The Tragic in Architecture (Architectural Design) - Softcover

Richard Patterson

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0471892742 ISBN 13: 9780471892748

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, 2000

Synopsis

Is modern architecture no longer equipped to deal with the a great themesa in architecture? By focusing on the tragic genre, this title asks some of the most far--reaching questions about the meaning of contemporary architecture. Has a modern delight in functionalism and repression of figuration put paid to the expression of human themes and narrative content? When put to the test, what has been the approach of contemporary architects who have been called upon to tackle the most abject horrors of our age such as the Holocaust? By holding the classical form of the tragic up for scrutiny, the texts in this title explore the ways that architects have also been seeking to deal with the incomplete, the fragmented and partial, the historicisation of nature and the appearance of the popular culture. There are substantial essays on the theme by Robert Maxwell, John Outram, David Hamilton Eddy and Richard Patterson. Buildings are also analysed, which express some of the great human themes or tragedies in our time. These include, among others, Fostera s Berlin Reichstag, Libeskinda s Jewish Museum and Chipperfielda s designs for the San Michele Cemetery in Venice. Architects David Chipperfield Peter Eisenman Foster and Partners James Ingo Freed Daniel Libeskind John Outram

About this title

Synopsis:

This volume looks at the meaning of architecture, including essays by architectural writers and cultural critics. Also included are a wide variety of visual materials that includes historical works and those by contemporary architects. Has 20th-century modernist architecture forever banished the possibility of pursuing art's 'great themes' in architecture? This title uses the theme of the tragic to ask some of the most far-reaching questions about the meaning of contemporary architecture. It explores the possibility of whether a return to explicitly narrative traditions would recuperate the human significance of its subjects. The theme is opened up by a reassessment of tragedy in the history of aesthetics, a critique of the origins of the modernist aesthetic and by relating trauma studies, which have been applied to other cultural criticism, to architecture.

About the Author:

Richard Patterson, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK.

About this edition

• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0471892742
• ISBN 13: 9780471892748
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 112
• Editor: Richard Patterson