Buildings and Power: Freedom and Control in the Origin of Modern Building Types

Buildings and Power shifts the focus of architectural debate from the dominant themes of art and technology to an analysis of meaning in terms of social relations. Buildings are primarily social objects - their forms provide answers to questions we ask about ourselves, questions of power, order, classification and function. Everything about a building has social meaning - its form, function and spatial structure are each capable of analysis. Buildings and Power focuses on the emergence of new building types during the critical period between the Enlightenment and the French and Industrial Revolutions. The types are divided between those which control relations between people directly - schools, institutions of various kinds, buildings for cleaning and hygiene, clubs, assembly rooms and hotels; those which reproduce knowlege - museums, galleries, institutes; those used for production and exchange - mills, production utopias, markets, shops, and exchanges. Throughout, the book is lavishly illustrated with photographs, drawings, maps and plans. The book's concern is not for history but for the place of architecture in the modern world. It provokes questions about the ways we design, build and imagine our environment, about the ways architecture can liberate or confine our lives. Buildings and Power is addressed to those involved in the creation of the built environment - architects, planners and geographers; those engaged in the study of art and social history, social science and material culture; above all to anyone interested in buildings and what is written about them.

Table of Contents:

Introduction Part I: Some Underlying Ideas 1. The Shape of the Argument 2. Why Can We Use Buildings? Part II: Buildings and People 3. Formation 4. Re-Formation 5. Cleanliness is next to Godliness 6. Re-Creation Part III: Buildings and Knowledge 7. Visible Knowledge 8. Emphmeral Knowledge 9. Invisible Knowledge Part IV: Buildings and Things 10. Production 11. Exchange Part V: Concluding Remarks Notes Biography Knowledge

'Markus's approach is not the only one available ... but it fulfils a vital function in raising more questions than it answers ... academic playground antics continue to hinder the development of new insights. Precisely because of this, the book will act as one of the bench marks to which the debate about architecture will refer. Everyone will find something to argue with, for this reason alone it should be read.' - Building Design

'You could call it the illustrated Foucault: it is an extraordinary, lavishly illustrated account ... the illustrations and commentaries are brilliant.' - RSA Journal

'The publishers and the printers of this book must be congratulated for the superb quality of the illustrations. Over 300 photographs, drawings and engravings are produced with silky black-and-white tones and contribute to making this work one of the best books on architectural and social history in a long time.' - Irish Times

'The outstanding feature is Markus' precision and exhaustive learning. To chart the historical evolution of even one type of building without error or omission is an achievement. Markus performs flawlessly across every field.. . the result of these endeavors, then, is a book of extraordinary and lasting value.' - Architecture Today

'Markus provides a valuable and powerful argument for placing the social context over evaluation of architecture as merely art, technological advancement or a component in an economic system ... The author's saluatory remark identifies the challenge to architects to demonstrate the added value of appropriate social meaning in their designs. This, though is one of the many questions addressed in this stimulating book, of which its own added value is its scholarship.' - Architectural Review

'Many of Markus' cases are unfamiliar and fascinating ... illustration is wonderfully profuse with plenty of plans. Much credit to the author for uncovering and bringing together all this interesting material.' - The Architects' Journal

'Dry but crunchy: architecture with morality.' - Modern Review

'This study is without doubt a very substantial contribution to our historical knowledge and makes the reader think much harder about the functional narrative and spatial organization of buildings.' - Journal of Environmental Psychology

'Rather than "decoding" architecture through words, understand it through images as Markus does, or better still go and see it.' - Times Higher Education Supplement

'The outstanding feature is Markus' precision and exhaustive learning. To chart the historical evolution of even one type of building without error or omission is an achievement. Markus performs flawlessly across every field ... the result of these endeavours, then, is a book of extraordinary and lasting value.'-Architecture Today