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The Edifice Complex: How the Rich and Powerful Shape the World (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "I USED TO KEEP A PHOTOGRAPH TORN FROM A TABLOID PINNED UP over my desk..." (more)
Key Phrases: debating chamber, architectural language, New York, Los Angeles, World Trade Center (more...)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Everything is political, especially architecture, Sudjic demonstrates in this provocative consideration of the world's most notable architectural triumphs and the masters who commissioned them. From Stalin to Mitterrand to Saddam Hussein, argues Sudjic, "architecture is used by political leaders to seduce, to impress and to intimidate." The evidence is all around us, he says, even in the attack on New York City's Twin Towers, which he views as "a literal acceptance of the iconic power of architecture." Zipping through pre-Partition Pakistan, Nazi Germany, modern-day New York and back, Sudjic shows how buildings are employed to demonstrate a state's power, to build a nation's cultural identity and to assure leaders that their legacies are both admirable and memorable. As for the architects who design such iconic structures—from Hitler's confidant Albert Speer to ground zero's "therapist" Daniel Libeskind—Sudjic reveals that they often have motivations that are startlingly distinct from those who hire them. Sudjic's research is thorough, and his prose lively and sharp. But his accounts can be meandering and chaotic, jumping in one instance from Malaysia's Petronas Towers to the background of a September 11 suicide bomber. Architecture connoisseurs will appreciate the gossipy histories and the original lines of thought, but readers less familiar with the subject may feel dizzied by Sudjik's erudite collages. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Booklist

*Starred Review* Sudjic, the architectural critic for London's Observer matches an electrifying writing style with an invaluable international perspective and a shrewd understanding of the politics of architecture to create a unique and revelatory history of modern architectural excess, the bitter fruits of what he calls "the edifice complex." Tyrants are especially prone to this syndrome, including Saddam Hussein, who was inspired by Hitler and his architect, Albert Speer, and Stalin, who also built self-aggrandizing monstrosities based on a "pathological obsession with size, symmetry, and a blatantly literal iconography." Sudjic switches to less-brutal forms of architectural follies, such as Nelson Rockefeller's deplorable Albany Mall, and takes architects to task for other monumental projects in which "form no longer follows function--it follows image." Sudjic writes with particular vigor about the unparalleled building boom in Beijing. And in his lively critiques of trendsetting architects Philip Johnson, Frank Gehry, Yung Ho Chang, Rem Koolhaas, and Daniel Libeskind and the controversy over the World Trade Center site, Sudjic astutely parses both the psychological and political dimensions of architecture, a timely subject given the sure-to-be heated debate over how to rebuild the hurricane-ravaged Gulf states. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 416 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The (November 3, 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1594200688
  • ISBN-13: 978-1594200687
  • Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #389,012 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #76 in  Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Political Science > Movements > Nationalism

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More About the Author

Deyan Sudjic
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
I USED TO KEEP A PHOTOGRAPH TORN FROM A TABLOID PINNED UP over my desk. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
debating chamber, architectural language
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Los Angeles, World Trade Center, Crystal Cathedral, Richard Meier, Saddam Hussein, Philip Johnson, Soviet Union, Frank Gehry, World War, Palace of the Soviets, Albert Speer, Garden Grove, New Delhi, Las Vegas, Tiananmen Square, Yung Ho, Nelson Rockefeller, Norman Foster, United States, Zhang Kaiji, Forbidden City, Oval Office, Renzo Piano, United Nations
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Customer Reviews

6 Reviews
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4.7 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A joy!, December 13, 2005
By Ping Lim (Christchurch) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This book is not only informative but highly entertaining at the same time. One would consider this a high quality journalistic piece rather than cerebral thesis. As the title said appropriately, Deyan discussed the significance of architecture in humanity. Some architects and urban planners would design buildings and city plan to facilitate civilisationn whilst some would twist these disciplines to endorse their idealogies, expressing their yearning for immortality. Naturally, a few meglomaniacs such as Chairman Mao, Stalin, Saddam Hussein, Hitler, Miterrand, Mussolini and many others are featured in length. There were also discussions about the "superarchitects", of why they become so, of why they have become their own worst enemies, of why some have let egos get the better of them (namely David Childs from SOM versus Daniel Libeskind regarding the construction of Freedom Tower on Ground Zero). I truly say that after reading the book, I'm more informed of the architecture around me. Suffice to say that it's ideal to read the book now where the featured projects are still fresh and up-to-date. In another five years or beyond, it might become less convincing to the younger generation despite that the essence of architecture shall remain the same. As one should know, architecture takes a long time to evolve. If you refer to Palladio design, it's still a fresh as it was concocted few hundred years ago. A book written with conviction and passion by an enthusiastic but knowledgeable author who shares with eager and enthusiastic reader like myself. Highly recommended and look forward to a sequel if there's such a thing. The only improvement I can comment is probably including pictures of those mentioned buildings as reference. In doing so, the book become more interactive and even more effective. What a joy!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Reveals Monolithic Minds, June 11, 2006
The individual sentences of this book are written in a literate, engaging style. The author is a master of the telling figure of speech. For example, he compares some architects' broad, over-the-top creations to books published in large-print. However, the paragraphs often follow a somewhat difficult zigzag course. Reading along them is like trying to get a zipper back on track. Sudjic refers now to an architect - now to his predecessor - now to his replacement.

Nevertheless, this book is worth the concentration it takes to read it through. When you finish, you will have a better insight into the minds of many dictators and tyrants than a whole host of psychology books can offer. After all the analyses of Hitler's motives that have been put forth, after all the anguished Holocaust questionings of "Why?" - this book gives one of the most revealing looks into what might impel such savage destruction. You will see the drive these men have to clear away diverse individuality and to replace it with monolithic constructions designed to memorialize them for the ages. It's Ozymandias all over again and again.

There are also good chapters on less weighty building projects - such as the various Presidential libraries. And for mystery fans, you will even find a good true-life murder story here.

I just wish the publishers of this book had gone to the extra expense of including pictures. It would have been valuable to see the buildings that Sudjic refers to as he describes them.

My only other criticism is that when all is said and done, Sudjic still seems to subscribe to the idea of architecture as a great man's sculpting projected large upon the landscape. He seems to approve of Brasilia, for example - with all its incommodious vastness of space and structure. Sudjic would do well to incorporate the ideas of urbanologist Jane Jacobs into his analyses. But you can compare the philosophies yourself. After reading this book, get a copy of Jacobs' "Death and Life of Great American Cities" for a more complete understanding of how form really must be made to follow function.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Edification, March 5, 2006
Learned from it and loved it. Highly recomend the book; you'll never look at buildings the same.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Staying Power
This is a profound book on the nasty ways power expresses itself in the built environment. Although these chapters seem culled from Sudjic's articles, and will therefore have the... Read more
Published 8 months ago by curt dilger

5.0 out of 5 stars It makes you look at buildings differently
Mr. Sudjic is an architecture critic. In this book he talks about the buildings that the wealthy and the powerful have put up to honor themselves. Read more
Published on March 21, 2006 by John Matlock

5.0 out of 5 stars A good read without untranslatable archibabble
This is a very readable book that moves quickly to new projects and players without getting dull. The only drawback is a lack of illustrations but the writer is so good at... Read more
Published on March 7, 2006 by House Paper Scissors

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