Walter Benjamin And Architecture

Drawing from Walter Benjamin’s ideas, the essays compiled in this book contribute to a critical understanding of contemporary architectural theories.

The essays compiled in this book explore aspects of Walter Benjamin’s discourse that have contributed to the formation of contemporary architectural theories.

Issues such as technology and history have been considered central to the very modernity of architecture, but Benjamin’s reflection on these subjects has elevated the discussion to a critical level. The contributors in this book consider Walter Benjamin''s ideas in the context of digitalization of architecture where it is the very technique itself that determines the processes of design and the final form.

This book was published as a special issue of Architectural Theory Review.

1. Introduction Gevork Hartoonian 2. Manfredo Tafuri and the Age of Historical Representation Andrew Leach 3. Looking Backward, Looking Forward: Delightful Delays Gevork Hartoonian 4. Porosity at the Edge: Working through Walter Benjamin’s ‘Naples’ Andrew Benjamin 5. From Baldwin’s Paris to Benjamin’s: The Architectonics of Race and Sexuality in Giovanni’s Room Magdalena J. Zaborowska 6. Architecture Under the Gaze of Photography: Benjamin’s Actuality and Consequences Nadir Lahiji 7. The Techno-Aesthetics of Shock: Mario Sironi and the Exhibition of the Fascist Revolution Libero Andreotti 8. Mimesis Neil Leach 9. Daniel Among the Philosophers: The Jewish Museum, Berlin, and Architecture after Auschwitz Terry Smith 10. Portbou and Two Grains of Wheat: In Remembrance of Walter Benjamin Renee Tobe

Gevork Hartoonian is Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Canberra. He has practised architecture and taught at several universities in America, including Columbia University and the Pratt Institute. He is a member of the editorial group of Architectural Theory Review. His most recently published book is Crisis of the Object (Routledge, 2006). A Korean edition of his Ontology of Construction (Cambridge University Press, 1994) is scheduled for 2010.