On Power in Architecture

Architecture has always been a decisive manifestation of power. This volume represents an attempt to question and reflect on the relationship between power and architecture from three philosophical perspectives: materialistic, phenomenological and post-structuralist. This collection opens an interdisciplinary investigation that aims to reflect on architecture and its interconnectedness with power within philosophy and cultural theory at large while presenting these concepts using practical examples from the built environment. Internationally recognised authors - philosophers, architectural theorists and historians - Andrew Benjamin, Andrew Ballantyne, Mladen Dolar, Hilde Heynen, Nadir Lahiji, Jeff Malpas, Dean Komel, Elke Krasny, Robert Pfaller, Gerard Reinmuth, Luka Skansi, Douglas Spencer, Teresa Stoppani and Sven-Olov Wallenstein present their reflections in original unpublished essays and interviews. In the presented works, architecture is combined and transgressed by philosophy in a new discussion that focuses only on power. The contributions in this collection open a variety of architectural questions, one of the central among them being the impact of neoliberal capitalism on architecture. Architecture, with its implications on the complex contemporary political and social reality, is severely changing our space and, more globally, our environment. A reflection on the multilayered relation between architecture and power has never been as topical as it is today. This book will, therefore, be of interest to students, researchers and academics or professionals within the fields of architecture, philosophy, sociology, political sciences and cultural sciences.

Mateja Kurir is a philosopher and researcher from Slovenia. She obtained a BA and PhD in philosophy at the University of Ljubljana. Her topics of interest within philosophy are architecture and art. She published Arhitektura moderne in das Unheimliche: Heidegger, Freud in Le Corbusier (2018). She received the Plecnik's Medal in 2022 in the field of architectural theory, criticism and publication as the editor of O oblasti v arhitekturi (On Power in Architecture) and in 2024 as the co-editor of Garden and Metaphor: Essays on the Essence of the Garden. Currently, she collaborates with different academic, research and art institutions. Previously, Mateja Kurir was a visiting researcher at the Department of Architecture, KU Leuven (2015), and postdoc researcher at the University of Rijeka (2017).

Part 1 A Materialistic Perspective 1. The Spatialization of Power 2. Architecture, Power, Embodiment 3. Architecture After Utopia: The Times of the Historical "Project" 4. Power and the Architectural Unconscious Part 2 A Phenomenological Perspective 5. Spatialising Design: Architecture in the Age of Technological Capitalism - Power, Verticality, and the Street 6. A Phenomenological Sketch of an Architectural Work and the Question of Power 7. Architecture, Phenomenology and Power: A Problematic Synthesis Part 3 A Post-Structuralist Perspective 8. The Architecture of the Counter-Measure 9. Micropolitics and Architecture 10. Phantasmagoria, Architecture and the Capitalist Enjoyment 11. Postmodern Aesthetics and Neoliberal Politics: A Relationship Between Ornament and Crime? 12. Architecture Builds Power: Ending Domination, Practicing Life-Making, Finding Response-Ability 13. On Power, Capitalism and Architecture