The Anaesthetics of Architecture

Rating:
Summary: An interesting look at the over-imaging of architecture.
Review: In this short, intentionally polemical book, Neil Leach draws on the ideas of philosophers and cultural theorists such as Walter Benjamin and Jean Baudrillard to develop a novel and highly incisive critique of the consequences of the growing preoccupation with images and image-making in contemporary architectural culture.

The problem with this preoccupation, Leach argues, is that it can induce a sort of numbness, as the saturation of images floods the senses and obscures deeper concerns. This problem is particularly acute for a discipline such as architecture, which relies heavily on visual representation. As a result, architects can become anaesthetized from the social and political realities of everyday life. In the intoxicating world of the image, the aesthetics of architecture threaten to become the anaesthetics of architecture. In this culture of aesthetic consumption, this "culture of the cocktail," meaningful discourse gives way to strategies of seduction, and architectural design is reduced to the superficial play of empty, seductive forms.

Neil Leach is Director of the Architecture and Critical Theory Program at the University of Nottingham, UK. He is the editor of Rethinking Architecture: A Reader in Cultural Theory and of Architecture and Revolution.

Rating:
Summary: excellent read
Review: Mr. Leach's polemic is thrilling. Rounding up the usual suspects like Baudrillard and Benjamin, Mr. Leach takes us on an unexpectedly critical tour of architecture's avant-garde. The seduction and infatuation of the image in modern culture is complete and total, to the point where even philosophy has been reduced to a decorative device used to tart up images that may or may not be sexy enough. This is brutal yet liberating reading for anyone who suffered architectural grad school in the late '80s or '90s. He is merciless in his critiques of Lebbeus Woods and Venturi/Scott/Brown for their amoral conflation and confusion of form and content. I read portions twice just to savor the skewering. I am surprized that some version of Mr. Leach's analysis of "aestheticization" has not reached the popular press brouhaha over the "Sensation!" exhibit. I think everyone would calm down and maybe talk about something more important than artistic freedom. There is so much more at stake. The introduction rails against "unrigorous thinking" that has dominated recent debate or theory of architecture. I think this little book will help.

Rating:
Summary: Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's Neil Leach
Review: Mr. Leach's polemic is thrilling. Rounding up the usual suspects like Baudrillard and Benjamin, Mr. Leach takes us on an unexpectedly critical tour of architecture's avant-garde. The seduction and infatuation of the image in modern culture is complete and total, to the point where even philosophy has been reduced to a decorative device used to tart up images that may or may not be sexy enough. This is brutal yet liberating reading for anyone who suffered architectural grad school in the late '80s or '90s. He is merciless in his critiques of Lebbeus Woods and Venturi/Scott/Brown for their amoral conflation and confusion of form and content. I read portions twice just to savor the skewering. I am surprized that some version of Mr. Leach's analysis of "aestheticization" has not reached the popular press brouhaha over the "Sensation!" exhibit. I think everyone would calm down and maybe talk about something more important than artistic freedom. There is so much more at stake. The introduction rails against "unrigorous thinking" that has dominated recent debate or theory of architecture. I think this little book will help.

Rating:
Summary: hyperreality
Review: quite possibly the most interesting book i've read in a long time. starts out by gripping you with the now not unfamiliar but still radically contemporary discourse about the complete loss of meaning in the world and the anonymity of the image due to complete saturation. you do start to wonder if perhaps leach has a personal grudge against venturi + scott brown but all the same a refreshing bit of criticism. definately worth a read as an intro into the issues of hyperreality and seduction as the last resort in a mind numbing world of image attack, but read it quickly as this line of thought is sure to reach a point of apocalyptic tension and then burn out.

Rating:
Summary: excellent read
Review: This book is full of penetrating insights and a fascinating look at the movements and theory that lead to the current architectural climate. I can think of no better person than Leach to examine the shallow state of most architecture today. He puts the current state of architecture in context by elaborating on Guy Debord's seminal work-Society of the Spectacle- and the ideas of the Situationists. An easy to read, to the point, enjoyable book full of great criticism and an interesting grounding in cultural theory.

Rating:
Summary: A book that has lost its direction
Review: When I saw this book in Yale University bookstore, I was extremely thrilled to discover that a book on the aesthetics of architecture has been written. However, after reading the book, I was extremely disappointed to find out that the book has wandered aimlessly in several directions, and the author seemed to have many ideas, but most of them is not critically discussed or permeable to the readers. The most distressed thing is that the book wandered off in the direction of becoming a critical review of Las Vegas and Venturi's seminal work, both Learning from Las Vegas and Complexity and Contradiction. For one, Las Vegas is not the 'contentless' city that the author subscribed to presently. It is the ultimate event city, and the author would discover that big events and 'situations' have found their place within the this city. It might even seem contradictory that this chapter on Las Vegas has worked conceptually against the main idea of the book. However, the book finally picked up its pace in the last chapter, when the author finally addressed the problem of overt aesthetics in students' work today because of the homogeneity of computer usage. It finally seemed that the last chapter is the first, and the book ended where it should have started. Overall, there is some consistencies in the arguement from Lebbeus Wood's drawings to several cultural theorists arguement on aesthetics. There is also evidence of a resurgence in Situationism, and the author has confidently picked up on this trend.However, there is not enough reference to contemporary architecture and aesthetics to warrant a serious look into this book.