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This book brings together a diverse group of theoreticians to explore architectural theory as a discipline, assessing its condition and relevance to contemporary practice.
Offering critical assessment in the face of major social and environmental issues of today, 17 original contributions address the relevance of architectural theory in the contemporary world from various perspectives, including but not limited to: politics, gender, representation, race, environmental crisis, and history.
The chapters are grouped into two distinct sections: the first section explores various historical perspectives on architectural theory, mapping theory's historiographical turn and its emergence and decline from the 1960s to the present; the second offers alternative visions and new directions for architectural theory, incorporating feminist and human rights perspectives, and addressing contemporary issues such as Artificial Intelligence and the Age of Acceleration. This edited collection features contributions from renowned scholars as well as emergent voices, with a Foreword by David Leatherbarrow.
This book will be of great interest to graduate and upper-level students of architecture, as well as academics and practicing architects.
List of contents
Foreword PART I. Historical Perspectives on Architectural Theory 1. What ever Became of Architectural Theory? 2. Architecture's Historiographical Turn 3. Erase the Traces! History and Destruction in Brecht, Benjamin, and Tafuri 4. The End of Theory and the Division between History and Design 5. Rehabilitating Operative Criticism: The Return of Theory against Entrepreneurialism 6. Building Without End: The Travails of Archè and Téchne 7. The Theory Nobody Knows 8. Theorizing a Modern Tradition 9. Postmodernist Revivalism and Architectural Gimmicks PART II. Alternative Visions and New Directions 10. The Form of Utopia: Architectural Theory in the age of Hyperobjects 11. Senses of Reality, or: Realism and Aesthetics, Today? 12. On the Use and Abuse of Biological Functionalism for Architecture 13. Architecture Theory in the Age of Acceleration 14. Architecture, Justice, and Theories of Rights 15. Colonialism as Style: On the Beaux-Arts Tradition 16. Feminist Architectural Figurations: Relating Theory to Practice through Writing in Time 17. From Deconstruction to Artificial Intelligence: The New Theoretical Paradigm
About the author
Elie G. Haddad is Professor of Architecture at the Lebanese American University, where he is currently Dean of the School of Architecture and Design. Haddad completed his PhD studies at the University of Pennsylvania in 1998 with a dissertation on Henry van de Velde. His research focuses on architectural theory, urbanism, and modern architecture. In 2014, Haddad co-edited a survey on contemporary architecture and is in the process of finalizing a new volume titled Modern Architecture in a Post-Modern Era (forthcoming). In parallel to his academic activities, Haddad was recently elected as President of the Association of Arab Architects.
Summary
Offering critical assessment in the face of major social and environmental issues of today, seventeen original contributions address the relevance of architectural theory in the contemporary world from various perspectives, including but not limited to: politics, gender, representation, race, environmental crisis, and history.
