Image, Text, Architecture: The Utopics of the Architectural Media

by Robin Wilson

Image, Text, Architecture brings a radical and detailed analysis of the modern and contemporary architectural media, addressing issues of architectural criticism, architectural photography and the role of journal editors. It covers examples as diverse as an article by British artist Paul Nash in The Architectural Review, 1940, an early project by French architects Lacaton & Vassal published in the journal 2G, 2001, and recent photography by Hisao Suzuki for the Spanish journal El Croquis. At the intersection of image and text the book also reveals the role of the utopian impulse within the architectural media, drawing on theories of utopian discourse from the work of the French semiotician and art theorist Louis Marin, and the American Marxist critic Fredric Jameson. Through this it builds a fresh theoretical approach to journal studies, revealing a hitherto unexplored dimension of latent or unconscious discourse within the media portrait of architecture. The purpose of this enquiry is to highlight moments where a different type of critical voice emerges on the architectural journal page, indicating the possibility of a more progressive engagement with the media as a platform for critical and speculative thinking about architecture, and to rethink the journals' role within architectural history.

252 pages, ebook

Published March 9, 2016

About the author

Robin Wilson (born September 26, 1969) is an expert in the Clean Design, wellness and sustainability advocate. She is the founder of Robin Wilson Home, an interior design firm based in New York City – and she is chief creative officer of the licensing division of her eponymous brand which has generated over $80 million in branded revenue from textiles and cabinetry since 2010.

Wilson’s design work emphasizes the integration of eco-friendly and sustainable design with a focus on social good. Her clients have included Panasonic USA, the White House Fellows office, and the Lake Nona Laureate Park development. In addition, she has worked on showhouses, and for both residential, developer and commercial clients.

She is author of 'Clean Design: Wellness for Your Lifestyle' (Greenleaf, 2015). Her first book was 'Kennedy Green House: Designing an Eco-Friendly Home from the Foundation to the Furniture' (Greenleaf, 2010), with the foreword written by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. She is an ambassador to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America and she has served on the Board of the Sustainable Furnishings Council.

In May 2013, her furniture line, Nest Home by Robin Wilson, premiered at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in New York.

She regularly appears on the speakers circuit, on television and offers commentary in print on design, wellness, sustainability and allergy & asthma issues.