With contributions from provocative art and architectural historians, this book is a unique exposition of the temporary architecture erected for festivals and the role it has played in developing Western architectural and urban theory.
Festival Architecture is arranged in historical periods – from Antiquity to the modern era – and divided between analyses of specific festivals, set in relation to contemporary architecture and urban design ideas and theories.
Illustrated with a wealth of unusual and rarely-seen images from the European festival tradition, this is a fascinating outline of the history of festival architecture ideal for postgraduate architecture and urban design students.
1. Introduction Sarah Bonnemaison and Christine Macy Part 1: Ritual and architecture in antiquity 2. The festive experience: Roman processions in the urban context Diane Favro Part 2: Renaissance and Baroque spectacle as representations of power 3. Festival bridal entries in Renaissance Ferrara Diane Yvonne Ghirardo 4. Festivals of state: the representation of power in late Renaissance and Baroque Venice Margherita Azzi Visentini 5. Statecraft or Stagecraft? English paper architecture in the seventeenth century Caroline van Eck 6. Framing history: the jubilee of 1625, the dedication of new Saint Peter’s and the Baldacchino Maarten Delbeke Part 3: Eighteenth century festivals and urban beautification 7. The speculative challenges of festival architecture in eighteenth century France Eric Monin Part 4: World expositions and the idea of modernity 8. Marking time and space in the city: Kromhout’s decorations for the investiture of Wilhelmina in Amsterdam Nancy Stieber 9. Sound, light, and the mystique of space in Paris, 1937 Robert Weddle Part 5: Festivals of resistance 10. Festival urbanism: carnival as an expression of civil society in nineteenth century Basel Christine Macy 11. Taking back the street, Paris 1968-1978 Sarah Bonnemaison
Biography
Sarah Bonnemaison and Christine Macy have been involved in festival architecture since 1987, designing, lecturing and writing about it. Their book Architecture and Nature: creating the American landscape (Routledge 2003) won the 2005 Alice Davis Hitchcock Prize from the Society of Architectural Historians. They teach design and architectural history at Dalhousie University in Canada.
