Architecture and Identity: Responses to Cultural and Technological Change

'Instead of tuning the consumer to the machine we can now tune the machine to the consumer' This edited collection of essays, now in its second edition, brings together the author's key writings on the cultural, technological and theoretical developments reshaping Modern architecture into a responsive and diverse movement for the twenty-first century. Chris Abel approaches his subject from a wide range of knowledge, including cybernetics, philosophy, new human science and development planning, as well as his experience as a teacher and critic on four continents. The result is a unique global perspective on the changing nature of Modern architecture at the turn of the millennium. Including two new chapters, this revised and expanded second edition offers radical insights into such topics as: the impact of information technology on customized architecture production; the relations between tradition and innovation; prospects for a global eco-culture, and the local and global forces shaping the architecture and cities of Asia. Chris Abel is an architectural writer and educator, based in Malta. He has taught at major universities in the UK, North and South America, Southeast Asia and the Middle East and is a contributor to numerous international journals and other publications. He currently holds visiting appointments at the University of Malta and the University of the Phillippines.

Table of Contents:
Part 1: Science and technology: Ditching the dinosaur sanctuary; Urban chaos or self-organization?; Design method and new science; Return to craft manufacture; Visible and invisible complexities; The bio-tech architecture workshop Part 2: Critical theory: Rationality and Meaning in design; Architectural language games; The role of metaphor in changing architectural concepts; Function of tacit knowing in learning to design; The essential tension; Tradition, innovation and linked solutions; Part 3: Regionalism and Globalization: Architecture as identity; Living in a hybrid world; Regional transformations; Prime objects; Localization versus globalization; Ecodevelopment, technology and regionalism; Architecture in the Pacific ocean; Notes and references.

Review :
'I have always enjoyed the writings of Chris Abel. They are full of surprising insights and provocative connections spanning such diverse issues as history, technology and ecology.' Sir Norman Foster 'Chris Abel is probably the only Western architectural critic relentlessly keeping up to date and writing incisively about the development of contemporary architecture and ideas in Asia Pacific. His authority is sustained by personal commitment and regular visits to the region.' Ken Yeang 'Chris Abel is a nomad in the intellectual as well as in the geographical sense... The result is always unconventional and challenging, and sometimes impressively prescient.' The Architectural Review 'Abel writes in a brisk, no-nonsense manner and steers clear of glib acceptance of received wisdom...Where he really scores is with his discussions of regional architecture in far-flung parts of the world, pointing out the need to understand overseas cultures in their own terms.' Times Literary Supplement 'An excellent review of the relationship between science and technology on the one hand, and human sciences on the other, as they relate to architecture in an increasingly global setting.' Steve King, Senior Lecturer, University of New South Wales, Australia