Constructing a New Agenda: Architectural Theory 1993-2009

by A. Krista Sykes

This follow-up to Kate Nesbitt's best-selling anthology Theorizing a New Agenda collects twenty-eight essays that address architecture theory from the mid-1990s where Nesbitt left off through the present. Kristin Sykes offers an overview of the myriad approaches and attitudes adopted by architects and architectural theorists during this era. Multiple themes--including the impact of digital technologies on processes of architectural design production materiality and representation; the implications of globalization and networks of information; the growing emphasis on sustainable and green architecture; and the phenomenon of the 'starchitect' and iconic architecture--appear against a background colored by architectural theory as it existed from the 1960s on in a period of transition (if not crisis) that centers around the perceived abyss between theory and practice. Theory's transitional state persists today rendering its immediate history particularly relevant to contemporary thought and practice. While other collections of recent theoretical writings exist none attempt to address the situation as a whole providing in one place key theoretical texts of the past decade and a half. This book provides a foundation for ongoing discussions surrounding contemporary architectural thought and practice with iconic essays by Greg Lynn Deborah Berke Sanford Kwinter Samuel Mockbee Stan Allen Rem Koolhaas William Mitchell Anthony Vidler Micahel Hays Reinhold Martin Reiser + Umemoto Glenn Murcutt William McDonough Micahael Braungart Michael Speaks and many more.

Genres: Architecture, Philosophy, Nonfiction

512 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 30, 2006

Reviews

[Pablo Lopes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A guide for navigating the debate in contemporary architecture (including the question of ignoring the debate altogether to construct an architecture without theory, based solely on practice).