Reading Kenneth Frampton

Gevork Hartoonian is Professor Emeritus of Architecture, University of Canberra, Australia. He is the editor of The Visibility of Modernization in Architecture: A Debate, (Routledge, forthcoming) and the author of Time, History and Architecture (Routledge 2018), and Ontology of Construction (Cambridge University Press, 1994), among other volumes.

• Introduction, Chapter 1: The Violence of Quotation; Chapter 2: A Trilogy; Chapter 3: The Vicissitudes of a Critical History; Chapter 4: In Defence of Architecture; Chapter 5: The Agency of Critical; Chapter 6: Aalto Contra Mies: A Conundrum?; Chapter 7: From Critical to Resistance; Postscript.

“The book is a critical unraveling of Frampton’s ideas; his use of Walter Benjamin, Hanna Arendt and Martin Heidegger, which the author elegantly analyzes. It is well structured and written. The approach (starting with the importance of epigraphy), the selection of key themes (the cultural, technical and territorial), and the close readings, are convincing and strong. The book speaks to Frampton’s ongoing critique of contemporary architecture culture. Hartoonian’s book is a timely contribution to this ongoing debate.” —Patricio del Real, Associate Professor of History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University, USA