The modern/postmodern debate has been fueled by the appearance of a new world order. And, in the aftermath of sociopolitical events such as the May 1968 student uprising in France, the antiwar movement in the United States, and the collapse of the Berlin Wall, a new set of cultural thematics has emerged. Gevork Hartoonian explores how major postfunctionalist architecture has addressed themes in postmodern culture, and in so doing argues that it is an architecture that should be viewed as historical--the gestalt of social/cultural phenomena--and not merely the product of various stylistic...

German playwright Berthold Brecht once observed that "the Finns are silent in two languages." To those familiar with Finnish society and conversation, Brecht's remark aptly summarizes the difficulty of exchanging pleasantries, let alone ideas, with Finns. Those who have come up against these impenetrable boundaries have asked themselves if the problem is climatic, sociocultural, Gemeinschaft without Gesellschaft, or some other explanation for the manifest unwillingness to confront and engage.
The intent of these essays is to explore the notion of a "culture of silence" through the basis...

The countries of Latin America exist within a framework of individuality supported by a unity based on the similar factors of urban population, rural morale, and ethnic conformation. The area is isolated even as it is centrally located in geographical terms, almost in a time warp of culture that mixes the modern with the arcane, the elite with the poor, and the primitive with the sophisticated. The common history, common destiny, and common role in the world inherent to the major countries of Latin America--Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Uruguay, and Venezuela--justify the efforts of...

"An Essay Concerning the Project" considers the practice of architectural design as it has developed during the last two centuries. In this challenging interpretation of design education and its effect on design process and products, Argentinean scholar Alfonso Corona-Martinez emphasizes the distinction between an architectural project, created in the architect's mind and materialized as a set of drawings on paper, and the realized three-dimensional building.
Corona-Martinez demonstrates how representation plays a substantial role in determining both the notion and the character of...

Metaphysical conceptions have always influenced how human societies create the built environment. Mexico--with its rich culture, full of symbol and myth, its beautiful cities, and its evocative ruins--is an excellent place to study the interplay of influences on space and place. In this volume, the authors consider the ideas and views that give the constructed spaces and buildings of Mexico--especially, of Queretaro--their particular ambience. They explore the ways the built world helps people find meaning and establish order for their earthly existence by mirroring their metaphysical...

Chilean architecture - along with that of Sao Paolo and Mexico City - sets a benchmark for the intersection of modernism with vernacular influences in Latin America. Culture, landscape, and the geology of this earthquake-prone region have all served as important filters for the practice of post-1950s design in Chile. This volume introduces the modern architecture of Chile to readers in the United States. Looking primarily at domestic architecture as a lens for studying the larger movement, Fernando Perez Oyarzun considers the relationship between theory and practice in Chile. As he shows in...