Architecture and Disjunction

by Bernard Tschumi

Avant-garde theorist and architect Bernard Tschumi is equally well known for his writing and his practice. Architecture and Disjunction , which brings together Tschumi's essays from 1975 to 1990, is a lucid and provocative analysis of many of the key issues that have engaged architectural discourse over the past two decades—from deconstructive theory to recent concerns with the notions of event and program. The essays develop different themes in contemporary theory as they relate to the actual making of architecture, attempting to realign the discipline with a new world culture characterized by both discontinuity and heterogeneity. Included are a number of seminal essays that incited broad attention when they first appeared in magazines and journals, as well as more recent and topical texts.Tschumi's discourse has always been considered radical and disturbing. He opposes modernist ideology and postmodern nostalgia since both impose restrictive criteria on what may be deemed "legitimate" cultural conditions. He argues for focusing on our immediate cultural situation, which is distinguished by a new postindustrial "unhomeliness" reflected in the ad hoc erection of buildings with multipurpose programs. The condition of New York and the chaos of Tokyo are thus perceived as legitimate urban forms.

Genres: Architecture, Nonfiction, Art, Theory, Design, Essays, Criticism

278 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1994

About the author

Bernard Tschumi is an architect, writer, and educator, commonly associated with deconstructivism.

Reviews

[Adri]

adoro quando a mara tem trabalhos interessantes para fazer

[Laurasmoot · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like an essay in this book called "The Pleasure of Architecture," written in 1977. Architectural theory can get hung up on form and function, the purpose of ornamentation or the other things that are more enjoyable than just the utility of good building design... Calling for more inclusion of the irrational, Tschumi discusses the sensual aspects of space through sexual analogy: transgression, limits, excess, seduction, play. My notes from college about the essay say things like "eroticism is pleasure of excess, not excess of pleasure, and architectural eroticism is a more subtle concept than saying skyscrapers are phallic. it’s the junction between space and concept brought to excessiveness by an architectural act."

I live among buildings most of the time and I like thinking about these things.

[Devin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Architecture not as spaces but as activity and potentials.

[mili · Rating 5 out of 5]

9/10

actually finished this one more than half a year ago but forgot to mark it as read

its been so long and yet i almost daily think about the questions in the book

everything about the space

this might be also cause i had to write two papers on it but hm lol

[Leonardo]

Bernard Tschumi, partiendo de la premisa de que no hay ninguna relación establecida entre la forma arquitectónica y los actos que se producen dentro de ella, sacó una conclusión sociocrítica: esta brecha abre el espacio para el socavamiento crítico. El papel de la arquitectura no es expresar una estructura social existente, sino funcionar como una herramienta para cuestionar esa estructura y modificarla.

Viviendo en el Final de los Tiempos Pág.285

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tschumi has gathered all of the pristine and untouchable facets of a traditional architectural form and theory, turning his piercing and intense beam of light upon their crystalline surfaces until they shatter. Under Tschumi, architecture schintillates in a magnificent, engrossing supernova integration critical theory, literature, art, deconstruction, archetype, sociolinguistics, Bataille's erotic sublime. These texts are revolutionary, traversing the entire field of architecture while remaining engrossing and highly readable.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the introduction and most, but not all, of the essays in this book. Many of them were particularly useful in my research into metaphors, including the paper De-Dis-Ex-.

Overall, Tschumi’s writing style is accessible, and it is clear that there are strong, recurring themes in his thinking / writing: 'transgression,' ‘superimposition’, ‘dissociation’, ‘violence,’ ‘pleasure,’ and the breakdown of the cause-and-effect relationship’ (between form and function).

The repetition creates the sense of a man committed to his ideas, but also that Tschumi holds onto those ideas too tightly, perhaps for too long. In his constant reiteration of his rejection of context, his repeated denials of topology, and transgressions of tradition, it starts to feel less like a liberating manifesto and more like a maxim or a dogma. Say and do the same thing too many times and it ceases to be shocking, and eventually risks becoming cliché. Unfortunately, that is the feeling I get from reading this book – what starts out as feeling novel and fresh soon starts to feel like self-plagiarism. also, Tschumi has so many constructed projects, it seems strange that he keeps returning to his first project, Parc de la Villette, to illustrate his ideas.

(For those looking for material on his park project, the chapter on 'Madness and Combinative' and 'Abstract Mediation and Strategy' are both useful.)

[Taliarochminska]

"The pleasure of space" this cannot be put into words, it is unspoken. Taken to extreme, the pleasure of space leans toward poetics of the unconscious, the edge of madness.

The pleasure of geometry and by extension the pleasure of order - that is the pleasure of concepts.


These essays should be perhaps read in conversation with Roger Scruton's "Why beauty matters", in the manifesto of the utility of beauty -where contemporary postmodernist architecture is portrayed to lose its utility, precisely due to mistake of forsaking beauty for the goal of utility. The displeasure of living in the ugliness in its irony has led to the abandonment of the supposedly utilitarian spaces.

The question I would pose is about the consciousness of the pleasures of architecture - just like in any other art - to what extent naive observation and sensation is enough, and to what extent it ought to be supplemented by more conscious analysis and understanding of symbolism - even if geometrical- to fully comprehend and at the end of the day to fully enjoy the space and its meaning.


Nevertheless, I think Tschumi went a bit to far with philosophizing the architecture in his comparison to Marquis de Sade. You know, it's a bit of a stretch.

[Hailane Salam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Architecture and Disjunction is like a reminder that buildings aren’t just about being neat and orderly. Bernard Tschumi explores the idea that architecture can be exciting when it embraces the unexpected, the messy, and the surprising things that happen in spaces.

Tschumi’s writing is daring and makes you think differently about design. He believes that the best architecture doesn’t just follow the rules—it breaks them to create something new and interesting. This book is filled with ideas that show buildings as more than just structures—they can be experiences that surprise, challenge, and even make you smile.

If you’re curious about architecture that’s different and full of surprises, Architecture and Disjunction will help you see how disruption can be a good thing. It’s a book that encourages you to think about what architecture can truly be.

[Dovi Diamond · Rating 3 out of 5]

pretty good. scholarly.

[Berta Guerra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Qué increíble

[Lilac · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book felt like an affirming conversation

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book, a little dated, but interesting with important projects.

[Fiore Vc]

sasas