Multiplicity

"Today, the field of architecture faces a reckoning. While there is no longer a consensus on what defines an architectural work, scholars, theorists, historians, and practitioners are grappling with urgent issues-among them the impact of environmental crisis, the dynamics of power and racism in tension with the built environment, as well as the ethical and practical dimensions of architecture's practices and methodologies. As the established practices, academic objectives, and professional expectations of the field are interrogated, the various branches are searching for new definitions, identities, and voices. Inspired by Italo Calvino's memos about literature in the twenty-first century, this collection-the second in a series-explores intersecting environmental, political, social, artistic, and technological forces that affect the theory and practice of contemporary architecture. The volume situates architecture within a broad framework, examining its complex interactions with social, cultural, and environmental constructs. The editors' goal is to provoke conversation across the silos that separate architecture's theorists, historians, and practitioners. In addition to the volume's editors, the contributors include Sanford Kwinter, Aleksandra Jaeschke, Jennifer Mack, Rahul Mehrotra, Charles Waldheim, Kristi Cheramie, Jesse Reiser, Julian Harake, Jenny E. Sabin, Charles Davis, Esra Akcan, and David Karmon"--