Reading List | Core Concepts of Contemporary Architectural Discourse
Navigating Architectural Theory
This compilation of texts aims to map the landscape of contemporary architectural discourse. This list is a WIP.
Core Concepts
This first section consists of canonical topics in contemporary architecture discourse.
Aesthetic Theory
Kant, I. (1790). Critique of Judgement
Goldblatt, D. (1991). The Dislocation of the Architectural Self
Rancière, J. (2004). The Politics of Aesthetics
Young, M. (2019). Aesthetics of the Abstract
Representation
May, J. (2019). Signal, Image, Architecture
Young, M. (2020). In the Shadows of Information
Young, M. (2021). Reality Modeled After Images
Tectonics
Sekler, E. (1965). Structure Construction Tectonic
Frampton, K. (1990). Rappel a l’ordre Case for Tectonics
Diagram
Kwinter, S. (1998). The Genealogy of Models: The Hammer and the Song
Allen, S. (1998). Diagrams Matter
Eisenman, P. (1998). Diagram: An Original Scene of Writing
Field
Allen, S. (1997). Field Conditions
Somol, R. | Whiting, S. (2002). Notes Around the Doppler Effect
Surface/Data
Schumacher, P. (2008). Parametricism as Style
Lynn, G. (2011). Composition, Surface, and Software
Lynn, G. (2013). Architecture curvilinearity
Folding
Deleuze, G. (1993). The Fold: Leibniz and the Baroque
Lynn, G. (1993). Folding in Architecture
Phenomenology
Heidegger, M. (1954) Building Dwelling, Thinking
Bachelard, G. (1957). Poetics of space
Frampton, K. (1974) On reading Heidegger
Gadamer, H. G. (1975). Truth and Method
Post-Structuralism
Foucault, M. (1985). Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias
Derrida, J. (1986) Architecture where desire may live
Deleuze, G. (1992) Postscript of societies of control
Object-Oriented Ontology
Harman, G. (2002). Tool-Being: Heidegger and the Metaphysics of Objects
Harman, G. (2011). The Quadruple Object
Bogost, I. (2012). Alien Phenomenology
Harman, G. (2013). Undermining, Overmining, and Duomining: A Critique
Morton, T. (2013). Hyperobjects: philosophy and ecology after the end of the world
Gage, M.F. (2015). Killing Simplicity: Object-Oriented Philosophy In Architecture
Late Capitalism
Venturi, R. (1972) Learning from Las Vegas
Jameson, F. (1991) Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism
Koolhaas, R. (1994) Bigness
Koolhaas, R. (2004) Junk Space
Core Texts
This section consists of text which are considered core readings for architectural discourse, but do not neatly fit into any of the above categories.
Venturi, R. (1966) Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture
Koolhaas, R. (1978) Delirious New York
Tschumi, B. (1981) The Manhattan Transcripts
Supplemental Anthologies
Architecture Theory
Hays, M. (1998). Architecture Theory Since 1968
Leach, N. (1997). Rethinking Architecture: A Reader in Cultural Theory
Jencks, C. | Kropf, K. (2006). Theories and Manifestos of Contemporary Architecture
Aesthetics
Gage, M.F. (2011). Aesthetic Theory
Cahn, S. | Ross, S. | Shapshay, S. (2020). Aesthetics: A Comprehensive Anthology
Core Writers
This final section consists of writers who felt missing from the above list, but remain key figures in contemporary architecture discourse.
Hejduk, J. (1989). Mask of Medusa
Eisenman, P. (1999). Diagram Diaries
Carpo, M. (2011). The Alphabet and the Algorithm
Thank you for reading. Keep in mind that this reading list is a work in progress and will get adjusted in the future.