The anaesthetics of architecture / Neil Leach.

By:

Leach, Neil

Material type: Text

TextPublication details: Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, c1999.Description: viii, 101 p., 4 p. of plates : ill. (some col.) ; 23 cmISBN:

0262621266

Subject(s):

Architecture -- Philosophy

Summary: In this short, intentionally polemical book, Neil Leach draws on the ideas of philosophers and cultural theorists such as Walter Benjamin and Jean Baudrillard to develop a novel and highly incisive critique of the consequences of the growing preoccupation with images and image-making in contemporary architectural culture. The problem with this preoccupation, Leach argues, is that it can induce a sort of numbness as the saturation of images floods the senses and obscures deeper concerns. In this culture of aesthetic consumption, this "culture of the cocktail," meaningful discourse gives way to strategies of seduction, and architectural design is reduced to the superficial play of empty, seductive forms.

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Holdings ( 1 )
Title notes ( 3 )

Holdings
Item type	Current library	Home library	Collection	Shelving location	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode	Item holds
Open Collection	FIRST CITY UNIVERSITY COLLEGE	FIRST CITY UNIVERSITY COLLEGE	Open Collection	FCUC Library	720.1 LEA 1999 (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Available		00015517

Total holds: 0

Includes bibliographical references (p. [89]-98) and index.

In this short, intentionally polemical book, Neil Leach draws on the ideas of philosophers and cultural theorists such as Walter Benjamin and Jean Baudrillard to develop a novel and highly incisive critique of the consequences of the growing preoccupation with images and image-making in contemporary architectural culture. The problem with this preoccupation, Leach argues, is that it can induce a sort of numbness as the saturation of images floods the senses and obscures deeper concerns. In this culture of aesthetic consumption, this "culture of the cocktail," meaningful discourse gives way to strategies of seduction, and architectural design is reduced to the superficial play of empty, seductive forms.

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