Starchitecture: Scenes, Actors, and Spectacles in Contemporary Cities

(Hardback)

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Heavily researched and impressively photographed, Starchitecture explores one of the most important, alluring, and controversial conditions in global architecture and planning today. In recent decades, attention has been lavished on the role of famous designers and their spectacular architecture, not only in their profound effects on the urban fabric, but also in the growing concept of a city's brand. The narrative of the oBilbao Effecto has spread globally, leading to an environment in which cities compete for the highest-profile cultural facilities, skyscrapers, and amenities designed by star architects whom even casual readers know by first name- Frank, Bjarke, Jean, Zaha, Norman, Rem. Yet in many cases, these developments occur with little regard for their urban context, size, and functions in the global market. The spectacular, visually seductive proposals are intended to generate public interest and tacit approval, while attention to the rationales involved in such decision-making processes are constrained, or even tacitly or deliberately misleading. This fascinating study by urbanism scholars Davide Ponzini and Michele Nastasi seeks to explain and critique this growing global condition by revealing how starchitecture has been deployed in several key cities- Abu Dhabi, Paris, Bilbao, New York City, and the architectural microcosm of the Vitra campus in Weil am Rhein, Germany. In all, Starchitecture seeks to answer important questions- how do architectural works get commissioned and procured, and what can politicians, city planners, architects, and engineers learn from the past and apply to successful city-making today

Reviews

Starchitecture is a rich and mature critique of the global trend toward high-profile iconic buildings by architects-cum-brands. While this sort of 'architectural spectacularization' is defended by neoliberal urban revivalists and just as impulsively derided by anti-globalization localists, author Ponzini and photographer Nastasi offer a more nuanced perspective. - Metropolis

Starchitecture displays how specific urban histories, politics and markets shape what the 'great architects' manage to do. Wonderfully presented as social science fused with photography. - Harvey Molotch, New York University

Impressive book, both critical and even-handed. No one is better at placing architecture in its urban context. - Robert Beauregard, Columbia University

Haunting images and lucid writing make Starchitecture a must read for all those interested in global urbanism. - Yasser Elsheshtawy, United Arab Emirates University Al Ain

Starchitecture is a fascinating exploration of an aspect of globalization which is often noted but rarely analysed or illustrated in such depth. - Paul Finch, Architectural Review

An incisive survey of contemporary 'spectacular' architecture. The book offers A highly appealing, and all too rare, combination of insightful narrative and forensic image. - Donald McNeill, Western Sydney University

Nastasi's photography is broadly urbanistic and humanistic. Here the city is a social organism, not a depopulated abstraction, where new architecture creates uplifting and meaningful environments. There is a sense of revelation in his vision of the global city as harmonious and profoundly humane. - Gary Van Zante, MIT MUSEUM Curator

Author Bio

Davide Ponzini received his PhD in Urban Planning from the Politecnico di Milano, where he is now Assistant Professor of Urban Planning. His research interests are planning theory and urban and cultural policy. He has been a visiting scholar at Yale, Johns Hopkins, Columbia, and Sciences Po. His research has been published in the main scientific planning and architectural journals and has been presented in international congresses, lectures, and seminars. He is author of the book Il territorio dei beni culturali (Carocci, Rome 2008) and coauthor of the book Spatial Planning and Urban Development- Critical Perspectives (New York- Springer, 2010).