Age of Spectacle: The Rise and Fall of Iconic Architecture

The Age of Spectacle is a book by Tom Dyckhoff that explores the rise of architecture becoming obsessed with the flashy, monumental, and ostentatious, and how this has transformed our urban spaces. It examines how the corporate explosion of the last few decades has shifted the relationship between architects, politicians, and city inhabitants, fostering innovative new kinds of engineering and design but also facilitating ill-conceived vanity projects and commercial power-grabs. The book argues that cities can thrive in the age of spectacle, but only if they engage with the needs of the people who inhabit them. It is a timely, passionate, and bursting with new ideas manifesto for a radically new kind of urbanism.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 384 pages
Publication date: 08 March 2018
Publisher: Cornerstone

A captivating storyteller, it would be challenging to discover a more knowledgeable or entertaining guide. Iconic Such an intriguing book. I cannot recommend it enough. Lauren Laverne In Dubai, a luxurious apartment block is constructed in the shape of a giant iPod. In China, President Xi Jinping criticizes the trend of constructing 'bizarre new buildings in wacky shapes and colors. In Cincinnati, celebrity architect Zaha Hadid is paid millions to design a single 'iconic structure' with the hope of single-handedly transforming the region's ailing fortunes. These incidents are all part of the same story: the rise of the age of spectacle. Over the past fifty years, there has been a revolution in how our cities operate. In The Age of Spectacle, Tom Dyckhoff tells the story of how architecture became obsessed with the flashy, the monumental, and the ostentatious – and how we all have to live with the consequences. Exploring cityscapes from New York to Beijing, and from Bilbao to Portsmouth, Dyckhoff shows that we are not just witnessing a new kind of building: we are living through a fundamental transformation in how our urban spaces work. The corporate explosion of the last few decades has fundamentally shifted the relationship between architects, politicians, and city inhabitants, fostering innovative new kinds of engineering and design, but also facilitating ill-conceived vanity projects and commercial power-grabs. Timely, passionate, and bursting with new ideas, The Age of Spectacle is both an examination of how twenty-first-century cities work and a manifesto for a radically new kind of urbanism. Our cities, Dyckhoff shows, can thrive in the age of spectacle – but only if they engage us not just with dazzling structures but by responding to the needs of the people.

Weight: 370g
Dimension: 127 x 196 x 29 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780099538233