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Library | Item Barcode | Call Number | Material Type | Item Category 1 | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... | 30000010156106 | NA680 S644 2007 | Open Access Book | Book | Searching... |
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Summary
Summary
A complete and authoritative resource for professionals and students on a subject of essential interest for all in the world of architecture.
The design of imaginary, conceptual, or radical buildings is as old as the practice of architecture itself. For centuries architects have drawn on their creative abilities to produce breathtaking works of architectural imagination.
At no period has the investigation of new spatial forms been as rich as from the Second World War to the present. With such historical precursors as Piranesi and Ledoux, and, in the twentieth century, Melnikov, Sant'Elia, and others, architects have created an astonishing range of architectural constructs and urban utopias that have influenced generations of architects.
This publication contains three parts: a thematic overview of the most important and far-reaching work created since 1945; a survey of contemporary visionary architecture, particularly in the digital realm; and an illustrated lexicon of ideas, movements, people, and terms.
The early, unbuilt world of many of today's most important architects--Daniel Libeskind, Rem Koolhaas, Peter Eisenman, Zaha Hadid, Bernard Tschumi--is represented alongside the seminal work of earlier practitioners, such as Archigram, Archizoom, and Buckminster Fuller. Recent work is explored in case studies of contemporary visionaries, including Diller+Scofidio, Asymptote, Morphosis, and NOX. 500 illustrations, 250 in color.
Author Notes
Professor of Architecture and Digital Theory and Vice Dean of the Bartlett School of Architecture in London, Neil Spiller is also Director of the Advanced Virtual and Technological Architecture Research Group (AVATAR).
Reviews 1
Library Journal Review
This disappointing book surveys visionary architecture of the last 50 years, addressing everything from Constant Niewenhuys's situationist New Babylon project of the 1950s to Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio's latest constructions. While claiming to be "the definitive history of 20th-century visionary architecture," it merely skims the first half of that century in one introductory chapter, then delves more deeply into the last 50 years in the ten remaining chapters. The organization is chronological and topical, with each chapter bearing a profile of a major designer--among whom, rather immodestly, Spiller (architecture & digital theory, University Coll. London; Digital Dreams) himself can be found. The underlying subject is the accelerating disappearance of design as an intellectual, moral, physical, and aesthetic act under the overwhelming impact of digitalization. Readers will find themselves in a hall of mirrors at a giant fun house, unable to differentiate between the real and the virtual, animate and inanimate. With precious little thoughtful analysis and a great deal of superficial description--one project after another, one designer after another, one decade after another, one movement after another--the book offers little to dispel the aura of a disappointing, disheartening, disorienting spectacle. Not recommended.--Peter Kaufman, Boston Architectural Ctr. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
| Arcadia, Alchemy, Antiquity and Machines: Profile: Nat Chard | p. 6 |
| Absurd Speeding Objects and the Revolutionary Cabaret of Science and Dreams: Propfile: Diller + Scofidio | p. 22 |
| The Politics and Cybernetics of Freedom 1950s and 1960s: Profile: NOX/Lars Spuybroek | p. 40 |
| Iconography Goes POP 1950s: Profile: Asymptote | p. 58 |
| The Second Poverty of Heroic Structures and Arcadian Networks 1960s and 1970s: Profile: J.C. Lim | p. 70 |
| A Gizmology of Visionary Housing A Case Study: Profile: Wes Jones | p. 98 |
| Transcripts for a New Detournement 1970s, 1980s and 1990s: Profile: Milenko Ivanovic | p. 118 |
| Walking in a Parkland of Ecstasy, Delirium and Disjuncture 1980s: Profile: Morphosis | p. 138 |
| War and Relativity in the Age of Memorial Mechanics 1980s: Profile: Felix Robbins | p. 164 |
| The Poetry of Small Things 1980s and 1990s: Profile: John Puttick | p. 182 |
| Soft Machines and Virtual Objects 1990s and Beyond: Profile: Neil Spiller | p. 202 |
| Indexical Glossary | p. 224 |
| References | p. 262 |
| Bibliography | p. 267 |
| Photographic Credits | p. 270 |
