Deconstruction

by Andreas C. Papadakis

Deconstruction in architecture and the visual arts is defined by writings and projects from around the world. Four sections present the work of major contributors such as Jacques Derrida, Peter Eisenman, Valerio Adami, Bernard Tschumi, Daniel Libeskind and many more. This book is an invaluable contribution to our understanding of all of one of the most talked about developments in art and architecture today.

Genres: Architecture

264 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Andreas Constantine Papadakis FLS (17 June 1938 – 10 June 2008) was a Greek Cypriot-born British academic, entrepreneur and leading figure in the field of architectural publishing. He opened the Academy Bookshop in Holland Street, Kensington in 1964 and moved into publishing as Academy Editions in 1968. From then until 1990, when he sold the company to VCH Germany (now part of John Wiley) he published more than a thousand titles mainly on art, architecture and the decorative arts.

Reviews

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book covered a large amount of ground, reviewing deconstruction related to architecture, philosophy, avant-garde art, its Russian Constructivist roots and so on. Some essays are easier to follow than others, but its fragmentary, occasionally contradictory, multi-perspective approach is probably the most suitable format for the material. One of the most fun essays to read was David Lodge’s review of the Tate Gallery Symposium and his note that they ate a buffet lunch; for such a pivotal moment in architectural history, and all the arguments that were taking place about Deconstruction versus Deconstructivism etc etc, it’s amusing that lunch still managed to be recorded. The sections where Derrida writes or is interviewed are interesting, but oftentimes, the architects come across as deliberately opaque or pompous.

[Douglas Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll admit, after discovering this stuff in the uni library as an undergrad, that I've always had a soft spot for deconstruction in architecture, but it has to be said that it is a remarkably pompous, self-important, cringe-inducing 'movement', all radical posturing and with little to no interest in the ethical strand of what deconstruction was supposed to be about. Eisenman is an apparently unwitting jester, who could have been a good architect despite himself, Libeskind, here impersonating John Ashbery, is the biggest disappointment in the whole field, whose early promise rapidly disintegrated into hack-work, and Tschumi, being the only one interested in 'deconstructing' programme, is the only one that makes any architectural sense, even if the results can be totally drab.

[bryan boyer]

In paperback

[Adjie Bramantyo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Saya harus mengaku. Buku kumpulan artikel arsitektur ini memang begitu mempengaruhi cara berpikir saya.