Architecture Theory since 1968 [Hardcover]

K. Michael Hays (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0262082616 | ISBN-13: 978-0262082617 | Publication Date: October 9, 1998

In the discussion of architecture, there is a prevailing sentiment that, since 1968, cultural production in its traditional sense can no longer be understood to rise spontaneously, as a matter of social course, but must now be constructed through ever more self-conscious theoretical procedures. The development of interpretive modes of various stripes—post-structuralist, Marxian, phenomenological, psychoanalytic, as well as others dissenting or eccentric—has given scholars a range of tools for rethinking architecture in relation to other fields and for reasserting architectures general importance in intellectual discourse.

This anthology presents forty-seven of the primary texts of architecture theory, introducing each with an explication of the concepts and categories necessary for its understanding and evaluation. It also presents twelve documents of projects or events that had major theoretical repercussions for the period. Several of the essays appear here in English for the first time.

Contributors: Diana Agrest, Stanford Anderson, Archizoom, George Baird, Jennifer Bloomer, Massimo Cacciari, Jean-Louis Cohen, Beatriz Colomina, Alan Colquhoun, Maurice Culot, Jacques Derrida, Ignasi de Solá-Morales, Peter Eisenman, Robin Evans, Michel Foucault, Kenneth Frampton, Mario Gandelsonas, Frank Gehry, Jürgen Habermas, John Hejduk, Denis Hollier, Bernard Huet, Catherine Ingraham, Fredric Jameson, Charles A. Jencks, Jeffrey Kipnis, Fred Koetter, Rem Koolhaas, Leon Krier, Sanford Kwinter, Henri Lefebvre, Daniel Libeskind, Mary McLeod, Alberto Pérez-Gómez, José Quetglas, Aldo Rossi, Colin Rowe, Massimo Scolari, Denise Scott Brown, Robert Segrest, Jorge Silvetti, Robert Somol, Martin Steinmann, Robert A. M. Stern, James Stirling, Manfredo Tafuri, Georges Teyssot, Bernard Tschumi, Anthony Vidler, Paul Virilio, Mark Wigley.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Michael Hays' anthology of 47 texts and 12 drawings, Architectural Theory Since 1968, purports to include the most representative and important texts of contemporary architectural theory. His purpose is to show the evolution of architectural theory and its role as mediator between our society and its architecture, thus opening architecture up to other disciplines of thought. The sum of his efforts in intended to constitute the necessary history on which new theories will be built. With a few reservations, Hays' book exceeds expectations... Michael Hays has done a great service for academics and practitioners alike by charting the configuration of contemporary architectural theory." -- Edward R. Frenette, AIA, ArchitectureBoston, Issue #3, 1998

About the Author

K. Michael Hays is Eliot Noyes Professor of Architectural Theory at Harvard's Graduate School of Design. In 2000 he was appointed the first Adjunct Curator at the Whitney Museum for American Art. He is the author, among other books, of Modern Architecture and the Posthumanist Subject (1995) and the editor of Architecture Theory since 1968 (2000), both published by the MIT Press.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 784 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (October 9, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262082616
• ISBN-13: 978-0262082617
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 7.7 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,443,375 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Woa!, June 26, 2004

By 

Gavin Farrell (Cleveland, Ohio) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Architecture Theory since 1968 (Paperback)

I'm a graduate student in architecture, and for a theory course we read selections from this book, and two other similar theory anthologies, Kate Nesbitt's "Theorizing a New Agenda for Architecture," and Niel Leach's "Rethinking Architecture." All books attempt to do roughly the same thing, and I have to say the Hays (this one) was the one I got the least out of.

I'll start with one minor criticism, which wouldn't condemn the book, but is extremely infuriating: the page numbers are printed on the inside upper corners of the pages near the spine, not the outside upper corners as is standard practice in books. This makes it difficult to flip through and find what you're looking for, and is just sort of a mind-bogglingly idiotic thing to do. Compounding the problem, many pages are simply not numbered!

That little complaint aside, I guess Hays does do a pretty good job with his selection of essays. If anything it illustrates how much the discourse has obfuscated itself over the last 30+ years. To give you the the flavor of the book, here are a few selections:

"The concept of architecture is itself an inhabited constructum, a heritage wich comprehends us even before we could submit it to thought. Certain invariables remain, constant, through all the mutations of architecture. Impassable, imperturbable, an axiomatic traverses the whole history of architecture. An axiomatic, that is to say, an organized ensemble of fundamental and always presupposed evaluations. This hierarchy has fixed itself in stone; henceforth, it informs the entirety of social space."
(Jacques Derrida)

"The combination of the system theory of the urban realm with its dynamic interpretation as a pressurized field gives rise to an assembly language based on impregnation, with system elements existing simultaneously, and at least virutally, everywhere, emerging to actualization only within nodes (conjunctions) of mutually interfering systems."
(Stanford Kwinter)

"This suggests the idea of architecture as "writing" as opposed to architecture as image. What is being "written" is not the object itself - its mass and volume - but the act of massing. This idea gives a metaphoric body to the act of architecture. It then signals its reading through an other system of signs, called traces. Traces are not the be read literally, since the have no other value than to signal the idea that three is a reading event and that reading should take place; trace signals the idea to read. Thus a trace is a partial or fragmentary signal; it has no objecthood."
(Peter Eisenman)

They are not all quite like that of course, but most will not find this 'easy' reading. Learning to read english like this is a skill that takes some time to develop. Hays's little blurbs preceding each writer are decent enough, grounding you a little before you take on the selection, but they are not spectacular.

I simply cannot recommend this book to anyone other than students forced to read it or those with a highly devoted interest in contemporary architectural theory. Anybody else will find it useless. (The Nesbitt and Leach were somewhat better)

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Greatest Hits, November 30, 2002

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"billythunder" (Syracuse, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Architecture Theory since 1968 (Paperback)

This is a great book for students and professionals alike. As a collogue once said, "A Hayes book is like buying a greatest hits CD, all the good things are there". Hayes compilation saves time by retrieving the most influential articles since 1968 and places them in one place, most with a preface to the article. Must have for any student. Pages are also east to underline and annotate in the margins.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No House of Cards, June 4, 2002

By 

Chris Sullivan (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Architecture Theory since 1968 (Paperback)

I praise Michael Hayes for his succinct and accurate notation and massive inter-article references. This text is the bible of a discipline that ostensibly began in the twentieth century, as self-conscious writing began to absorb architecture as a theme or subject.

Each successive wave of theorization about architecture contains similar elements of concern and patterns of approach, each multivalent through time or the pen of the author. Hayes gathers the contentious groups and individuals who have jumped into the fray of Architectural Theory and presents them neatly, their most salient essays all within one binding.