongside themes of self-organisation and authorship. Architecture and Collective Life reflects on urban and architectural practice and historical, political and social change. As such this book will be of great interest to students and academics in architecture and urbanism as well as practicing architects.

The Software Architect Elevator

Author : Gregor Hohpe
Publisher : "O'Reilly Media, Inc."
ISBN 13 : 1492077496
Total Pages : 282 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (92 download)

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Book Synopsis The Software Architect Elevator by : Gregor Hohpe

Download or read book The Software Architect Elevator written by Gregor Hohpe and published by "O'Reilly Media, Inc.". This book was released on 2020-04-08 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the digital economy changes the rules of the game for enterprises, the role of software and IT architects is also transforming. Rather than focus on technical decisions alone, architects and senior technologists need to combine organizational and technical knowledge to effect change in their company’s structure and processes. To accomplish that, they need to connect the IT engine room to the penthouse, where the business strategy is defined. In this guide, author Gregor Hohpe shares real-world advice and hard-learned lessons from actual IT transformations. His anecdotes help architects, senior developers, and other IT professionals prepare for a more complex but rewarding role in the enterprise. This book is ideal for: Software architects and senior developers looking to shape the company’s technology direction or assist in an organizational transformation Enterprise architects and senior technologists searching for practical advice on how to navigate technical and organizational topics CTOs and senior technical architects who are devising an IT strategy that impacts the way the organization works IT managers who want to learn what’s worked and what hasn’t in large-scale transformation

Drawing

Author : Sir Peter Cook
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1118700643
Total Pages : 260 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (187 download)

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Book Synopsis Drawing by : Sir Peter Cook

Download or read book Drawing written by Sir Peter Cook and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2014-01-13 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focusing on the creative and inventive significance of drawing for architecture, this book by one of its greatest proponents, Peter Cook, is an established classic. It exudes Cook's delight and catholic appetite for the architectural. Readers are provided with perceptive insights at every turn. The book features some of the greatest and most intriguing drawings by architects, ranging from Frank Lloyd Wright, Heath-Robinson, Le Corbusier, and Otto Wagner to Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Coop Himmelb(l)au, Arata Isozaki, Eric Owen Moss, Bernard Tschumi, and Lebbeus Woods; as well as key works by Cook and other members of the original Archigram group. For this new edition, Cook provides a substantial new chapter that charts the speed at which the trajectory of drawing is moving. It reflects the increasing sophistication of available software and also the ways in which 'hand drawing' and the 'digital' are being eclipsed by new hybrids—injecting a new momentum to drawing. These 'crossovers' provide a whole new territory as attempts are made to release drawing from the boundaries of a solitary moment, a single-viewing position, or a single referential language. Featuring the likes of Toyo Ito, Perry Culper, Izaskun Chinchilla, Kenny Tsui, Ali Rahim, John Berglund, and Lorene Faure, it leads to fascinating insights into the effect that medium has upon intention and definition of an idea or a place. Is a pencil drawing more attuned to a certain architecture than an ink drawing, or is a particular colour evocative of a certain atmosphere? In a world where a Mayer drawing is creatively contributing something different from a Rhino drawing, there is much to demand of future techniques.

Contemporary Art About Architecture

Author : Nora Wendl
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351571060
Total Pages : 369 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (515 download)

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Book Synopsis Contemporary Art About Architecture by : Nora Wendl

Download or read book Contemporary Art About Architecture written by Nora Wendl and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-07-05 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An important resource for scholars of contemporary art and architecture, this volume considers contemporary art that takes architecture as its subject. Concentrated on works made since 1990, Contemporary Art About Architecture: A Strange Utility is the first to take up this topic in a sustained and explicit manner and the first to advance the idea that contemporary art functions as a form of architectural history, theory, and analysis. Over the course of fourteen essays by both emerging and established scholars, this volume examines a diverse group of artists in conjunction with the vernacular, canonical, and fantastical structures engaged by their work. I? Manglano-Ovalle, Matthew Barney, Monika Sosnowska, Pipo Nguyen-duy, and Paul Pfeiffer are among those considered, as are the compelling questions of architecture's relationship to photography, the evolving legacy of Mies van der Rohe, the notion of an architectural unconscious, and the provocative concepts of the unbuilt and the unbuildable. Through a rigorous investigation of these issues, Contemporary Art About Architecture calls attention to the fact that art is now a vital form of architectural discourse. Indeed, this phenomenon is both pervasive and, in its individual incarnations, compelling - a reason to think again about the entangled histories of architecture and art.

On the Ruins of Babel

Author : Daniel Leonhard Purdy
Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 0801476968
Total Pages : 328 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (14 download)

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Book Synopsis On the Ruins of Babel by : Daniel Leonhard Purdy

Download or read book On the Ruins of Babel written by Daniel Leonhard Purdy and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2011-03-15 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The eighteenth century struggled to define architecture as either an art or a science—the image of the architect as a grand figure who synthesizes all other disciplines within a single master plan emerged from this discourse. Immanuel Kant and Johann Wolfgang Goethe described the architect as their equal, a genius with godlike creativity. For writers from Descartes to Freud, architectural reasoning provided a method for critically examining consciousness. The architect, as philosophers liked to think of him, was obligated by the design and construction process to mediate between the abstract and the actual. In On the Ruins of Babel, Daniel Purdy traces this notion back to its wellspring. He surveys the volatile state of architectural theory in the Enlightenment, brought on by the newly emerged scientific critiques of Renaissance cosmology, then shows how German writers redeployed Renaissance terminology so that "harmony," "unity," "synthesis," "foundation," and "orderliness" became states of consciousness, rather than terms used to describe the built world. Purdy's distinctly new interpretation of German theory reveals how metaphors constitute interior life as an architectural space to be designed, constructed, renovated, or demolished. He elucidates the close affinity between Hegel's Romantic aesthetic of space and Daniel Libeskind's deconstruction of monumental architecture in Berlin's Jewish Museum. Through a careful reading of Walter Benjamin's writing on architecture as myth, Purdy details how classical architecture shaped Benjamin's modernist interpretations of urban life, particularly his elaboration on Freud's archaeology of the unconscious. Benjamin's essays on dreams and architecture turn the individualist sensibility of the Enlightenment into a collective and mythic identification between humans and buildings.