Describes the visual and mental models by which urban environment has been recognized, depicted and planned. This analysis draws from geography, critical theory, architecture, literature and painting to identify these maps of the city - as a work of art, as panorama and as spectacle.
Architecture, Urbanism, and the Search for an Alternative Modernity
Shanghai-China's largest industrial city and the fifth largest port in the world-is in the midst of a rapid revitalization. Shanghai Reflections examines the transformation of the old city into a modern metropolis from a broad cultural and architectural perspective. Architect Mario Gandelsonas charts the city's physical mutation over time; essays by Akbar Abbas and M. Christine Boyer blend architectural and urbanistic concerns with insights gleaned from Shanghai's rich literary and cinematic traditions. Student projects, created in a joint studio sponsored by Princeton, Hong Kong, and Tongji universities and reviewed by critics such as G.C. Spivak, Diana Argest, and Jennifer Bloomer, envision the renaissance of the city in concrete terms. Designed by Michael Rock of 2x4.
Adapting modernist ideals to postwar reconstruction in Britain, Alison and Peter Smithson emerged as influential and controversial architects in the latter half of the twentieth century. As younger members of CIAM and founding members of Team 10, they were central to the debate on modern architecture's future. Their Hunstanton Secondary Modern School (1949-1954) exemplified their approach, stripping down Mies van der Rohe's language to a rough simplicity and marking their emergence as leading figures of New Brutalism, a term they coined. Involved with the Independent Group alongside notable artists, they participated in the landmark 1956 exhibition This Is Tomorrow, connecting with the Pop art movement in Britain. This beautifully produced volume compiles significant essays on their work, featuring contributions from Reyner Banham, Peter Cook, Kenneth Frampton, Philip Johnson, and more recent texts by Peter Eisenmann, Christine Boyer, Beatriz Colomina, and Louisa Hutton. As the first publication in Poligrafa's Critical Anthology series, it offers essential critical context for understanding New Brutalism's reception in England. The Smithsons, who met at Durham University and married in 1949, introduced a new construction style emphasizing concrete and angular geometries, with later works reflecting a socialist dimension through the exposure of interior functions.
Le voile du mystère, Justine Davis Propriétaire d'une maison d'hôtes en Californie, Kelsey Hall attend chaque été avec impatience la venue de Cruz Gregerson, l'homme séduisant qui a été son tout premier client et lui est toujours resté fidèle depuis. Irrésistiblement attirée par lui, elle rêve de dépasser un jour sa méfiance vis-à-vis des hommes et de lui avouer combien il lui plaît. Pourtant, cette fois, c'est la mort dans l'âme qu'elle refuse de l'héberger. Car elle a appris qu'il travaillait dans la police, et elle craint qu'il ne découvre le secret qu'elle s'efforce de cacher. Un secret qui, s'il était révélé, l'exposerait à un terrible danger... Dans les bras d'un imposteur, Kathleen Long Quand il apprend que sa fille a été enlevée, l'ancien agent spécial Mack Connor est sous le choc. Car même s'il n'a pas revu Laure-Ann depuis dix-sept ans - depuis ce jour fatidique où, pour protéger sa famille des criminels qui la menaçaient, il s'est fait passer pour mort - il ne peut supporter l'idée de la savoir captive. Et en danger. Afin de la retrouver, et malgré les risques que cela comporte, il décide donc de retourner à son ancienne vie. Et d'affronter la colère de Maggie, la femme qu'il n'a jamais cessé d'aimer mais à qui il a dû cacher qu'il était toujours vivant.