The Age of Spectacle: Adventures in Architecture and the 21st-Century City

· Random House
电子书
384
符合条件

关于此电子书

'A great storyteller . . . you would be hard pushed to find a more knowledgeable or entertaining [guide]' Icon

'Such an interesting book . . . I cannot recommend it enough.' Lauren Laverne


In Dubai, a luxury apartment block is built in the shape of a giant iPod. In China, President Xi Jinping denounces the trend of constructing ‘bizarre’ new buildings in wacky shapes and colours. In Cincinnati, celebrity architect Zaha Hadid is paid millions to design a single ‘iconic’ structure – with the hope of single-handedly transforming the region’s ailing fortunes. These incidents are all part of the same story: the rise of the age of spectacle.


Over the last fifty years, there has been a revolution in how our cities operate. In The Age of Spectacle, Tom Dyckhoff tells the story of how architecture became obsessed with the flashy, the monumental and the ostentatious – and how we all have to live with the consequences. Exploring cityscapes from New York to Beijing, and from Bilbao to Portsmouth, Dyckhoff shows that we are not just witnessing a new kind of building: we are living through a fundamental transformation in how our urban spaces work. The corporate explosion of the last few decades has fundamentally shifted the relationship between architects, politicians and cities’ inhabitants, fostering innovative new kinds of engineering and design, but also facilitating ill-conceived vanity projects and commercial power-grabs.

Timely, passionate and bursting with new ideas, The Age of Spectacle is both an examination of how twenty-first century cities work, and a manifesto for a radically new kind of urbanism. Our cities, Dyckhoff shows, can thrive in the age of spectacle – but only if they engage us not just with dazzling structures, but by responding to the needs of the people who inhabit them.

'Engaging . . . The “iconic” building is the most obvious architectural phenomenon of our age yet, somehow, no one has quite done what Tom Dyckhoff does with The Age of Spectacle, which is to tell its story clearly and plainly.' Rowan Moore, Observer

'First class. Finally, a book that nails the iconic movement – Tom Dyckhoff’s The Age of Spectacle is the book that I wish I had written.' Simon Jenkins

'Unusually accessible [and] well argued.' Evening Standard

作者简介

Tom Dyckhoff is one of Britain’s best-known commentators on architecture and urbanism. He is the presenter of The Great Interior Design Challenge and the Radio 4 series The Design Dimension. He was previously architecture and design critic for BBC2’s flagship arts programme The Culture Show and architecture critic of The Times. He presented The Secret Life of Buildings for Channel 4, and his seven-part BBC2 series, Saving Britain’s Past, examined Britain's obsession with heritage. An Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute for British Architects, Dyckhoff has written widely for publications including the Guardian, GQ, Wallpaper, and the New Statesman. He lives in London.

为此电子书评分

欢迎向我们提供反馈意见。

如何阅读

智能手机和平板电脑
只要安装 AndroidiPad/iPhone 版的 Google Play 图书应用,不仅应用内容会自动与您的账号同步,还能让您随时随地在线或离线阅览图书。
笔记本电脑和台式机
您可以使用计算机的网络浏览器聆听您在 Google Play 购买的有声读物。
电子阅读器和其他设备
如果要在 Kobo 电子阅读器等电子墨水屏设备上阅读,您需要下载一个文件,并将其传输到相应设备上。若要将文件传输到受支持的电子阅读器上,请按帮助中心内的详细说明操作。