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Chora
Four: Intervals in the Philosophy of Architecture,
edited by Alberto Pérez-Gómez and Stephen Parcell.
The fourth
volume in the Chora series, edited by McGill
University's Pérez-Gómez and Dalhousie University's Parcell,
take aim at models of architecture that value aesthetics
and technology over alternative views of history and ways
of thinking about architecture. Surprisingly, the resulting
essays fall into a few types: early Renaissance, 19th-century
British figures, other artistic disciplines, and chora,
the "crossing of the human and the more-than-human
worlds." For me, the highlights (roughly in order from
most to least favorite) are Juhani Pallasmaa's geometrical
reading of Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window, George
L. Hersey's cosmic history of Rome's Colosseum, and David
Theodore's look at architecture in the life of philosopher
Ludwig Wittgenstein. As well, Pérez-Gómez's essay on the
overlooked Renaissance figure Fra Luca Pacioli and Robert
Kirkbride's essay on the Renaissance Studioli of
Federico da Montefeltro give great insight into lesser-known
parts of a highly influential and studied time. Much of
the academic writing can be a bit esoteric, and Michael
Moussette's staccato writing (e.g. "First we shall
hunt. Very quickly. Just as an example.") in his piece
on Gordon Matta-Clark borders on obtuse, but overall the
collection makes for an enlightening read, opening up subjects
and points-of-view to the reader.
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