Travel, Space, Architecture

This is a book about architects first and architecture second. It looks at how travel had and continues to have an effect on the architects and their creations. It also considers the tendency of many architects to see themselves as truly citizens of the world. Traganou and Mitrasnovic both of the Parsons School of Design, have arranged the book in three parts. The first section treats the ways in which travel was reflected in design over the past three centuries. This ranged from panoramic murals of foreign lands to a colonial appropriation of the Other in orientalized buildings. The second part investigates nationalistic influences on architects. Architects coming to visit America in the 1950s, for instance, learned what they didn't want to emulate. The example of a Spanish architect designing a Greek-themed building for the Athens Olympics underscores the debate over proprietary possession of ethnic forms. The paradox of Hue, Vietnam in refurbishing imperial and colonial architecture for the tourist trade is considered. The third section is in two parts. The first questions the effect of internationality on the architects, themselves. The second looks at international movement, not just by architects but by whole cultures, those uprooted by economic or political diasporas. The ways that immigrant groups adapt their surroundings to create a new but familiar environment might be said to be a form of found architecture. The combined essays present a series of socio-artistic conundrums that beg for further exploration. Annotation c2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Dr Jilly Traganou and Dr Miodrag Mitrasinovic, Associate Professor, both at Parsons The New School of Design, New School University, New York, USA