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 Martin Heidegger 94 Hans-Georg Gadamer 120 Henri Lefebvre 132 Gianni Vattimo 140 PART III STRUCTURALISM 154 Roland Barthes 158 Umberto Eco 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 Gilles Deleuze 292 Jacques Derrida 300 Michel Foucault 329 Paul Virilio 358 Sources 369 Selected Bibliography of Major Writings 372 Index 378 .