Truth, Radicality and Beyond in Contemporary Architechture (New Architecture): 5

Taking its lead from Jorge Glusberg's Architecture Bienal, this volume follows contemporary currents in architectural theory and practice, including their dialogue with the modern and search for innovation. As Wolf Prix describes, this is the time and state of in between. For Jean Baudrillard, there still exists, beyond all illusion or disillusion, a future for architecture, even if its future is not necessarily architectural. His lecture Truth or Radicality in Architecture represents the starting point for this debate. Other articles include Kenneth Frampton's Megaform as Urban Landscape, and Lionel March's From Digital and Beyond. It is that 'beyond' that appears to be the object of desire. If the future of architecture is certain, the path to that future is still under investigation, as Franco Purini explains. The featured projects present the anticipation of the 'beyond' in the architecture of Arquitectonica, Coop Himmelb(l)au, Massimiliano Fuksas, Zaha Hadid, Toyo Ito and Peter Pran all striving for 'freedom from the box.' The virtual arrives with Asymptote's Virtual Guggenheim. Also featured are the megastructure in the work of Foster and Partners; Hans Hollein's innovative treatment of symbols; and the echoes of landscape in Itsuko Hasegawa's recent projects. A glimpse of the 'beyond' figures in the consistent but evolving work of Renzo Piano and Philip Johnson.