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Best regards, Andrew Stewart - - - Subscribe to the Washington Babylon newsletter via https://washingtonbabylon.com/newsletter/ Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <h-rev...@lists.h-net.org> > Date: February 19, 2020 at 8:53:59 AM EST > To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > Cc: H-Net Staff <revh...@mail.h-net.org> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Urban]: Calvo Salve on Arantes, 'The Rent of Form: > Architecture and Labor in the Digital Age' > Reply-To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > > Pedro Fiori Arantes. The Rent of Form: Architecture and Labor in the > Digital Age. Translated by Adriana Kauffmann. Buell Center Books in > the History and Theory of American Architecture Series. Minneapolis > University of Minnesota Press, 2019. 312 pp. $30.00 (paper), ISBN > 978-0-8166-9929-2; $120.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-8166-9928-5. > > Reviewed by Miguel Calvo Salve (Marywood University) > Published on H-Urban (February, 2020) > Commissioned by Alexander Vari > > The book under review is a translation and revision of the original > _Arquitetura na Era Digital-Financeira: Desenho, Canteiro e Renda da > Forma_, written by Pedro Fiori Arantes in Portuguese and published in > 2010 by the press of the Universidad de Sao Paulo, Brazil. The > original book is an adaptation of Arantes's PhD dissertation of the > same title completed in 2010 at the Universidad de Sao Paulo. The > reworked English translation brings the publication up to date as a > timely book, although most of the projects mentioned in it already > have been in existence more than ten years. Yet the topic is still > current in the field of architecture since the commoditization of > images of architecture has continued to proliferate. The elitism and > monopoly of the so-called star-architects in the discipline have also > increased, with the search for the "wow effect" masquerading as > architectural innovation. This approach to building design is already > dominant in many schools of architecture, and students fascinated > with digital technologies and fabrication through 3D printers, > robots, and so on are falling for a simplistic vision of architecture > as cool images and icons. > > The book, before addressing the digitalization of design as part of a > series of factors that are currently affecting the discipline of > architecture, astutely presents in its first chapter the background > that helped it to come into being and sets the ground, first with the > proliferation of highly prepared and professional images of > architecture, a development that is not new at all. In the expansion > of the mid-twentieth-century modernist movement, more had been done > by the vision of photographers than by architecture critics with > their lectures and speeches on what modernism meant. As Helio Piñón > has pointed out, we cannot separate Richard Neutra's architecture > from Julius Schulman's photographs, or Marcel Breuer's architecture > from Erza Stöller's photographs.[1] Chapter 1 continues with what is > called "the Bilbao effect," in other words, the cascading effects of > Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum in the city of Bilbao, Spain, and the > ways its success made many local governments since then approve > strategic plans of urban revitalization and redevelopment or strive > to create a tourist attraction by implementing and introducing iconic > projects, frequently commissioned to star-architects. This effect led > to the concept of the "Architecture of Brands," a process that > started mainly in the third quarter of the twentieth century. > According to Robert Adam (_The Globalization of Modern Architecture_: > _The Impact of Politics, Economics and Social Change on Architecture > and Urban Design since 1990_ [2012]), by that time the structure of > architectural practice followed the same pattern as any other > business organization. The Architecture of Brands is built on the > belief that such iconic architecture must be instantly recognized, > marketed, and promoted in the media as a commodity, moving architects > and architecture firms toward the capitalism and monopoly of brands. > > It is not new that throughout history many architects were connected > with the power of financial oligarchies and upper-class society. When > critiquing US architecture at the end of the twentieth century in > _Power and Style: A Critique of Twentieth-Century Architecture in the > United States_ (1996), Robert Twombly already noticed how some of the > most famous architects in the US, like Mies van der Rohe and I. M. > Pei, have always designed buildings for the upper-income class and > big corporations and were hired by the elite private sector without > ever designing any type of social housing. Reading Arantes's book, we > must not forget that it is also true that architecture was and still > is an important part of the development of social housing, high > quality urban spaces, and cultural neighborhood centers and has > promoted important improvements in the quality of peoples' lives, as > well as that, in addition to "starchitecture," there is a popular > architecture that Bernard Rudofsky in 1964 called "architecture > without architects" (_Architecture without Architects: An > Introduction to Non-pedigreed Architecture _[1964]). > > Arantes's second chapter addresses the "digital-turn" in > architectural production, taking as an example Gehry's office that in > 1989 only had two computers, not used for design, and, since then, > the office has immersed itself in the most advanced technology > development ending in the creation of Gehry Technology, to develop > his innovative architecture. It is not completely true, however, that > without computers many of the iconic architectural buildings that we > see nowadays cannot have been designed or built. Although by 1965 at > the time Italian engineer Pier Luigi Nervi wrote his book on > aesthetics and technology in modern buildings (_Aesthetics and > Technology in Buildings_ [1965]), it would have been possible to > calculate the structures by using electronic computers, Nervi > actually built the Orvieto Hangars in 1935 among others without > access to computers just by testing the structural system and shapes > using scaled models. The so-called BIM (Building Information > Modeling) used today is a 3D-design and model-based process used in > architecture, engineering, and construction for a more connected > multidisciplinary and efficient work, that, as Leslie Sklair has > pointed out (_The Icon Project: Architecture, Cities and Capitalist > Globalization_ [2017]), has been promoted by governments and > corporations in order to speed up construction processes. > > Arantes continues his second chapter with an extensive and nostalgic > take on how the work of architects changed as a result of the > introduction of the computer and digital design software in > architects' offices, and insists, in line with the general topic of > the book, that this transition also serves big corporations; this is > also recognized by the socialist critic Owen Hatherley in his book > _Militant Modernism_ (2008). He argues that the beginning of the > twenty-first century has seen an emerging new step in the development > of architectural modernism, which changed its goals from its > reformist mid-European origins to serve corporate business. This new > architecture, what Hans Ibelings calls "Supermodernism"_ > _(_Supermodernism: Architecture in the Age of Globalization_ [1998]), > produced since the end of the twentieth century more and more > buildings whose sole intention is to dominate the city skyline, by > creating the highest skyscraper, innovative shapes, or bolder > cantilevered volume lacking any involvement with their context. > > Chapter 3, probably the most innovative of the book, addresses the > effect of this new architecture on construction sites from the > perspective of labor at the moment those buildings are being built. > This topic has been addressed before by the author. His 2002 book, > _Arquitetura Nova: Sergio Ferro, Flavio Imperio e Rodrigro Lefevre, > de Artigas aos Mutiroes_, clearly defines Arantes's vision of > architecture in respect to labor, construction, and its social, > political, and economic implications. Based on Sergio Ferro's Marxist > ideals formulated in his book _O Canteiro e o Desenho_ (1979), > Arantes elaborates in this third part, with some sort of nostalgia > for the artisanal work of the past, on the transformations in > construction sites of the social relations of production due to > automation, new workers' attributions, workers' rights, and the > presence of migrants, as well as the presence of an "army of > subcontractors" to reduce costs and dilute investors' > responsibilities (p. 168). Another important point that Arantes > touches on at the end of the chapter is that many iconic architects > pay less attention than ever to the working conditions on > construction sites. In 2014, _The Guardian_ revealed hundreds of > migrant workers' deaths at the construction of Zaha Hadid's 2020 > World Cup Stadium in Qatar, to which the architect responded "I have > nothing to do with the workers."[2] > > Arantes elaborates in this book a pointed and unequivocal critique of > the digitally generated architecture that is being nurtured by the > architecture of "spectacle," the rise of the media, and the branding > efforts and derivative financial profit of investors, due to which > architecture is seen as a commodity and is used by oligarchies to > deprive it of its inherent social and environmental "responsibility." > He also makes clear how global firms of architecture and iconic > architects act as elites and financial corporations in their > architectural production. Nonetheless, Arantes concludes his book > with hope, pointing out that there is clear evidence that "the agenda > of sustainable architecture had emerged strongly" proven, among > others, by the fact that the 2016 Pritzker Prize in Architecture was > awarded to the Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena, an architect > committed to serving greater social and humanitarian needs in his > work (p. 211). > > Notes > > [1]. Helio Piñón, "Volver a ver la Arquitectura Moderna," in > _Colombia Arquitectura Moderna_, by Maria Pía Fontana and Miguel Y. > Mayorga Cárdenas (Barcelona: ETSAB, 2004), 18. > > [2]. "Zaha Hadid Defends Qatar World Cup Role Following Migrant > Worker Deaths," _The Guardian_, February 25, 2014, > https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/25/zaha-hadid-qatar-world-cup-migrant-worker-deaths. > > > Citation: Miguel Calvo Salve. Review of Arantes, Pedro Fiori, _The > Rent of Form: Architecture and Labor in the Digital Age_. H-Urban, > H-Net Reviews. February, 2020. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=54614 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
