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Fiction/non-fiction, or: Myth and the architect's architecture
Citation
Brown, A and Steen, AP, Fiction/non-fiction, or: Myth and the architect's architecture, Knowledge Cultures, 6, (2) pp. 76-95. ISSN 2327-5731 (2018) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright 2018 Addleton Academic Publishers
Abstract
Architecture is constructed not only in its images of objects, but also in its
idealization of authorship. While the one–to–one association of Architect with "their"
Architecture perpetuates the illusion of the discipline’s agency and fosters impossible
expectations of absolute control, broadly speaking, the originary and utopian impulse
remains a fundamental component of an architect’s identity. The following paper confronts
the largely unelaborated myths of the Architect’s Architecture presented by architectural
discourse by way of three exaggerated Architectural figures depicted in works of fiction:
Howard Roark (The Fountainhead), Stourley Kracklite (The Belly of an Architect) and The
Architect (The Matrix trilogy). More specifically, the paper uses these heroic/antiheroic
figures to explore three alternative relations of "Architect" to "their Architecture". As such,
the discussion performs two functions: it tests the fictionality of fictional and non-fictional
constructs that reinforce and personify the myth of Architectural authorship, measuring
fictional figures against non-fictional figures; and it presents an heuristic, offering both a
perspective on the history of twentieth century architecture, and a means with which to
negotiate cultural positioning in the ongoing present.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
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Keywords: | the figure of the Architect; architectural authorship; fictional architects; modernist architects |
Research Division: | Built Environment and Design |
Research Group: | Architecture |
Research Field: | Architectural history, theory and criticism |
Objective Division: | Culture and Society |
Objective Group: | Communication |
Objective Field: | Communication not elsewhere classified |
UTAS Author: | Steen, AP (Dr Andrew Steen) |
ID Code: | 127524 |
Year Published: | 2018 |
Deposited By: | Architecture and Design |
Deposited On: | 2018-08-02 |
Last Modified: | 2018-09-19 |
Downloads: | 71 View Download Statistics |
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