Heteropolis: Los Angeles : The Riots and the Strange Beauty of Hetero-Architecture

by Charles Jencks

The brilliant Charles Jencks turns his laser-like eye on the architecture and urban texture of Los Angeles in the mid 1990's in this facinating book, first published in 1993. Jencks posits Los Angeles as ground zero for heterophilia, the love of the different; he infers from this the idea of hetero-achitecture, an architecture that combines the traditions of Southern California modernism with realities of the new the city of immigrants, gangs, fear and riots. Jencks's view is refreshingly sunny.

Genres: Architecture

144 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1993

About the author

Charles Alexander Jencks (born 21 June 1939) is an American architecture theorist and critic, landscape architect and designer. His books on the history and criticism of modernism and postmodernism are widely read in architectural circles. He studied under the influential architectural historians Sigfried Giedion and Reyner Banham. Jencks now lives in Scotland where he designs landscape sculpture.

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting overview of Los Angeles architecture which deems the city the best example of a heteropolis or a city whose contradictions- multicultural but divided by race, high tech and third world, sprawling 100 miles - have created a new type of architecture. I’m not convinced the author made his case but then the book is almost 30 years old.