Mass Identity Architecture

Foreword: Consuming (Mike Gane). Introduction: Philosophy as a Commodity: Mode d'Emploi (Francesco Proto). The Machine and the Aesthetics (Francesco Proto). Chapter One: Absolute Architecture; The Singular Object of Architecture: Radicality Singular objects in architecture Illusion. Virtuality. Reality A destabilised area Concept. Irresolution. Vertigo Values of functionalism New York or Utopia Architecture: between nostalgia and anticipation (Always) seduction. Provocation. Secrets The aesthetics of modernity A heroic architectural act? Art, architecture and postmodernity The aesthetics of disappearance Chapter Two: Cool Towns; America: Salt Lake City New York Santa Barbara Venice and Porterville Disneyland The Bonaventure Hotel The realized utopia. Cool Memories I (1980--85): Urbino. Gubbio. Mantua Palermo Pompeii Montreal Tower blocks Velizy Velizy 2 Versailles. St Peter The Pompidou Centre Urban monsters Paris Berlin Rome in December Night on the cities Dunkirk Ideal City Fifth Avenue Suburban comfort. Cool Memories II (1987----90): American towns Puerto Stroessner Sites of fascination Venice (California) Los Angeles Marilyn's grave Salt Lake City. Las Vegas Disneyworld Beyond Las Vegas Venice (California). New York. Lisbon Shop windows Shop windows 2 Arche de la Defence Coupole Sao Paulo Copacabana. Cool Memories III (1992--95): Venice Puerto Vallarta Bern. Zurich Brasilia Brasilia's satellites Free zones' farce American campuses Pointe du Raz Copacabana Montreal. Rio Pompeii Luxembourg Gardens. Chapter Three: The Indifference of Space; Le Parc de la Villette: Urbanism and Architecture. Chapter Four: The Code and the Eye; Simulation: Hyperreal and Imaginary [Disneyland] The stucco angel [baroque architecture] The tactile and the digital [World Trade Center]; Trompe l'oeil or Enchanted Simulation [Duke of Urbino's and Federigo da Montefeltre's studiolos]; Ecstasy and Inertia [Pompeii]. Chapter Five: The Rise of the Object: the end of culture; The Formal Liturgy of the Object; The consumer society Profusion and display The drugstore Parly 2; Hypermarket and Hypercommodity; Absolute Advertising, Ground Zero Advertising; The Beaubourg Effect: Implosion or Deterrence? Chapter Six: The Aesthetic Suicide; Truth or Radicality? The Future of Architecture; The Homeophatic Disappearance of Architecture: an interview with Jean Baudrillard; Aesthetics and design The lost language of seduction Success in srchitecture Duchamp in architecture The object as a sign Space as a Thought. Essential Bibliography. Further Reading.