Ecstatic Architecture - The Surprising Link

Jencks, Charles

ISBN 10: 0471983985 / ISBN 13: 9780471983989

Published by Academy Editions, Great Britain, 1999

About this Item

Beautifully illustrated collection of essays which examine "the historic and philosophical implications" of ecstatic architecture. Minor rubmarks. Seller Inventory # 066604

Bibliographic Details

Title: Ecstatic Architecture - The Surprising Link

Publisher: Academy Editions, Great Britain

Publication Date: 1999

Binding: Soft cover

Condition: Very Good +

Edition: First Edition.

Book Type: Book

About this title

Synopsis:

Today there is a broad trend towards an architecture that could be called ecstatic - partly motivated by pure architectural ideas pushed to their limits and a shift from functional concerns to sensual ones. Ecstatic Architecture is stimulating, holistic and overpowering; its primary contemporary monument is Frank Gehry's New Guggenheim Museum in Bilboa.

Ecstatic Architecture has opened up architectural thought and made links with historic building. The term encompasses buildings widely distant in function and time, from cave art to the new cinema centre in Dresden, from explicitly erotic architecture to buildings which have a spiritual role, from conceptual and cybernetic artefacts to pure architecture. It suggests comparisons between the current practice of leading architects such as Hans Hollein, Coop Himmelb(l)au, Nigel Coates and Egyptian, Baroque and Art Nouveau architecture.

Essays examining the historic and philosophical implications are complemented by major projects in the genre by Frank Gehry, Will Alsop, Ron Arad, Odile Decq, Eric Owen Moss and Shin Takamatsu. Major rhetorical tropes of Ecstatic Architecture are clarified in two extensive photo essays by Charles Jencks. The surprise is that Ecstatic Architecture links such widely divergent strands and forces us to reconsider architecture in a new key.

About the Author:

Charles Jencks (London, England) is an independent architectural critic. Maggie Toy (London, England) is Senior Publishing Editor for Architecture and Academy Editions and the editor of Architectural Design magazine for John Wiley & Sons.