As he indicates in the title of his new book, British architecture critic Rowan Moore sets out to joust with Big Questions. What is the relationship between political and economic power and architectural patronage? How does active human desire translate into the latent desires embedded in architectural space? What is the relationship between the longing for home and the urge to wander?
In addressing these concerns, Moore revels in ambiguities, selecting examples to support widely differing interpretations. Drawing mostly from the 20th century, he finds projects that show how architecture can be both permanent and fleeting, how it can restrict and how it can emancipate, how it works for profit and how it finds ways to be charitable. Moore is a fluid writer and skims the surface of history with ease, but his procession of examples can sometimes feel facile, aligning neatly with his arguments instead of adding complexity.
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