Designs of Destruction

Reviews / Votes

"Designs of Destruction is an account of the media and material cultures underlying the designation and construction of monuments from the early 20th century through the 1960s. Through deft analyses and nuanced interpretations of archival materials, Allais argues that monuments were 'made,' conjured as much from bureaucratic and diplomatic paperwork as they were built from stone, sand, and aggregate. . . . Call it what you like: architectural history of preservation; media history; institutional history of architectural preservation; or media history of international architectural governance. No matter the designation, this is a book for the ages." * Los Angeles Review of Books * "Allais points out in no uncertain terms that monuments were recast as much to justify the obliteration of the old 19th-century and earlier buildings around them as to manufacture support for the post-war theories of urban design. She therefore very cleverly brings together the histories of modern architecture and of monument preservation. . . . Rarely does one come across a book as novel as this one. It covers immense tracts of ground." * Times Higher Education, Book of the Week * "With the architectural object placed centre stage, and with an apt eye for both canonical figures and those who reside in the shadows of architectural historiography, Allais demonstrates the ways in which ancient monuments (with their complex temporalities and authorships) have been conjured into new forms of existence, in changing presents. . . . In its erudite complexities, Designs of Destruction strangely reads as a page-turner." * Architectural Histories * "[Designs of Destruction] is the product of historical work that sees architecture as field rather than edifice and that forensically reconstructs a march of events in order to discern the microtechnique of construction. . . . Allais makes a compelling case for monument survival as a field at least as dynamic as modern architecture itself." * Art Journal * "Designs of Destruction is a well-re-searched, well-written, and engaging book that successfully bridges the gaps between architectural history, preservation policy and practice, and international relations. . . . A must-read for any scholar interested in alternative constructions of modernity and the global history of historic preservation." * Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians * "Allais's discerning excavation of the material processes of canon-making and their residual effects (if not collateral) is a welcome addition to the field, not only for those interested in the twentieth-century history of preservation but those engaged in any form of adjudication about what goes in to, and what is left out of, the global and historical narratives we tell about architecture." * The Journal of Architecture * "Allais's account deserves praise not only for its methodological originality, but also for the way it draws together a history that has otherwise been barely told." * Journal of Contemporary History * "Allais's Designs of Destruction unearths the prehistory of contemporary global heritage, starting with the paradoxical return of the monument. . . . [this] history of the international techno-politics that remade monuments for the twentieth century and created a global heritage should interest diverse scholars of technology." * Technology and Culture *