Crises in publishing, paper supply, reading, humanism, economics, architecture... have jeopardized books, magazines, newspapers, and the usual modes of passing on knowledge. It is no mirage: there is much less reading done now than before, and readin
The more famous a building is, the more it is wrapped in myths and clichés, and the more we gain from those who take pains to delve into its history. The Centre Pompidou (1971-1977) is one of the iconic constructions of the 20th century. It helped re
New readings inject sap into revered trunks. The British Academy and the Getty Research Institute have revisited two classics of art history, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, no doubt the masterwork of Jacob Burckhardt (1818-1897), and T
Characterized by a heavy historical-artistic baggage, the career of the Burgos-born master was closely tied to the flourishing of the modern capital.
With his multifaceted work, which went far beyond the confines of construction, the eminent architect became one of the leading figures of the Renaixença.
The enthusiasm of Angelo Maggi, a historian of architectural photography, led the heirs of George Everard Kidder Smith (1913-1997) to move his archive from New York to the Università Iuav di Venezia. A fruit of this donation is this first monograph e
The rearrangement of the Reina Sofía Museum’s holdings has been a chance to bring alternative media, including architecture, into its exhibition discourse.
The breach between the studies of art and architecture is discussed with the help of images by the professor and photographer Joaquín Bérchez.
Donald Trump decreed on Monday that all new US federal buildings should be “beautiful”, in a long-expected executive order which excoriated architectural modernism but stopped short of demanding that all such projects should be in the classical style
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. Purpose. Societies have long recognized the importance of beautiful public architecture. Ancient
I believe it was John Cage who once told me, “When you start working, everybody is in your studio – the past, your friends, enemies, the art world, and above all, your own ideas – all are there. But as you continue painting, they start leaving, one b
¿Cuál es el origen de la arquitectura? ¿Sigue siendo verosímil la narración de Vitruvio sobre aquella época primitiva en la que los hombres vivían aún como los animales (ut ferae), merodeando por bosques y cuevas? La leyenda vitruviana sobre el orige
The crisis of criticism has been washed out by the crisis of the world. In the first essay of Paul de Man’s Blindness and Insight – whose title has been borrowed for this text – the literary theorist argues that “all true criticism occurs in the mode
La vigencia de Charles Darwin se extiende a la arquitectura. En 2009, la coincidencia del segundo centenario del nacimiento del naturalista y el 150 aniversario de la publicación de El origen de las especies ha dado lugar a una proliferación de event
Se ha escrito mucho acerca de la dependencia —para algunos incluso identificación— entre la arquitectura y su representación. El progreso de la arquitectura en paralelo al desarrollo de los medios impresos, libros y revistas principalmente, y audiovi
Desde hace algún tiempo puede hablarse de un auténtico florecimiento del ornamento en la arquitectura. El debate sobre este tema es omnipresente, tanto en las obras construidas como en las exposiciones y en la literatura especializada. Cabe preguntar
Atributo de la naturaleza asociado a la esencia de la propia arquitectura, la sombra ha proporcionado grandes momentos estelares a la disciplina. Con una actualidad similar al hecho arquitectónico mismo, la pasión por la sombra y su corolario, la luz
It is hardly an accident that I should be asked to review this recent attempt to encompass the current scope of world-wide production in the field of architecture since I was involved in a similar endeavor barely a decade ago before when I served as
The Atlas intends to be a critical assessment of world architecture in our global times: both a ‘state of the art’ and a ‘state of the planet’, centered on the period opened by the Fall of the Berlin Wall. After an introduction on Spain as a laborato
We look at the young to make out the profiles of the world to come. Nevertheless, the projects of the last generations harbor desires rather than predictions. Driven by a system in which acknowledgment is based on singularity, the majority of emergin
«El pasado está en todas partes. A nuestro alrededor encontramos formas que, al igual que nosotros y nuestros pensamientos, tienen antecedentes más o menos reconocibles. Reliquias, historias y recuerdos cubren la experiencia humana. A la larga, todas
I have read in Rem Koolhaas that cities are like clouds. I like that image. The form of the city as cloud in constant movement. Its form today, at this precise moment, comes from that of yesterday, from the moment that was. And its materiality prompt
In Italian, the automobile is la macchina, par excellence. This can give an idea of how important the invention and development of this type of vehicles was in the evolution of the entire industrial culture, and in particular that of the 20th century
