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Architecture of Defeat
Kengo Kuma, one of Japan's leading architects, has been combining professional practice and academia for most of his career. In addition to creating many internationally recognized buildings all over the world, he has written extensively about the history and theory of architecture. Like his built work, his writings also reflect his profound personal philosophy.
Architecture of Defeat is no exception. Now available in English for the first time, the book explores events and architectural trends in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries in both Japan and beyond. It brings together a collection of essays which Kuma wrote after disasters such as the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York City on 9/11 and the earthquake and tsunami that obliterated much of the built landscape on Japan's northern shore in a matter of minutes in 2011. Asking if we have been building in a manner that is too self-confident or arrogant, he examines architecture's intrinsic--and often problematic--relationship to the powerful forces of contemporary politics, economics, consumerism, and technology, as well as its vital ties to society.
Despite the title, Architecture of Defeat is an optimistic and hopeful book. Rather than anticipating the demise of architecture, Kuma envisages a different mode of conceiving architecture: guided and shaped by more modesty and with greater respect for the forces of our natural world.
Beautifully designed and illustrated, this is a fascinating insight into the thinking of one of the world's most influential architects.
Architecture of Defeat is no exception. Now available in English for the first time, the book explores events and architectural trends in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries in both Japan and beyond. It brings together a collection of essays which Kuma wrote after disasters such as the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York City on 9/11 and the earthquake and tsunami that obliterated much of the built landscape on Japan's northern shore in a matter of minutes in 2011. Asking if we have been building in a manner that is too self-confident or arrogant, he examines architecture's intrinsic--and often problematic--relationship to the powerful forces of contemporary politics, economics, consumerism, and technology, as well as its vital ties to society.
Despite the title, Architecture of Defeat is an optimistic and hopeful book. Rather than anticipating the demise of architecture, Kuma envisages a different mode of conceiving architecture: guided and shaped by more modesty and with greater respect for the forces of our natural world.
Beautifully designed and illustrated, this is a fascinating insight into the thinking of one of the world's most influential architects.
174 pages, ebook
Published June 11, 2019
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June 27, 2024隈研吾：從「自然的建築」到「負建築」
https://manjuorg.wordpress.com/2024/0...
左派知識分子掌握【理論】這一武器的唯一目的是話語權，
也就是合理化自己的「有理就在嗓門大」。
得到的最好報酬不過是大學常勤講師這一職位，
能做到校長的地位屬於老實人吃了話不多的虧。
為了吵架吵贏別人而自尊心好看，
或者即使吵架吵輸了我也是在理。
討論的目的和建設理論的目的從來不可能、
也永遠不可能是：
我愛我的工作。
他們最喜歡攪渾水的地方就是不去揭穿：
上班和工作是兩回事情。
他們把上班的人當作工作的人，
把工作的人拉低到上班的崗位。
建築的最大問題是：
只有工作的人才會造得出來建築，
上班的人是連房子也造不出的人，
上帝給上班的人的任務是買房子、炒房子、背負房債，
一旦施加不可抵抗風險，讓他們背負兩份貸款。
這樣。
工作的人是拿錢蓋房子、
拿多少蓋多好，
等著上班的人給房子講故事、編故事。
這樣。
https://manjuorg.wordpress.com/2024/0...
左派知識分子掌握【理論】這一武器的唯一目的是話語權，
也就是合理化自己的「有理就在嗓門大」。
得到的最好報酬不過是大學常勤講師這一職位，
能做到校長的地位屬於老實人吃了話不多的虧。
為了吵架吵贏別人而自尊心好看，
或者即使吵架吵輸了我也是在理。
討論的目的和建設理論的目的從來不可能、
也永遠不可能是：
我愛我的工作。
他們最喜歡攪渾水的地方就是不去揭穿：
上班和工作是兩回事情。
他們把上班的人當作工作的人，
把工作的人拉低到上班的崗位。
建築的最大問題是：
只有工作的人才會造得出來建築，
上班的人是連房子也造不出的人，
上帝給上班的人的任務是買房子、炒房子、背負房債，
一旦施加不可抵抗風險，讓他們背負兩份貸款。
這樣。
工作的人是拿錢蓋房子、
拿多少蓋多好，
等著上班的人給房子講故事、編故事。
這樣。
July 16, 2022
A compilation of text written with the desire to understand and give sense to the actual circumstances of the world, around Architecture, economics, society and more.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews