Architecture of the Absurd
Subtitle: How "Genius" Disfigured a Practical Art
Publisher: Quantuck Lane; Quantuck Lane Press; Distributed by W.W. Norton & Co.
Published: November 12, 2007
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 128
ISBN-13: 9781593720278
Subjects: Architectural structure & design; Theory of architecture; 21st century; Postwar period, 1945 to c 2000; Architecture; History - Specific Styles; Architecture / Criticism; Criticism; Absurd (Philosophy) in art; Creation (Literary, artistic, etc.); Human factors
Description: "Have you ever wondered why the Guggenheim is always covered in scaffolding? Why the slashes on the exterior of Libeskind's Jewish Museum, supposed to represent Jewish life in prewar Berlin, reappear, for no reason, on his Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto? Or why Gehry's design for an MIT lab for sensitive research has glass walls? Not to mention why, for $44.2 per square foot, it doesn't keep out the rain? You're not alone." "In Architecture of the Absurd, John Silber dares to peek behind the curtain of "genius" architects and expose their willful disdain for their clients, their budgets, and the people who live or work inside their creations."

"In his twenty-five years as President of Boston University, Dr. Silber oversaw a building program totaling more than 13 million square feet. Here he constructs an unflinching case, beautifully illustrated, against the worst trends in contemporary architecture. He challenges architects to derive creative satisfaction from meeting the practical needs of clients and the public. He urges the directors of our universities, symphony orchestras, museums, and corporations to stop financing inefficient, overpriced architecture, and calls on clients and the public to tell the emperors of our skylines that their pretensions cannot hide the naked absurdity of their designs."--Jacket.