Rethinking Architecture

Rethinking Architecture brings together for the first time the principal writings on architecture by many of the key philosophers and cultural theorists of the twentieth century. These essays contain some of the most insightful observations on contemporary. architecture, and offer refreshingly original perspectives on the subject. Together they constitute a body of material which prompts the rethinking of many accepted tenets of architectural theory from a broader cultural perspective. The editor, Neil Leach, has grouped writings covering common themes and approaches into well-defined sections, and has written helpful introductions for each section and for each author. Neil Leach is director of the MA in Architecture and Critical Theory at the University of Nottingham.

Rethinking Architecture A reader in cultural theory Edited by Neil Leach

London and New York First published 1997 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to http://www.ebookstore.tandf.co.uk/. Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 © 1997 Neil Leach for selection and editorial matter All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hearafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Leach, Neil, Rethinking architecture: a reader in cultural theory/Neil Leach. Includes bibliographical reference and index. 1. Architecture—Philosophy. I. Title. NA2500.L47 1996 721 ‘.1–dc20 96–19406

ISBN 0-203-97525-1 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-415-12825-0 (hbk) ISBN 0-415-12826-9 (pbk) CONTENTS

Preface vii Acknowledgments ix Introduction xii

PART I MODERNISM 1

Theodor W.Adorno 4 Georges Bataille 19 Walter Benjamin 22 Ernst Bloch 41 Siegfried Kracauer 50 Georg Simmel 63

PART II PHENOMENOLOGY 78

Gaston Bachelard 81 94 Hans-Georg Gadamer 120 Henri Lefebvre 132 Gianni Vattimo 140

PART III 154

Roland Barthes 158 173

PART IV POSTMODERNISM 196

Jean Baudrillard 199 Jürgen Habermas 214 Fredric Jameson 224 Jean-François Lyotard 256

PART V POSTSTRUCTURALISM 266

Andrew Benjamin 269 Hélène Cixous 286 292 300 329 Paul Virilio 358

Sources 369 Selected Bibliography of Major Writings 372 Index 378