The Building - by José Aragüez (Hardcover)

About the Book

For nearly fifty years, the building has primarily been understood as a means rather than an end within architectural history and theory. This volume presents an alternative to that trend by reconceiving the building as a central discursive category in its own right.

Book Synopsis

For nearly fifty years "the building" has primarily been viewed as a means rather than an end within architectural history and theory. This volume presents an alternative to that trend by reconceiving it as a central discursive category in its own right. Contributors--including architects and academics from world-renowned institutions--offer insightful discussions of key architectural structures conceived in Europe, Asia, and the U.S.A. over the last three decades. In doing so they propel architectural thinking's importance as a domain of knowledge. Further, in exploring those structures through a number of questions both intra- and meta-disciplinary, this book suggests ways in which buildings can trigger conceptual frameworks whose influence extends well beyond architecture. A balanced text-to-image ratio caters to readers in both practice and academia.

Review Quotes

"By closely analyzing these structures, the forty-three contributors are able to consider both the discipline and domains far beyond its reach." -Archinect

"Contributors based in Europe and the United States offer incisive explorations of key architectural structures from the 1980s to the present" -El Croquis

"In sum, a dense study of the area between the tangible world of buildings and the intangible world of ideas" -Arquitectura Viva

"Many of the essential figures in the discursive scene worldwide contributed to this unprecedented volume with a view to propel architectural thinking to a new level of importance" -e-flux



"By closely analyzing these structures, the forty-three contributors are able to consider both the discipline and domains far beyond its reach."

-Archinect
"Contributors based in Europe and the United States offer incisive explorations of key architectural structures from the 1980s to the present"

-El Croquis
"In sum, a dense study of the area between the tangible world of buildings and the intangible world of ideas"

-Arquitectura Viva
"Many of the essential figures in the discursive scene worldwide contributed to this unprecedented volume with a view to propel architectural thinking to a new level of importance"

-e-flux

"Contributors based in Europe and the United States offer incisive explorations of key architectural structures from the 1980s to the present"

-El Croquis

"In sum, a dense study of the area between the tangible world of buildings and the intangible world of ideas"

-Arquitectura Viva

"Many of the essential figures in the discursive scene worldwide contributed to this unprecedented volume with a view to propel architectural thinking to a new level of importance"

-e-flux

About the Author

José Aragüez is an architect and writer based in New York City. He is Adjunct Professor at Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, and a PhD candidate in the History and Theory of Architecture at Princeton University.