Architecture and Preemptive Spectacles

Chapter 15 argues that to understand contemporary design practices it is necessary to critically broaden the knowledge of architectural history. Such insights reveal how material or visual environments have been able to alter or suppress prevailing perceptions of reality and prevented people from thinking in politically inconvenient ways. To substantiate such an assertion, the chapter first discusses the transition from so-called Mannerist to Baroque architecture as a shift from a critical and artistically inquisitive modality of thought to a superficial and self-referential one. Second, it explicates how the kaleidoscopic ordering of commodified reality in Victorian England helped to cover up the conflicted character of the emerging consumer culture and how the same practices of denial resurfaced in late capitalism. Lastly, it explores how the recent shift from critical theories in architecture to a superficial fascination with parametric compositions contributed to the rise of neoliberal tendencies at the beginning of the 21st century.