Mapping the Global Architect of Alterity

Practice, Representation and Education

Michael Jenson

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9780415818971
• eBook ISBN: 9781317810827
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Architecture General

Due to globalization, cultural spaces are now developing with no tangible connection to geographical place. The territorial logic traditionally used to underpin architecture and envision our built environment is being radically altered, forcing the adoption of a new method of conceptualizing space/geography and what constitutes architectural practice. Construction techniques, design sensibilities, and cultural identities are being transformed as technology transports us to places that were previously unreachable.

The resultant "globalized" architect must become more than just an artful visionary, but also a master of the art of the political nudge willing to act within multiple mediums and at the simultaneous scales of a chaotic new world disorder. Though fearless they must also be responsible, inherently understanding the necessity to align bold visions with the mundane details of the everyday in ways that are culturally flexible and accepting of change. The potential for what must be considered the legitimate practice of the architect must move from a purely material venue to one more directly engaged in the chaos of the larger economic, political, and social spheres of a globalizing world.

The issues and possible interactions with globalization contained in this text exemplify ways that architecture is transforming into a more flexible and fluid interdisciplinary version of its traditional self in order to rise to challenges of this new international terrain. A theme runs throughout in the form of a call: that architects must conceptually re-construct their frames of reference to better align with the demands of a rapidly globalizing world.

INDEX

abstractions 25, 28, 40–1, 49, 51–2; dialogue 95; education 146; global nomads 108, 114–15; topology 66–8

academia 6, 29, 35, 39, 44, 126, 139

advertising 47

aesthetics 2, 9–10, 14–15, 21–5, 50; agency 99–100; alterity 160; context 151; dialogue 96; diversity 82–3; education 136–7, 146; global nomads 108–9; identity 60; junk architecture 92, 102; participation 96–7; redevelopment 87; subversion 32, 34, 36; urbanism 81

affects 25

age 62

agency see architectural agency

agendas 123–34

Alberti, L.B. 14, 40

Alfasi, N. 85

alienation 55

Allen, S. 41

alterity 9–11, 57, 93, 102–3, 128, 150–61

American Dream 77–90

anthropology 61

anxiety 21, 26, 34, 70

appearances 80, 110, 113

architectonics 101

architectural agency 22–5, 99–101, 120–1, 131, 159

architecture writ large 19–30, 33, 47, 52, 54–7, 103, 138

Arnstein, S. 83

Asia 94

assessment 131

atmosphere 108, 146

Augé, M. 61

autonomy 33, 95–6, 106

avant-garde 93, 95

bad faith 23–5

Bakhtin, M. 67

Barcelona Pavilion 2

Bauman, Z. 4, 10, 61, 160

Beard, G. 70

Becoming 23, 53, 55, 109

be...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of figures
• Introduction: mapping the global architect of alterity
• FRAME I Twenty-first-century global design processes, practices, identities, and philosophies
• FRAME II Global design perspectives: identity, materiality, and cultural diversity
• FRAME III Globalizing architecture and design education
• Conclusion: complexity, alterity, and the contemporary architect: embracing the promise, power, and alterity of globalization
• References
• Acknowledgements
• Index