Buildings are not benign; rather, they commonly manipulate and abuse their human users. Architectural Agents makes the case that buildings act in the world independently of their makers, patrons, owners, or occupants. And often they act badly.

Treating buildings as bodies, Annabel Jane Wharton writes biographies of symptomatic structures in order to diagnose their pathologies. The violence of some sites is rooted in historical trauma; the unhealthy spatial behaviors of other spaces stem from political and economic ruthlessness. The places examined range from the Cloisters Museum in New York City and the Palestine Archaeological Museum (renamed the Rockefeller Museum) in Jerusalem to the grand Hostal de los Reyes Catolicos in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, and Las Vegas casino resorts. Recognizing that a study of pathological spaces would not be complete without an investigation of digital structures, Wharton integrates into her argument an original consideration of the powerful architectures of video games and immersive worlds. Her work mounts a persuasive critique of popular phenomenological treatments of architecture.

Architectural Agents advances an alternative theorization of buildings' agency-one rooted in buildings' essential materiality and historical formation-as the basis for her significant intervention in current debates over the boundaries separating humans, animals, and machines.

About the Author

Annabel Jane Wharton is William B. Hamilton Professor of Art History at Duke University. Her most recent books include Building the Cold War: Hilton International Hotels and Modern Architecture, selected by Economist as one of the best books of 2001, and Selling Jerusalem: Relics, Replicas, Theme Parks.

Reviews

"Provocative and entertaining . . . a tour de force, richly imaginative, and full of warmth and insight."-Times Higher Education

"Wharton upends new stones of inquiry and exploration."-Art Libraries Society of North America

"This is an important book for architectural historians and Preservationists."-CHOICE

"These are all well-researched and entertainingly written pieces ... indeed, the delightful and richly annotated essays in this volume make their arguments and methodology perfectly clear on their own."-Traditional Dwellings and Settlements review

"An insightful analysis of the political and social history of space and architecture in American, Middle Eastern, and European urban cultures."-Reading Religion

Book Information
ISBN 9780816693399
Author Annabel Jane Wharton
Format Paperback
Page Count 344
Imprint University of Minnesota Press
Publisher University of Minnesota Press
Dimensions(mm) 254mm * 178mm * 38mm