The Missed Encounter of Radical Philosophy with Architecture

Description

The Missed Encounter of Radical Philosophy with Architecture brings together a respected team of philosophers and architecture scholars to ask what impact architecture has over today's culture and society. For three decades critical philosophy has been in discourse with architecture. Yet following the recent radical turn in contemporary philosophy, architecture's role in contemporary culture is rarely addressed. In turn, the architecture discourse in academia has remained ignorant of recent developments in radical philosophy. Providing the first platform for a debate between critics, architects and radical philosophers, this unique collection unties these two schools of thought. Contributors reason for or against the claim of the "missed encounter" between architecture and radical philosophy. They discuss why our prominent critical philosophers devote stimulating writings to the ideological impact of arts on the contemporary culture - music, literature, cinema, opera, theatre - without attempting a similar comprehensive analysis of architecture. By critically evaluating recent philosophy in relation to contemporary architecture, The Missed Encounter of Radical Philosophy with Architecture presents a thorough understanding of the new relationship between architecture and radical philosophy.

Nadir Lahiji is Associate Professor of architecture at the University of Canberra, Australia. He is the editor of Architecture Against the Post-Political: Re-claiming the Critical Project (Routledge, 2014). He previously edited The Political Unconscious of Architecture: Re-opening Jameson's Narrative (Ashgate, 2011).

This volume questions the long tradition of complacent relationships between architecture and philosophy. It criticises the direct application of philosophy to architectural discourse and the misappropriation of philosophical concepts in architecture. Written by critical philosophers and theorists, the book challenges contemporary architects to think and work differently. -- Doina Petrescu, Professor of Architecture and Design Activism, University of Sheffield, UK