Edifice Complex: The Architecture of Power - Softcover

Deyan Sudjic

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0241952778 ISBN 13: 9780241952771

Publisher: Penguin Books, 2011

Synopsis

Deyan Sudjic''s The Edifice Complex: The Architecture of Power is a fascinating exploration of the language of architecture as an insight into the psychology of power, from tyrants to billionaires.

Why do presidents and prime ministers, tycoons and tyrants share such a fascination with grand designs? Is it to impress or terrify, to wield state power, make a bid for immortality or just satisfy their egos?

From Hitler''s vast Chancellery to Saddam Hussein''s Mother of all Battles mosque, from Olympic stadiums to Donald Trump''s excesses, Deyan Sudjic examines the murky relationship between buildings, money and politics, revealing the power of architecture - and the architecture of power.

''A thrilling and passionately indignant trawl through vanity''s most polluted depths''
  The Times

''An often frightening, sometimes hilarious set of stories of brutality, absurdity and occasionally beauty''
  Evening Standar

''Punchily written ... deftly amusing ... a closely argued, brilliantly marshalled, important book''
  Daily Mail

''Informed, lively and intelligent ... an asylum of power-mad politicians and Croesus-rich patrons''
  New Statesman

''By turns funny, acidic, penetrating and provocative ... as compelling a read as a popular novel''
  Norman Foster

Director of the Design Museum, Deyan Sudjic was born in London of Yugoslav parents. He is a former architecture critic for the Observer, and a visiting professor at the Royal College of Art. Sudjic was Director of the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2002 and is author of The Edifice Complex, the much-praised 100-Miles City, the best-selling Architecture Pack, The Language of Things and monographs on John Pawson, Ron Arad and Richard Rogers.

About this title

About the Author

Deyan Sudjic is Director of the Design Museum. He was born in London, and studied architecture in Edinburgh. He has worked as a critic for the Observer and The Sunday Times, as the editor of Domus in Milan, as the director of the Venice Architecture Biennale, and as a curator in Glasgow, Istanbul and Copenhagen. He is the author of B is for Bauhaus, The Language of Things and The Edifice Complex.

Review

Astonishing ... a thrilling and passionately indignant trawl through vanity's most polluted depths -- Jonathan Meades * Times * Punchily written ... deftly amusing ... a closely argued, brilliantly marshalled, important book -- Tom Rosenthal * Daily Mail * Full of fascinating fact and smart observation ... clever, stimulating and thoughtful -- Stephen Bayley * Observer * Essential reading for anyone who cares about the physical world around them -- Amanda Levete * Independent * As compelling a read as a popular novel ... it is as though the worlds of academe and the gossip column collide ... funny, acidic, penetrating and provocative -- Norman Foster * Royal Academy Magazine *

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0241952778
• ISBN 13: 9780241952771
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 464