PT Journal
AU Wells, M
TI The Blind Spot
SO archimaera
PY 2021
VL 2021
IS 9
AB As we scroll through Instagram or Dezeen contemporary architecture is presented in carefully angled photographs, composed to mediate ideas about buildings that render certain aspects invisible. Absent from the pre­ sentation of modern architecture is any acknowledgment of its mainte­ nance, eventual obsolescence or its dependence on a constellation of tech­ nical installations, materials, and expertise. What we now understand as architecture is less a spatial or a tectonic task based on aesthetic principles, but as was defined in the nineteenth century, the act of forming closed en­ vironments, with substances, energy, and people quantified into very pre­ cise programmes. This essay considers these environments, problematising them through the invisible technologies that enable their enclosure and considering how these concerns affect our experiences of the world.
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