1st Edition
Post-Western Histories of Architecture
Acknowledgements
List of Images
Introduction
1. Architecture as a ‘Political Act’
2. A Dialogue with Tradition: the Case of Italy
3. Principles of North-European Sustainability
4. The Construction of the Indian Identity
5. The Latin American Political Context and its Architecture
6. Using the African Context
7. ‘Indirect’ Context: the Case of Japan
8. China and the Re-Invention of Tradition
9. Re-embracing the Aboriginal Model: Australia
10. Context as an Opportunity. A Way of Viewing Architecture
List of Works
Bibliography
Index
Biography
Pilar Maria Guerrieri is an architectural historian who has lived between Italy, the UK and India for almost ten years. She has a PhD in Architectural Composition and a second degree in Philosophy. Currently, she teaches History of Architecture at the Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy. She is the author of Maps of Delhi (Niyogi, 2017), Negotiating Cultures: Delhi’s Architecture and Planning from 1912 to 1962 (Oxford University Press, 2018) and Egizio Nichelli Architetto (1937–1991) (Franco Angeli, 2022).
Marco Biraghi is a professor at the Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy, where he teaches History of Contemporary Architecture. His published works include Project of Crisis: Manfredo Tafuri and Contemporary Architecture (The MIT Press, 2013), Storia dell’architettura italiana 1985–2015 (with S. Micheli, Einaudi, 2013), L’architetto come intellettuale (Einaudi, 2019), Questa è architettura. Il progetto come filosofia della prassi (Einaudi, 2021) and Storia dell’architettura contemporanea II 1945–2023 (Einaudi, 2023).
Responding to recent appeals to decolonize architectural knowledge, this book presents an unconventional viewpoint beyond Western-centric narratives of the history of contemporary architecture. And it offers a thorough critical account of the diverse regions of the world (including Europe, Latin America, Africa, China, Australia, India and Japan) where architectural movements have emerged as active expressions of politics. The authors, Pilar Maria Guerrieri and Marco Biraghi, scrutinize a wide array of architectural styles and architects whose values are tangled with their respective contexts…The book offers a rich array of architectural narratives that highlight the symbiotic relationship between architecture and its socio-political milieu, urging a critical appraisal of architectural history and practice...Through a carefully selected set of examples, it reawakens discussions surrounding politics and the environment while providing a counterpoint to the hegemony of Western architectural thinking.
Ashraf M. Salama, University of Northumbria. Fall 2024 issue of Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review.
