Irony is not just one topic amongst many in architecture. It is a subject
which readily aligns architecture with theory, and thus intellectually
channels access to our discipline in a particular light. Neither an
attribute of architectural form that one can catch by looking at it in a
state of distraction, nor a set structure of discourse, nor accessible to
casual apperception, irony requires a “learned” understanding and
interpretation of the relation and discrepancies between thingness and
ideality. Whereas 20th century postmodernism was largely defined
through its many levels of irony, neither theory nor irony were necessarily
much en vogue in architecture in the nineties and the aughts. Yet today’s
tumultuous times should be fertile ground for irony’s return — triggered
by current notions of post-humanism, the Anthropocene, and the shifts in
socio- and geo-politics.  
Emmanuel Petit
AR / Architecture Research is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal
published yearly by the University of Ljubljana Faculty of Architecture.
AR is a critical platform for research and explorative writing at the
highest level of creative scholarship. The journal’s integrative format
presents diverse correspondences between some of the most creative
contemporary voices in architecture, art and associated fields.
2024
2024
Architecture Research
/ Arhitektura, raziskave
Architecture and Irony
/ Arhitektura in ironija

2024
Architecture Research
/ Arhitektura, raziskave
Architecture and Irony
/ Arhitektura in ironija


9
28
47
61
97
129
159
CONTENTS  / KAZALO 5
Introduction
Emmanuel Petit
Uvod
Emmanuel Petit
Catching Flak
On the Irony of Fortresses
Anna Neimark, Michael Osman
Who Laughs Last?
The Architecture of Entertainment as a Paradigm of
Serious Irony from Cedric Price to the Present Day
Cesira Sissi Roselli
After / Image
Sam Jacob
Transfer of Power
A Calendar of Classical Contradictions from Trump to
Biden
Kyle Dugdale
Re-enter Pliocene
Irony and Sincerity in Speculative Architectural
Fiction
George Papamattheakis
187
231
251
291
325
363
7
AI: Peter Pan’s Runaway Shadow, Digital Twins and
an Intelligently Artificial Architecture of Irony
Rhetoric and Form
Ralitza Petit
Feral Surfaces
A More-Than-Human Perspective on New York’s Wild
Side
Ariane Lourie Harrison
Humorous Irony in Guild House and BEST Products
Stores
How an Architecture of Communication Can Fail to
Communicate
Katerina Zacharopoulou
Cold War Architectures
Global Discourses, Slovenian Practices, and
Ideological Fractures
Nika Grabar
Architectural Irony and the Sarajevo City Hall
A Symbol of Cultural Paradox
Lejla Odobašić Novo
Biographies

9
Emmanuel Petit
Introduction
Emmanuel PetitArchitecture and Irony
1 Friedrich Schlegel,  “Das ganze Werk ist ein
steter Kampf das Undarstell bare darzustellen,”
in Mar tin Götze, Ironie und absolute Darstel ‐
lung: Philoso phie und Poet ik in der Frühro ‐
man tik (Pader born: Schön ingh Ver lag,
2001), 230.
2 Friedrich Schlegel, Kri tis che und the o retis che
Schriften (Stuttgart: Philip Reclam, 1978), 82.
Introduction 11
Irony is not just one top ic amongst many in archi tec ture. It is a sub ject
which read i ly aligns archi tec ture with the o ry, and thus intel lec tu al ly chan ‐
nels access to our dis ci pline in a par tic u lar light. Nei ther an attribute of
archi tec tur al form that one can catch by look ing at it in a state of dis trac ‐
tion, nor a set struc ture of dis course, nor acces si ble to casu al apper cep ‐
tion, irony requires a  “learned” under stand ing and inter pre ta tion of the
rela tion and dis crep an cies between per cept and con cept.  “The whole
work (of irony) is a per ma nent strug gle to rep re sent the unrep re sentable”
Friedrich Schlegel claimed when he con coct ed his lit er ary frag ments, and
pro posed, in order to escape the aporet ic impasse this ambi tion pro duces,
that  “it is equal ly dead ly for the mind to have a sys tem, and not to have
one. It will just have to decide to com bine both.”  In archi tec ture, the
notion most ly hinges on architecture’s dou ble real i ty as a thing, on the one
hand, and as a set of ideas, on the oth er. Beyond an acute abil i ty to read
and artic u late archi tec tur al form, it pre sup pos es a grasp of architecture’s
his to ry, its cul tur al and intel lec tu al con texts, as well as the man ner isms
and idio syn crasies of dis course. Irony in archi tec ture ani mates the rela tion
between things and ideas as if the onto log i cal dif fer ence was obfus cat ed
in a para dox i cal, yet intel lec tu al ly engag ing way. The con cep tu al focus on
the tec ton ic dialec tic between thing ness and ide al i ty turns archi tec ture
itself into a form of the o ry. And so on the most gen er al lev el, the focus on
the o ry is what makes the top ic of irony in archi tec ture intel lec tu al ly stim u ‐
lat ing and edifying.
Cer tain peri ods of his to ry were par tic u lar ly prone to dou ble read ings,
for they empha sized the self-reflec tive mise-en-rela tion with con cepts not
read i ly con tained in archi tec tur al form or texts, but allud ed to. This cir ‐
cum stance accen tu ates cul ti va tion and schol ar ship over orig i nal i ty and
inno va tion, and occa sion al ly earned irony the incrim i na tion of con ser ‐
vatism. Yet the shrewd cheek i ness and chutz pah that has often accom pa ‐
nied its eru dite expres sions has gen er al ly safe guard ed irony from being
reac tionary. That said, irony has its own gen er a tive mech a nisms which
shun a cre ation ex nihi lo.
The reck on ing with the tra di tion ema nat ing from North Ital ian human ‐
ism has a cer tain pres ence in many an argu ment on archi tec tur al irony—
from the man ner ist shenani gans on the clas si cal revival of the Antique,
like in Giulio Romano’s for mal tin ker ing at the Palaz zo del Te, to the
roman ti cist fas ci na tion with the imag i nary ruins of an unspec i fied past,
like in Giambat tista Piranesi’s depic tions of the Carceri d’inventione. In this
his to ry of archi tec tur al the o ry, the post mod ern stands out as a peri od of
height ened self-con scious ness; it is also the peri od that has, more than
any oth er, built its argu ments on the con cep tu al quick sand of irony.
1
2
Emmanuel PetitArchitecture and Irony
Introduction 13
Notwith stand ing the com pli cat ed socio-polit i cal and cul tur al con texts
post mod ern thought emerged from, its pro tag o nists had the weighty lega ‐
cy of twen ti eth cen tu ry mod ernism to engage. A good por tion of the post ‐
mod ern argu men ta tion had inter nalised this sort of rela tion al polemic as
a pri mor dial para dox which defined its con cepts and line of rea son ing.
I main tain else where that irony encap su lates the very struc ture of post ‐
mod ern the o ry in architecture. 
As such, in the ear ly 1980s, Frank Gehry began to express an inter est
in the geo met ric and metaphor i cal pos si bil i ties of the fish shape as a fun ‐
da men tal con fig u ra tional par a digm for archi tec ture; his was pre cise ly
a cri tique of the human ist pre req ui site of anthro pocen trism and anthro po ‐
mor phism of the clas si cal tra di tion. In short, if the artic u lat ed, hier ar chi cal,
and tri par tite body of the Vit ru vian Man could be replaced with the scaled,
stream lined shape of fish, archi tec ture would be spawned freely and
afresh. While Gehry brought fresh meat to the table of the archi tec tur al
dis cus sion, so to speak, its dis cur sive effi ca cy derived from the rebut tal of
every thing that came before. It was this rudi men tal nega tion of
architecture’s fun da men tals, for mu lat ed from with in the dis ci pline, which
inter est ing ly, gen er at ed a new uni verse of forms that, in many ways, fore ‐
shad owed a rad i cal shift towards a new for mal par a digm: A decade lat er,
the notions of smooth and topo log i cal form, of self-sim i lar rep e ti tion
and difference of shapes, or of the curved string ing togeth er of struc tur al
seg ments would dom i nate the dis cus sions around com put er mod el ling
and dig i tal fab ri ca tion. The humor ous and absurd man i fes ta tion of Gehry’s
propo si tion, some times in con cord with Claes Old en burg, was of course
part and par cel of this dis cur sive strategy. 
Three exam ples can illus trate how inter nal ized irony oper at ed in
postmodernism—one rely ing on quo ta tion al dis tanc ing from mod ernism;
one on self-ref er en tial i ty; and the third one on the  “inge nious” read ing of
an urban text. All three exam ples epit o mise the com plex inter twin ing of
per cep tu al and con cep tu al real i ties of archi tec ture, and make the archi ‐
tec tur al  "thing” itself into a sup port for theory:
The first exam ple is by Chica go archi tect Stan ley Tiger man, who had
designed his Lit tle House in the Clouds (1976) in open ref er ence to Mies
van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House (1951), by mak ing use of the latter ’s
archi tec tur al attrib ut es only to re-enact them in a state of self-nega tion or
self-can ce la tion. While Mies’s house is com posed of a sin gle, asym met ri ‐
cal, and extro vert ed vol ume, Tigerman’s is sliced into a dou ble mass
across an intro spec tive mir ror line; where as Mies’s house is raised off the
ground on a plat form, Tigerman’s is sunken into a ditch only to be raised
again on small pilo tis to the orig i nal lev el of the ground; and while Mies
Emmanuel PetitArchitecture and Irony
Introduction 15
has periph er al win dows to link the inte ri or of his house hor i zon tal ly to the
sur round ing coun try side, Tiger man priv i leges the inter nal ized, ver ti cal
view; this inte ri or vista is direct ed towards the  “arti fi cial nature” of
a trompe l’oeil fres co of clouds, which are paint ed on the house’s ceil ing
with no actu al win dow in the whole house. The Jew ish Tiger man saw in
these for mal ist games, played in rela tion to the archi tec ture of the catholic
Mies, a whole dia log i cal cos mol o gy between what he called Hel lenic ver ‐
sus Hebra ic cul tures. It was this architect’s way to express his cul tur al
dias po ra as a Jew in Amer i ca, nego ti at ing his anachro nis tic love/hate rela ‐
tion ship with the cor po rate archi tec ture in the Mid west ern city of Chica go
that had, by his own account, been  “invad ed by the Germans”—Miesianism
mod ernism. A mul ti tude of cul tur al cross-ref er ences, from Kierkegaard to
Bakhtin, from Freud to Lacan, from Schinkel to Magritte, are being woven
into the dis cus sion of archi tec tur al form up to the moment when this piece
of design is turned into a book of exis ten tial ism. Tigerman’s Lit tle House is
not sim ply a piece of archi tec tur al design, but the instan ti a tion of a dialec ‐
tic the o ry about rival worldviews. 
The sec ond exam ple is Peter Eisenman’s House VI (1976): The project
is pred i cat ed on a spa tial dia gram, which Eisen man dupli cat ed, only to
turn the twin dia gram on its head, and nest it in the orig i nal draw ing.
While the first dia gram has a con ven tion al rela tion ship to grav i ty, the
turned-around twin becomes a ref er en tial sign or sym bol set against the
grav i ta tion al field. The entire for mal com plex i ty of the house is then cre at ‐
ed through this mech a nism of play ful self-reflex iv i ty between the ini tial
draw ing and its invert ed dou ble: As such, the stair that ascends to the
upper floor is mir rored by the  “sign” of a stair which is sus pend ed from the
ceil ing. Sim i lar ly, while cer tain columns act as con ven tion al sup ports, oth ‐
ers  “negate” grav i ty by hang ing from above, and hov er ing above the
ground. The archi tec ture of House VI hinges on this sort of self-reflex ive
and self-negat ing dialec tic syn tax; as such, the house is a man i festo for
a weltan schau ung that plays prag ma tism off against ide al i ty. It is also
a built man i festo against the Vit ru vian prin ci ples of archi tec ture: indeed,
not all columns in a build ing are reducible to fir mi tas, util i tas, and even
venus tas, such is the argu ment, but they can rep re sent  “oth er” real i ties
that are com plete ly inter nal and prop er to archi tec ture. House VI is an
instance of built theory. 
And the third exam ple is Rem Koolhaas’s propo si tion in Deliri ous
New York (1978), where Kool haas sees Man hat tan, the city of prag ma tism
and ratio nal i ty, simul ta ne ous ly as its dia log i cal oth er, name ly as a  “city of
poet ry.” The impli ca tion is that all oppo site mean ings con verge when tak ‐
en to extremes : As such, the  “prob lem” of exces sive con ges tion in the
Emmanuel PetitArchitecture and Irony
3 Jeff Kip nis,  “Twist ing the Sep a ra trix ,” in K.
Michael Hays, Archi tec ture The o ry Since 1968
(Cam bridge MA: MIT Press, 1998), 726.
Introduction 17
metrop o lis is turned into a spe cif ic  “cul ture” of con ges tion. When a prag ‐
mat ic prob lem becomes so over whelm ing that it can not effec tive ly be
reme died, then a changed cul tur al mind set about that same prob lem can
sub li mate it into a new aes thet ic and a changed men tal i ty. In the book
Kool haas also argues that the built struc ture of Man hat tan exem pli fies that
the two big adver sary ide o log i cal and polit i cal sys tems in the world—
Soviet com mu nism and Amer i can capitalism—have final ly coa lesced into
the same archi tec tur al typol o gy : the sym bol ic high-rise build ing, which
has been devel oped anal o gous ly in Moscow and in New York. Fur ther ‐
more, in his  “Sto ry of the Pool,” Kool haas imag ines the high-rise-turned-
hor i zon tal as a long swim ming city precinct, a hor i zon tal sky scraper,
which becomes a dynam ic bat tle ground and trait d'union between West ‐
ern and Sovi et urbanisms. Iron i cal ly, the claim is that oppo site ide olo gies
can be rep re sent ed by the very same archi tec ture, because archi tec ture
alleged ly has the capac i ty to absorb and embody ide o log i cal con tra dic ‐
tions. Here again, the post mod ern tale about urban archi tec ture is a the o ‐
ret i cal proposition. 
Notwith stand ing its occa sion al pen chant for super fi cial aesthetics—
so-called POMO, the post mod ern was a fun da men tal ly philo soph i cal and
lit er ary the o ry move ment, with archi tec ture as its fig ure head. Extend ing
the con cep tu al pre oc cu pa tions of post mod ernism, DECON from the mid-
to-late 1980s then marked the apex of irony when archi tec tur al the o ry
turned its intel lec tu al query against the mate r i al foun da tions of archi tec ‐
ture itself :
When build ings began to sim u late their own dis in te gra tion and decay,
archi tec ture had unmasked the inter nal quar rel and ques tion ing, and
uncon cealed its last ing the o ry-envy on the bat tle field of archi tec tur al
form. Eisen man turned to Jacques Der ri da to fig ure out the sur rep ti tious
specters of architecture’s phi los o phy through for mal ism; togeth er, they
pub lished a series of dis cus sion tran scripts enti tled Cho ra L Works. The
dis cours es of archi tec ture and phi los o phy became so total ly entan gled
that, on the one hand, the philoso pher, Der ri da, began to take on respon si ‐
bil i ty to shape archi tec ture by claim ing  “I will stop apol o giz ing for not
being an archi tect,” to which the archi tect Eisen man den i grat ed his own
author i ty and respond ed “… And I will stop apol o giz ing for not being an
archi tect.”  In the con text of archi tects turn ing to phi los o phy, Bernard
Tschu mi invoked Georges Bataille and Jacques Lacan to address an
alleged dark sub con scious of archi tec ture, which had been sup pressed by
the inher ent vio lence of architecture’s pos i tive, opti mistic, beau ti ful, and  
“con struc tive” halo. A blow to the phe nom e no log i cal bias of the vul gar,
non-the o ret i cal apper cep tion of the beau ty of archi tec ture by the gen er al
3
Emmanuel PetitArchitecture and Irony
Introduction 19
pub lic, DECON ven tured to frus trate bour geois con tent ment by exhibit ing
that archi tec ture was not a sphere for the gen tri fi ca tion of lifestyles—a
sort of art  “deco," but a stage for the dis play of the discipline’s inter nal
dialec tic and doubt. To oppose the apa thy and hap py numb ness of the sta ‐
tus quo, archi tec ture unleashed a cer tain dia bol i cal ener gy in a for mal ist
and spa tial dra ma. His tor i cal ly speak ing, DECON was one of those
moments when archi tec ture most expres sive ly, and iron i cal ly, exhib it ed
the fun da men tal incon gruities between its mate ri al ism (“the brick”) and
its meta physics (“doubt”).
Since architecture’s  “dig i tal turn” in the ear ly-to-mid 1990s, how ev er,
the con cern with the mean ing, sym bol ism, cri tique, and hermeneu tics of
archi tec ture has been per ceived as unnec es sar i ly arcane, and has giv en
way to oth er the mat ic pre oc cu pa tions in the field. When dig i tal tech nol o gy
became ubiq ui tous for the con cep tion and trans mis sion of ideas, the focus
of archi tec tur al dis course shift ed towards gen er a tive prac tices that were
most ly prag mat ic and tech no log i cal in nature. They mov ed away from the
reflec tive, crit i cal, and dialec tic modes which had large ly defined it
through out the post mod ern and post struc tural ist decades, towards the
more straight for ward exper i men ta tion with new fab ri ca tion tech niques,
the dig i tal gen er a tion of form, as well as with the pro lif ic dis sem i na tion of
images. Dis course expe ri enced a both lit er al and metaphor i cal  “flat ten ing”
by mov ing its bat tle ground onto the dig i tal screen: on the one hand, the
phys i cal i ty of archi tec ture found itself con vert ed into imma te r i al lines on
flat screens; and on the oth er, the dis cus sion among archi tects man i fest ed
an out right impa tience with ideas that were not direct ly geared towards
stir ring a soft ware response. The dom i nant top ics of dis cus sion almost
exclu sive ly piv ot ed around the gen er a tion and manip u la tion of form —fold ‐
ing, emer gence, topol o gy, hyper sur fac ing, non lin ear i ty— while the o ry
turned to Gilles Deleuze. Deleuzian ism in archi tec ture felt seri ous, obses ‐
sive, and cult-like; for sure, the for malisms and philoso phies of  “smooth ‐
ness” were a ter ri to ry in which the dialec ti cal schisms of irony had no
place. While the 1990s were doubtless ly the pio neer ing decade for dig i tal
mod el ling, in which the  “all-to-seri ous” exper i men ta tion with the new
media was tak ing place, its cul tur al spark had hap pened in crit i cal debates
which pre ced ed those years. 
Like wise, in the first two decades of our cen tu ry, nei ther the o ry nor
irony were nec es sar i ly much en vogue in archi tec ture. The devel op ment of
social media plat forms changed the pro to cols of com mu ni ca tion alto geth ‐
er : it enabled spon ta neous, indi vid u al is tic, and direct expres sion, where
dis course lost much of its pro ce dur al for mal ism, its diplo ma cy, and many
a time, its deco rum. It got replaced with an ongo ing buzz where every
Emmanuel PetitArchitecture and Irony
Introduction 21
social media user is indi vid u al ly giv en the pub lic stage to broad cast opin ‐
ion, view, sen ti ment, belief, sus pi cion, the o ry. The ubiq ui tous avail abil i ty of
mis cel la neous  “con tent” has rel a tivized the author i ty of the insti tu tions,
which tra di tion al ly framed, safe guard ed, and peer-reviewed access to
ideas. Indi vid ual posts are com pet ing with offi cial news chan nels and have
become a con duit for the impul sive, infor mal expres sion of polit i cal opin ‐
ion. In a way, the result ing cacoph o ny is het ero ge neous to a point where it
lacks a com mon epis te mo log i cal basis against which any of the sub tle
effects of irony would be dis cernible. Along these lines, in the last
decades, the dis ci pline of archi tec ture too has digressed from its intel lec ‐
tu al pre oc cu pan cy and found itself more con cerned with per for ma tive
than with reflec tive activity.
This modus operan di was aligned with the explo sive expan sion of the
new urban agglom er a tions in Asia and the Mid dle East, from Dubai to
Shen zhen, and have been decid ed ly pro gres sivist with out, how ev er, real ly
resus ci tat ing the pio neer ing spir it that had char ac ter ized the 1950s or the
utopi an zeal of the 1960s. This hyper devel op ment came hand in hand with
an almost inevitable prag ma tist ide ol o gy that remained incu ri ous about
exces sive dis ci pli nary intro spec tion. The unapolo get i cal ly  “mod ern” dri ve
has ren dered archi tec ture self-assured in its pro ce dures but has deflect ed
from self-ques tion ing and self-doubt — more gen er al ly, it has to a large
extent sus pend ed dis ci pli nary self-reflection.
When the par ty came to an end around 2020, when san i tary, eco log i ‐
cal, finan cial and geopo lit i cal crises piled up, a cer tain intro spec tion has
come to impos e itself again upon soci ety at large, and the dis ci pline of
archi tec ture in par tic u lar. It appears as if the extreme urgen cies of the
Covid cri sis, the infla tion cri sis, the migra tion cri sis, the Ukraine cri sis, and
the cli mate cri sis have unleashed the  “raw real,” in the face of which
mankind’s the o ries, dreams and hopes come across as inef fec tive roman ‐
tic rever ie. These urgen cies already trig gered the real ist instinct where
even a human ist dis ci pline like archi tec ture gets instru men tal ized  “to fix
the prob lems at hand” with the revival of an utter ly flat pragmatism. 
How ev er, one can assume that the intel lec tu al response to a  “real”
exis ten tial threat also reopens space for the dra ma of irony—though in
ways that dif fer from its pre vi ous (post mod ern and oth er) ver sions. This
time round, irony is not lit er ary and seman tic in kind; fac ing this alleged
erup tion of the raw real, one can expect to be fac ing a Niet zschean  
“world-his tor i cal irony,” which is based on the sus pi cion that a cun ning
divin i ty is keep ing its fin ger in the great game of the world, and uses
humans as its play thing. We find our selves yet again in a place where we
have to eval u ate the rela tion between our discipline’s intrin si cal ly
Emmanuel PetitArchitecture and Irony
4 Don’t Look Up, Released Decem ber 10, 2021 (U
SA), Direc tor: Adam McK ay, Star ring: Leonar d
o DiCaprio, Jen nifer Lawrence, Ari ana Grande,
Cate Blanchett, Meryl Streep.
Introduction 23
con struc tive and for ward-look ing under pin ning (“You can not believe in
the bomb and be an archi tect”), and the desire to be rel e vant by address ‐
ing the predica ments of the zeit geist. Alleged ly, these test ing times are
there fore inher ent ly fer tile grounds for irony. 
With out yet being able to ful ly com pre hend its effects today, one can
nev er the less begin to pin point a few seedbeds for con tem po rary irony, of
which I iden ti fy three :
For one, the devel op ment of the notion of post-human ism has altered
human self-per cep tion; the tech no log i cal pos si bil i ties to inter fere with, or
mod i fy bod ies and minds alike, are fun da men tal ly prob ing every tra di tion ‐
al the o ry about what it means to be human. When limbs can be replaced
or expand ed with pros the ses, neu rons can con nect to elec tron ic chips, sex
and gen der can be changed and ren dered flu id, and arti fi cial intel li gence
can com pete with its nat ur al coun ter part, there should be ample room for
new forms of irony! In the cre ative and crit i cal dis ci plines, this broad revi ‐
sion of the val ue and place of human agency has thus already opened up
new domains for dialec tics. For the bio log i cal body will always remain as a
 “con ser v a tive” ref er ence point or shad ow from which the post-human
improve ments derive and depend. Post-human ism is not only an evo lu tive
mod i fi ca tion of human ist assump tions, but it is also a form of self-nega ‐
tion from with in human ist the o ry itself. And archi tec ture will not be
immune to this evo lu tion; giv en the mul ti ple and repeat ed enmesh ments
of archi tec ture with bio log i cal metaphors, which by far exceed the clas si ‐
cal argu ments about bod i ly pro por tion, orga ni za tion, or pro file, any tin ker ‐
ing with that fun da men tal par a digm will open a space for the whole spec ‐
trum of irony—from exis ten tial ist to humor ous. In par tic u lar, the dif fi cul ty
to clear ly sep a rate sub jects from objects when objects have already
become sen tient, respon sive, and (arti fi cial ly) smart, holds a large poten ‐
tial for new dialectic.
A sec ond hotbed for con tem po rary irony appears in mankind’s rela ‐
tion to the Anthro pocene, the envi ron ment and the cli mate. Torn between
the real i sa tion that action is need ed to avoid fatal cat a stro phe from the
care less over-exploita tion of resources, on the one hand, and the inex plic ‐
a ble per sis tent dis be lief in the sci en tif ic evi dence, human i ty finds itself
sus pend ed in a new dialec tic, which, in cin e ma, was por trayed in a a most
won der ful ly iron ic and satir i cal film Don’t Look Up.  The film shows how
world opin ion has become divid ed among peo ple who believe that
a comet, which is on col li sion course with the earth, is a severe threat,
those who decry alarmism and believe that min ing a destroyed comet will
cre ate jobs, and those who deny that the comet even exists. The film
stands as a satir i cal take on the human han dling of evi dence about the
4
Emmanuel PetitArchitecture and Irony
5 Liam Young,  “The Great Endeav or.” La bien ‐
nale di Venezia, August 15 , 2024. th
Introduction 25
cli mate cri sis, and the divide between thought and deed in this respect.
Today’s ironies tend to scheme with the dis crep an cies between those
sophis ti cat ed tech no log i cal, polit i cal and oth er sys tems of con trol that
mankind has itself designed and imple ment ed, on the one hand, and the
sen sa tion of total loss of human con trol in face of those same sys tems. It
is the tale of the appren tice sor cer er reloaded as one of the cen tral leit mo ‐
tifs for con tem po rary irony. In archi tec ture, Liam Young’s recent project
Great Endeav or the ma tis es the dichoto my of the fatal and absolute human
sub ju ga tion by cli mate change, on the one hand, and the vision ary fic tion
of total human con trol through tech nol o gy, on the oth er. Young dreams up
a world which will, by his own account,  “involve the con struc tion of the
largest engi neer ing project in human his to ry, and the devel op ment of
a new infra struc ture equiv a lent in size to that of the entire glob al fos sil
fuel indus try.“  His take on the future of the plan et hov ers between a prof ‐
li gate opti mism and a daunt ing out look onto the future; the project sits on
the sub lime bor der line between earnest ness and friv o li ty. Though
deprived of any osten si ble humor, the project does play with the Janus-
faced out fall of human inter ven tion at plan e tary scale: In a sort of iron ic
rever sal, Young sug gests that if human i ty repeat ed its extreme effort of
indus tri al i sa tion, we would get it right the sec ond time round. 
A third breed ing ground for con tem po rary irony is to be found in the
sphere of socio-pol i tics, which has seen of late the rise of pop ulism. The
anti-estab lish ment stances of pop ulism across coun tries, from the Unit ed
States to Argenti na, and from France to Italy, are the most strik ing symp ‐
tom of the attempt to do away with the  “high grounds” of democ ra cy that
are per ceived as abstract and elit ist. It appears as if the extreme urgen cies
of the lat est crises could no longer afford the long, tedious, and for mal ist
process es of democ ra cy. As such, the pan dem ic forced health author i ties
to weigh the dura tion of their safe ty test ing pro to cols against the speed of
the vac cines’ mar ket launch; the strong migra tion flows have trig gered the
nation al ist cling ing to a fab ri cat ed gold en age when things were sim ple,
direct, and great; and a new cohort of pro tes tors, from Last Gen er a tion to
Tyre Extin guish ers, has felt legit i mate to sus pend the rule of law in view of
the alleged immi nence of cli mate col lapse. What tends to be for got ten in
the cur rent sit u a tion is that the demo c ra t ic for malisms emanate from the
social con tract on which our mod ern civil i sa tions have been con struct ed
— a con tract that is endem ic to cul ture, lan guage, and social inter ac tion in
gen er al. And for sure, all things cul tur al tend to be labyrinthine and man i ‐
fold, and there fore irre ducible to a sim ple way of talk ing. If the 20  cen tu ‐
ry was the era when for mal socio-polit i cal insti tu tions were erect ed in the
name of uphold ing the com plex i ties of the  “social contract”—international
5
th
Emmanuel PetitArchitecture and Irony
Introduction 27
courts of jus tice, glob al trade treaties, geopo lit i cal mil i tary alliances— the
21  cen tu ry has start ed to enact their undo ing in a weird con cep tu al short
cir cuit. If one can assume that  “all archi tec ture is polit i cal” in that it has
a mil len nia-long his to ry of instan ti at ing under ly ing pow er rela tion ships,
the cur rent self-nega tion of demo c ra t ic prin ci ples from with in the West ern
(demo c ra t ic) regimes will bring forth this embed ded irony — either in the
way our build ings are inter pret ed, designed and rep re sent ed, or in the way
in which humans behave because of these same buildings. 
If the intro duc to ry sug ges tion of this essay remains plau si ble, i.e. that
irony hinges on architecture’s dou ble real i ty as a thing, on the one hand,
and as a set of ideas, on the oth er, then the cur rent tumul tuous times
should be fer tile ground for irony’s return after hav ing been dor mant since
post mod ernism. As a mat ter of fact, when architecture’s endur ing or clas ‐
si cal clichés of sta bil i ty, seren i ty, dura bil i ty, con fi dence, and opti mism will
again be con front ed with the pri mor dial com po nent of think ing —ques ‐
tion ing— we are about to enter a new  “the o ry” moment for archi tec tur ‐
al discourse.
st

29
Emmanuel Petit
Uvod
Emmanuel PetitArchitecture and Irony
1 Schle gel, »Das gan ze Werk ist ein ste ter Kam ‐
pf das Undar stell ba re dar zu stel len,« nave de no
v: Mar tin Götze, Iro nie und abso lu te Dar stel ‐
lung: Phi lo so phie und Poe tik in der Frühro ‐
man tik (Pader born: Schöningh Ver lag,
2001), 230.
2 Schle gel, »Athe näums-Fra gment 41«, Kri ti ‐
sche und the o re ti sche Schriften (Stut tgart:
Phi lip Reclam, 1978), 82: »Es ist gle ich tödlich
für den Geist, ein System zu haben, und keins
zu haben. Er wird sich also wohl ent schli es ‐
sen müs sen, bei des zu ver b in den” (pre ve de no
v slo ven šči no po avtor je vem pre vo du iz nem ‐
šči ne v angleščino).
Uvod 31
Iro ni ja ni le ena od šte vil nih tém, ki nasto pa jo v arhi tek tu ri. Je tista, ki arhi ‐
tek tu ro nepo sre dno pove zu je s teo ri jo, ter omo go ča, da s poseb ne ga zor ‐
ne ga kota inte lek tu al no pri sto pa mo k naši stro ki. Ni atri but arhi tek tur ne
for me, ki bi ga lah ko ugle da li v sta nju raz tre se no sti, pa tudi ne dolo če na
struk tu ra v dis kur zu ali nekaj, kar je dosto pno povr šne mu zazna va nju; iro ‐
ni ja zah te va »omi ka no« razu me va nje ter inter pre ta ci jo odno sa in raz ha janj
med zazna vo in poj mom. »Celo tno delo (iro ni je) je neneh no pri za de va nje
pred sta vi ti nepred sta vlji vo«,  je med sno va njem svo jih lite rar nih fra gmen ‐
tov ugo ta vljal Fri e drich Schle gel, ki je, da bi se izo gnil apo re tič ni sle pi uli ‐
ci, v kate ri slej ko prej kon ča to pri za de va nje, zago ta vljal, da je »za um
ime ti sis tem ena ko uso dno kot ime ti nobe ne ga. Brž ko ne se bo moral odlo ‐
či ti za kom bi na ci jo obo je ga.«”  V arhi tek tu ri se iro ni ja veči no ma nave zu je
na dvoj no real nost arhi tek tu re kot stva ri in skup ka idej. Poleg spo sob no sti
ostro u mne ga raz čle nje va nja in arti ku li ra nja arhi tek tur ne for me pred po sta ‐
vlja pozna va nje in razu me va nje zgo do vi ne arhi tek tu re, nje ne ga kul tur ne ga
in inte lek tu al ne ga kon te ksta ter mani riz mov in svoj sko sti dis kur za. Iro ni ja
v arhi tek tu ri vna ša nemir v odno se med stvar mi in ide ja mi, kot onto lo ška
dife ren ca, ki je zame glje na na pro ti slo ven, a inte lek tu al no pri vla čen način.
Kon cep tu al na osre do to če nost na tek ton sko dia lek ti ko med stvar sko stjo in
idej no stjo spre mi nja arhi tek tu ro v obli ko teo ri je. Na naj bolj splo šni rav ni je
torej prav zara di osre do to če no sti na teo ri jo téma iro ni je v arhi tek tu ri inte ‐
lek tu al no zani mi va in poučna.
Dolo če na zgo do vin ska obdo bja so bila še pose bej naklo nje na dvoj ne ‐
mu bra nju, saj so pou dar ja la samo re flek tiv no nave zo va nje na kon cep te, ki
sami po sebi v arhi tek tur ni for mi ali bese di lih niso pri so tni, tem več zgolj
naka za ni. Ta oko li šči na bolj kot izvir nost in ino va ci jo pou dar ja pomen izo ‐
braz be in raz gle da no sti ter je iro ni ji obča sno celo pri slu ži la obtož bo kon ‐
ser va tiv no sti, ven dar pa je zvi jač na drznost in pre vze tnost, ki pogo sto
spre mlja nje no omi ka no eks pre siv nost, iro ni jo veči no ma obva ro va la reak ‐
ci o nar no sti. Ob pove da nem pa ima iro ni ja ven dar le tudi svo je lastne meha ‐
niz me pora ja nja, ki se izo gi ba jo ustvar ja nju ex nihi lo.
Obra čun s tra di ci jo, ki izvi ra iz sever no i ta li jan ske ga huma niz ma, je na
nek način pri so ten v šte vil nih argu men tih o iro ni ji v arhi tek tu ri – od mani ri ‐
stič nih pre i gra vanj s kla si ci stič nim oži vlja njem anti ke, kot je to počel Giu ‐
lio Roma no pri Tej ski pala či, do roman tič ne ga nav du še nja nad umi šlje ni mi
ruše vi na mi nedo lo če ne pre te klo sti, kot jih je v svo jih Car ce ri d’inventione
upo do bil Giam bat ti sta Pira ne si. Post mo der ni zem izsto pa iz te zgo do vi ne
arhi tek tur ne teo ri je kot obdo bje izo stre ne ga samo-zave da nja, ki je bolj kot
kate ro ko li dru go svo je argu men te ute me lje va lo v kon cep tu al nem živem
pesku iro ni je. Ne gle de na zaple te ne druž be no po li tič ne in kul tur ne kon te ‐
ks te, iz kate rih se je pora ja la post mo der na misel, so se mora li nje ni
1
2
Emmanuel PetitArchitecture and Irony
Uvod 33
pro ta go ni sti spo pri je ti z zah tev no dedi šči no moder niz ma dvaj se te ga sto le ‐
tja. Velik del post mo der ne argu men ta ci je je pono tra njil te vrste rela cij sko
pole mi ko kot prvo bi tni para doks, ki je opre de lil nje ne kon cep te in logi ko.
Na nekem dru gem mestu ugo ta vljam, da je v iro ni ji pov zet sam ustroj post ‐
mo der ne teo ri je v arhitekturi.
Na začet ku osem de se tih let 20. sto le tja je začel Frank Gehry raz i sko ‐
va ti geo me trič ne in meta fo rič ne možno sti obli ke ribe kot za arhi tek tu ro
temelj ne kon fi gu ra cij ske para di gme; nje go va kri ti ka je bila uper je na prav
zoper huma ni stič ni impe ra tiv antro po cen triz ma in antro po mor fi zem kla si ‐
ci stič ne tra di ci je. Skrat ka, če bi arti ku li ra no, hie rar hič no, tri del no telo
vitru vij ske ga člo ve ka lah ko nado me sti la luska sta, aero di na mič na obli ka
ribe, bi se arhi tek tu ra lah ko na novo in svo bo dno plo di la. Svež kos mesa, ki
ga je, če tako rečem, k mizi arhi tek tur ne deba te pri ne sel Gehry, svo jo dis ‐
kur ziv no moč črpa iz spod bi ja nja vse ga, kar je bilo prej. Zani mi vo pri tem
je, da je ta rudi men tar na nega ci ja samih teme ljev arhi tek tu re, ki se je izo ‐
bli ko va la zno traj stro ke, ustva ri la nov uni ver zum oblik, ki so v več pogle dih
napo ve do va le kore nit pre o brat k novi for mal ni para di gmi: dese tle tje
kasne je so pred sta ve o glad ki in topo lo ški for mi, samo-podob ni pono vi tvi
in raz li ki oblik oz. o kri vu lja stem niza nju kon struk cij skih segmen tov že pre ‐
vla do va le v raz pra vah o raču nal ni škem mode li ra nju in digi tal ni izde la vi.
Seve da je bila duho vi ta in absur dna mani fe sta ci ja Gehry je ve teze, obča sno
sku paj s Cla e som Olden bur gom, neiz o gib ni ele ment te dis kur ziv ‐
ne strategije.
Tri je pri me ri pona zar ja jo delo va nje pono tra nje ne iro ni je v post mo der ‐
niz mu – prvi se opi ra na cita tno dis tan ci ra nje od moder niz ma, dru gi na
samo na na šal nost, tre tji pa na »domi sel no« bra nje urba ne ga bese di la. Vsi
tri je so vzorč ni pri me ri kom ple ksne ga pre ple ta zaznav nih in kon cep tu al nih
real no sti arhi tek tu re, v kate rih se arhi tek tur na »stvar« vzpo sta vi kot opo ‐
ra teoriji:
Prvi pri mer je chi ca ški arhi tekt Stan ley Tiger man, ki je svo jo Malo
hišo v obla kih (1976) zasno val kot odkri to refe ren co na hišo Farn sworth
(1951) Mie sa van der Rohe ja, tako da je upo ra bil arhi tek tur ne atri bu te sle ‐
dnje ter jih pou stva ril kot samo ne ga ci jo oz. samo-pre klic. Če je Mie so va
hiša eno ten, asi me tri čen in nav zven odprt volu men, Tiger ma no vo na dvo je
cepi intro spek tiv na zrcal na črta; Mie so va je dvi gnje na od tal in sto ji na
plo šča di, Tiger ma no va pa vko pa na v jarek ter nato z niz ki mi pod por ni mi
ste bri dvi gnje na na prvo tni nivo tal; Mies je dal svo ji hiši obo dna okna, ki
nje no notra njost hori zon tal no pove zu je jo s oko li ško pokra ji no, Tiger man
pa je dal pred nost pono tra nje ne mu, ver ti kal ne mu pogle du – ta pogled
v notra njost je usmer jen k »ume tni nara vi« trom pe l’oeila v obli ki fre ske
obla kov, nasli ka nih na strop hiše, ki je v celo ti brez oken. Jud Tiger man je
Emmanuel PetitArchitecture and Irony
Uvod 35
v tem for ma li stič nem poi gra va nju z ele men ti arhi tek tu re kato li ka Mie sa
uzrl vso dia lo ško koz mo lo gi jo tega, kar je sam ime no val helen ska pro ti
hebrej ski kul tu ri. Arhi tekt je tako izra zil pri pa dnost svo ji kul tur ni dia spo ri
Juda v Ame ri ki, ki se je posku šal izvi ti iz ana hro ni stič ne ga lju be zen sko-
sovra žne ga raz mer ja s kor po ra tiv no arhi tek tu ro Chi ca ga na ame ri škem
Sre dnjem zaho du, ki so ga po nje go vih bese dah  “zavze li Nem ci” – mie si ‐
jan ski moder ni zem. Mno ži ca kul tur nih nav zkri žnih refe renc, od Kier ke ga ar ‐
da do Bah ti na, od Freu da do Laca na in od Schin kla do Magrit ta, se vple ta
v deba to o arhi tek tur ni for mi vse dokler idej ni načrt ne posta ne knji ga
eksi sten ci a liz ma. Tiger ma no va Mala hiša ni zgolj arhi tek tur na zasno va,
tem več upri me ri tev dia lek tič ne teo ri je o rival stvu sve tov nih nazorov.
Dru gi pri mer je Hiša VI (1976) Petra Eise nma na. Pro jekt teme lji na
pro stor skem dia gra mu, ki ga je Eise nman pod vo jil, tako da je pod vo je ni
dia gram obr nil na gla vo in ga ugnez dil v izvir no ris bo. Če ima prvi dia gram
kon ven ci o na len odnos do težno sti, je nje gov obr nje ni dvoj ček refe renč ni
znak oz. sim bol, posta vljen naspro ti gra vi ta cij ske mu polju. Ta meha ni zem
igri ve samo re fle ksiv no sti med prvo tno ris bo in nje nim obr nje nim dvoj ni ‐
kom ustvar ja vso for mal no kom ple ksnost hiše: sto pni šče, ki se dvi gu je
v prvo nad stro pje se tako zrca li v »zna ku« sto pnic, ki se spu šča jo s stro pa,
in med tem ko neka te ri ste bri delu je jo kot stan dar dna pod po ra, dru gi visi jo
nav zdol in v »zani ka nju« težno sti leb di jo nad tle mi. Na te vrste samo re fle ‐
ksiv ni in samo-zani ka jo či dia lek tič ni sin ta ksi sto ji arhi tek tu ra Hiše VI; kot
taka, je hiša mani fest sve tov ne ga nazo ra, ki izi gra va pra gma ti zem, da
naspro tu je ide a li te ti. Je tudi gra je ni mani fest pro ti Vitru vi je vim nače lom
v arhi tek tu ri: nje gov argu ment je, da vseh ste brov v stav bi dejan sko ne
more mo zre du ci ra ti na fir mi tas, uti li tas, in celo na venu stas ne, zato pa lah ‐
ko ti pred sta vlja jo »dru ge« real no sti, ki so popol no ma notra nje in lastne
arhi tek tu ri. Hiša VI je pri mer gra je ne teorije.
Tre tji pri mer je teza, ki jo je v knji gi Deli ri o us New York (1978) posta vil
Rem Kool ha as, ki v Man hat tnu, mestu pra gma tiz ma in raci o nal no sti, pre ‐
po zna tudi nje go ve ga dia lo ške ga dru ge ga, namreč »mesto poe zi je«. Kar
pome ni, da se v svo ji skraj ni sto pnji vsi naspro tni pome ni zbli ža jo: iz »pro ‐
ble ma« pre na tr pa no sti metro po le tako nasta ne poseb na »kul tu ra« natr pa ‐
no sti. Ko posta ne pra gma tič ni pro blem tako neiz me ren, da ga ni več
mogo če učin ko vi to obvla da ti, lah ko dru gač na kul tur na misel nost o istem
pro ble mu le-tega subli mi ra v novo este ti ko in dru gač no men ta li te to. Poleg
tega Kool ha as v knji gi trdi, da gra je na struk tu ra Man hat tna pona zar ja,
kako sta se dva veli ka sovra žna ide o lo ška in poli tič na sis te ma – sov jet ski
komu ni zem in ame ri ški kapi ta li zem – navse za dnje zdru ži la v isto arhi tek ‐
tur no tipo lo gi jo: sim bo lič ni nebo tič nik, ki je soča sno nastal v Moskvi in
New Yor ku. Nada lje si v »Zgod bi o baze nu« Kool has zami sli vodo rav no
Emmanuel PetitArchitecture and Irony
3 Kipnis, »/Twisting the Separatrix/«; prvič
obja vlje no v Assem bla ge 14, April, 1991; V: K .
Micha el Hays, Archi tec tu re The o ry Sin ce 1968
(MIT Press, Cam brid ge MA, 1998), 726.
Uvod 37
obr nje no stol pni co kot dolg, pla va joč pre del mesta, hori zon tal ni nebo tič ‐
nik, ki posta ne dina mič no boji šče in tra it d'union med zaho dnim in sov jet ‐
skim urba niz mom. Iro ni ja se tu skri va v trdi tvi, da lah ko ista arhi tek tu ra
pred sta vlja naspro tni si ide o lo gi ji, ker naj bi arhi tek tu ra men da ime la spo ‐
sob nost vpi ti in ute le si ti ide o lo ška pro ti slov ja. Tudi tu je teo re tič na pred po ‐
stav ka post mo der na zgod ba o urba ni arhitekturi.
Ne gle de na nje go vo obča sno spo gle do va nje s povr šin sko este ti ko je
bil post mo der ni zem v teme lju filo zof sko in lite rar no te o re tič no giba nje,
arhi tek tu ra pa nje go va mari o ne ta. Dekon struk ti vi zem je nato raz ši ril kon ‐
cep tu al no polje delo va nja post mo der niz ma in v obdo bju od sre di ne do
kon ca osem de se tih zazna mo val vrhu nec iro ni je, ko je arhi tek tur na teo ri ja
svo je inte lek tu al no pre iz pra še va nje usme ri la k mate ri al nim teme ljem
arhitekture:
ko so stav be zače le hli ni ti lasten raz kroj in pro pad, je arhi tek tu ra že
raz kri la notra nje spo re in dvo me, ter na boji šču arhi tek tur ne for me raz ga li ‐
la svo jo več no zavist do teo ri je. Eise nman se je, da bi s for ma liz mom raz vo ‐
zlal skriv no stne pri ka zni filo zo fi je arhi tek tu re, obr nil k Jacque su Der ri da ju;
sku paj sta obja vi la zbir ko zapi sov pogo vo rov z naslo vom Cho ra L Works.
Dis kur za arhi tek tu re in filo zo fi je sta se tu tako tesno pre ple tla, da je filo zof
Der ri da pre vzel odgo vor nost za obli ko va nje arhi tek tu re z bese da mi »ne
bom se več opra vi če val, da nisem arhi tekt«, na kar se je arhi tekt Eise nman
odzval tako, da se je odre kel svo ji avto no mi ji, rekoč »… Jaz pa se ne bom
več opra vi če val, ker nisem arhi tekt.«  Še en arhi tekt, ki se je obr nil k filo ‐
zo fi ji, Ber nard Tsc hu mi, se je na pri mer skli ce val na Geor ge sa Bata il la in
Jacque sa Laca na, ko je obrav na val domnev no temno pod za vest arhi tek tu ‐
re, ki jo je potla či lo inhe ren tno nasi lje pozi tiv ne, opti mi stič ne, lepe in »kon ‐
struk tiv ne« avre o le arhi tek tu re. Dekon struk ti vi zem, ki je zadal uda rec
feno me no lo ški pri stran sko sti splo šne jav no sti z nje no popre pro šče no,
nete o re tič no aper cep ci jo lepo te arhi tek tu re, si je zadal pokva ri ti meščan ‐
sko zado volj stvo, ko je poka zal, da arhi tek tu ra ni neka kšna »deco« ume ‐
tnost, name nje na gen tri fi ka ci ji življen skih slo gov, tem več oder za pri ka zo ‐
va nje notra nje dia lek ti ke stro ke in nje ne ga dvo ma. Da bi se upr la apa ti ji in
zado volj ni oto pe lo sti sta tu sa quo, je arhi tek tu ra v for ma li stič no in pro stor ‐
sko dra mo spro sti la neka kšno peklen sko ener gi jo. Dekon struk ti vi zem je bil
eden tistih tre nut kov v zgo do vi ni, ko je arhi tek tu ra naj bolj izra zi to in iro nič ‐
no izpo sta vi la temelj na nesklad ja med svo jim mate ri a liz mom (»ope ko«) in
svo jo meta fi zi ko (»dvo mom«).
Z »digi tal nim obra tom« v arhi tek tu ri v prvi polo vi ci devet de se tih je
inte res za pomen, sim bo li zem, kri ti ko in her me nev ti ko arhi tek tu re dobil
nalep ko neče sa brez potre be skriv no stne ga, posle dič no pa so nje go vo
mesto zavze le dru ge tema ti ke na tem podro čju. Ko je digi tal na teh no lo gi ja
3
Emmanuel PetitArchitecture and Irony
Uvod 39
posta la neo b ho dna pri sno va nju in šir je nju idej, se je sre di šče arhi tek tur ‐
ne ga dis kur za poma kni lo h gene ra tiv nim pra ksam, ki so bile veči no ma pra ‐
gma tič ne in teh no lo ške nara ve. Te so se od reflek tiv nih, kri tič nih in dia lek ‐
tič nih pri sto pov, ki so ga v veli ki meri opre de lje va li sko zi dese tle tja post ‐
mo der niz ma in post struk tu ra liz ma, poma kni le k bolj nepo sre dne mu eks pe ‐
ri men ti ra nju z novi mi teh ni ka mi izde la ve, digi tal ne mu gene ri ra nju oblik ter
dejav ne mu šir je nju podob. S seli tvi jo boji šča na digi tal ni ekran, se je dis ‐
kurz dobe se dno in meta fo rič no »splo ščil«: na eni stra ni se je tele snost
arhi tek tu re pre tvo ri la v nema te ri al ne črte na rav nih ekra nih, na dru gi pa je
v deba ti med arhi tek ti pri šla na dan odkri ta nestr pnost do idej, ki niso bile
nepo sre dno narav na ne k izzi va nju pro gram ske ga odzi va. Pre vla du jo če
teme so se sko raj izključ no vrte le okrog gene ri ra nja in mani pu li ra nja oblik
– pre gi ba nja, nasta ja nja, topo lo gi je, hiper plo skev, neli ne ar no sti, – med tem
ko se je teo ri ja obr ni la k Gil le su Dele u zu. Dele u zi a ni zem v arhi tek tu ri se je
zdel nekaj resne ga, obse siv ne ga, kul tne ga; v obmo čju for ma liz ma in filo zo ‐
fij »glad ko sti« pač ni bilo pro sto ra za dia lek tič ne raz ko le iro ni je. Čeprav so
bila devet de se ta nedvo mno pio nir sko obdo bje digi tal ne ga mode li ra nja,
v kate rem se je odvi ja lo »vse pre re sno« eks pe ri men ti ra nje z novi mi medi ji,
se je nje gov kul tur ni zame tek zane til v kri tič nih deba tah, ki so se kre sa le
pred tem. 
Podob no tudi arhi tek tur na teo ri ja in iro ni ja nista bili rav no v modi
v prvih dese tle tjih naše ga sto le tja. Razvoj plat form druž be nih medi jev je
popol no ma spre me nil pro to ko le komu ni ka ci je: omo go čil je spon ta no, indi ‐
vi du a li stič no in nepo sre dno izra ža nje mnenj, v kate rem je dis kurz izgu bil
pre cej svo je ga pro ce du ral ne ga for ma liz ma, svo je diplo ma ci je in več krat
tudi svo je spo dob no sti. Nado me sti lo ga je neneh no vzne mir je nje in govor ‐
je nje vse vprek, kjer vsak upo rab nik druž be nih medi jev dobi svoj jav ni oder
za nasto pa nje, s kate re ga lah ko obja vlja svo ja mne nja, sta li šča, pogle de,
pre pri ča nja, sume ali teo ri je. Vse splo šna dosto pnost razno ra znih »vse bin«
je rela ti vi zi ra la avto ri te to insti tu cij, ki so tra di ci o nal no uokvir ja le, varo va le
in stro kov no nad zo ro va le dostop do idej. Indi vi du al ne obja ve, ki so posta le
sred stvo za impul ziv no, nefor mal no izra ža nje poli tič nih mnenj, tek mu je jo
z ura dni mi novi čar ski mi kana li. Posle dič na kako fo ni ja gla sov je tako hete ‐
ro ge na, da je izgu bi la sku pno epi ste mo lo ško osno vo, ob kate ri bi sploh
lah ko raz bra li pre ta nje ne učin ke iro ni je. Podob no se je v zadnjih dese tle ‐
tjih tudi arhi tek tur na stro ka odda lji la od svo je zato plje no sti v inte lek tu al na
raz mi šlja nja in refle ksi jo zame nja la za performativnost.
Novi način delo va nja je sovpa dal z eksplo ziv no rastjo novih urba nih
aglo me ra cij v Azi ji in na Sre dnjem vzho du, od Duba ja do Šen ze na, a mu
kljub nje go vi odloč ni pro gre siv no sti ni uspe lo obu di ti pio nir ske ga duha, ki
je zazna mo val pet de se ta leta 20. sto le tja ali uto pi stič no goreč nost, ki je
Emmanuel PetitArchitecture and Irony
Uvod 41
pusti la pečat v šest de se tih. Ta hiper ra zvoj se je poja vil sku paj s sko raj
neiz o gib no pra gma ti stič no ide o lo gi jo, ki jo je pre ti ra na intro spek ci ja stro ke
pusti la rav no du šno. Temu neo maj no »moder ne mu« zago nu gre pri pi sa ti
zaslu ge za to, da je arhi tek tu ra, ki zdaj samo za ve stno izva ja svo je postop ‐
ke, opu sti la samo-pre iz pra še va nje in dvom v svoj prav ter se na splo šno
v veli ki meri odpo ve da la disci pli nar ni samorefleksiji.
A ko se je ok. leta 2020 zaba va kon ča la in so se nako pi či le zdra vstve ‐
ne, okolj ske, finanč ne in geo po li tič ne kri ze, se je bila tudi druž ba na splo ‐
šno, še pose bej pa arhi tek tu ra kot stro ka, pri si lje na zazre ti vase. Kot da so
izje mne raz me re, ki so jih ustva ri le kri ze, nasta le s covi dom, infla ci jo,
migra ci ja mi, voj no v Ukra ji ni in pod neb ni mi spre mem ba mi, spu sti le z vaje ti
»suro vo resnič nost«, spri čo kate re se teo ri je, sanje in upa nje člo ve štva
zdi jo kot brez plo dne roman tič ne sanja ri je. Rea li stič ni nagon, ki so ga pre ‐
bu di le te ujme, je z oži vlja njem suho par ne ga pra gma tiz ma celó huma ni ‐
stič no disci pli no kot je arhi tek tu ra instru men ta li zi ral v orod je za »reše va ‐
nje aktu al nih problemov«.
Vse e no lah ko pred po sta vi mo, da tudi inte lek tu al ni odziv na »resnič ‐
no« ogro že nost naše ga obsto ja zno va odpi ra pro stor za dra mo iro ni je, pa
čeprav na dru ga čen način kot v nje nih prej šnjih (post mo der ni stič ni in dru ‐
gih) raz li či cah. Tokrat iro ni ja ni lite rar ne in seman tič ne nara ve; soo če ni
z domnev nim izbru hom suro ve resnič no sti bi lah ko pri ča ko va li soo če nje
z nie tz sche jan sko »sve tov no zgo do vin sko iro ni jo«, ute me lje no v sumu, da
zvi jač no božan stvo vle če niti v veli ki igri s sve tom, v kate ri lju dje nasto pa ‐
mo kot nje go ve lut ke. Zno va smo se zna šli na toč ki, ko mora mo ovre dno ti ti
raz mer je med ima nen tno kon struk tiv no in v pri ho dnost narav na no pod stat
stro ke (»ne moreš biti arhi tekt in ver je ti v bom bo«) ter težnjo po ohra nja ‐
nju rele van tno sti z reše va njem zagat naše ga časa. Domnev no torej ti tež ki
časi že po nara vi nudi jo plo dna tla za raz cvet ironije.
Čeprav danes še ne more mo v celo ti razu me ti nje nih učin kov, lah ko
vse e no posku si mo dolo či ti nekaj točk, kjer se pora ja sodob na iro ni ja. Sam
izpo sta vljam tri:
Prva je nasta nek poj ma post hu ma ni zem, ki je spre me nil člo ve ko vo
zazna va nje same ga sebe; teh no lo ške možno sti spre mi nja nja teles in men ‐
ta li te te so zavr ta le v teme lje vseh tra di ci o nal nih teo rij o tem, kaj pome ni
biti člo vek. V času, ko je ude mogo če zame nja ti ali dopol ni ti s pro te za mi in
pove za ti nevro ne z ele k tron ski mi čipi, ko je mogo če zame nja ti spol in spol ‐
no iden ti te to, ki s tem posta ne ta flu i dna, ume tna inte li gen ca pa lah ko tek ‐
mu je s svo jim člo ve škim dvoj ni kom, bi mora lo biti več kot dovolj pro sto ra
za nove obli ke iro ni je! V kre a tiv nih in kri tič nih stro kah je ta splo šna revi zi ja
vlo ge in pome na člo ve ko ve delo val no sti že tla ko va la nove poti za dia lek ti ‐
ko. Bio lo ško telo bo namreč vedno osta lo »kon ser va tiv na« refe renč na
Emmanuel PetitArchitecture and Irony
4 Don’t Look Up, v kine ma to gra fih 10. decem bra
2021 (ZD, Reži ser: Adam McKay, igral ska
zased ba: Leo nar do DiCa prio, Jen ni fer Lawren ‐
ce, Ari a na Gran de, Cate Blan chett, Meryl Stre
ep.
5 https://www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/2
023/dangerous-liaisons/liam-young (dostop
15. avgust 2024).
Uvod 43
toč ka oz. sen ca, iz kate re izha ja jo in se nanjo opi ra jo post člo ve ške izbolj ‐
ša ve. Post hu ma ni zem ni le evo lu cij ska pri la go di tev huma ni stič nih pred po ‐
stavk, tem več je obe nem tudi obli ka samo ne ga ci je zno traj same teo ri je
huma niz ma. Tej evo lu ci ji se tudi arhi tek tu ra ne bo mogla upre ti; če upo šte ‐
va mo šte vil na in vedno zno va pono vlje na zaple ta nja arhi tek tu re z bio lo ški ‐
mi meta fo ra mi, ki daleč pre se ga jo kla sič ne argu men te o tele snih raz mer jih,
orga ni za ci ji ali pro fi lu, bo vsa ko poi gra va nje s temelj no para di gmo odpr lo
vra ta celo tne mu spek tru iro ni je – od eksi sten ci a li stič ne do humor ne. Še
pose bej velik poten ci al za novo dia lek ti ko se skri va v težav nem loče va nju
med subjek ti in objek ti, saj so objek ti že posta li čute či, odziv ni in (ume ‐
tno) pametni.
Dru go goji šče sodob ne iro ni je se kaže v odno su člo ve štva do antro ‐
po ce na, oko lja in pod ne bja. Raz pe to med spo zna njem o nuj no sti ukre pov,
ki bodo pre pre či li uso dno kata stro fo zara di brez bri žne ga in čez mer ne ga
izko ri šča nja narav nih virov, in neraz lo žlji vo vztraj no neje ve ro v znan stve ne
doka ze, je člo ve štvo obvi se lo v novi dia lek ti ki, ki je bila na veli kem pla tnu
nazor no pri ka za na v čudo vi to iro nič nem in sati rič nem fil mu Ne glej te gor. 
V njem vidi mo svet, v kate rem se lju dje deli jo na tiste, ki so pre pri ča ni, da
jih komet, kate re ga pot se kri ža z zemljo, resno ogro ža, tiste, ki obso ja jo
zga nja nje pani ke in so pre pri ča ni, da bo uni če ni komet ustva ril nova delov ‐
na mesta, ter tiste, ki zani ka jo sam obstoj kome ta. Kot sati rič ni komen tar
člo ve ko ve ga rav na nja z doka zi o pod neb ni kri zi film obrav na va tudi raz ko ‐
rak med člo ve ko vim raz mi šlja njem in nje go vi mi deja nji. Dana šnje iro ni je
rade mani pu li ra jo z nesklad ji med izpo pol nje ni mi teh no lo ški mi, poli tič ni mi
in dru gi mi sis te mi nad zo ra, ki jih je ustva ril in uve lja vil člo vek sam, ter
z občut kom popol ne izgu be nad zo ra nad temi isti mi sis te mi. Pred nami je
zgod ba o vajen cu in čarov ni ku, tokrat kot eden osre dnjih lajt mo ti vov
sodob ne iro ni je. Na podro čju arhi tek tu re Liam Young v svo jem nedav nem
pro jek tu Gre at Ende a vor (Veli ki pod vig) tema ti zi ra diho to mi jo med pod ‐
neb ni mi spre mem ba mi, ki so si uso dno in abso lu tno poko ri le člo ve ka, ter
vizi o nar sko fik ci jo o člo ve ko vem pre vze mu popol ne ga nad zo ra s pomo čjo
teh no lo gi je. Young je ustva ril nami šlje ni svet, za kate re ga je po nje go vih
bese dah »tre ba zgra di ti naj ve čji inže nir ski pro jekt v člo ve ški zgo do vi ni in
posta vi ti novo infra struk tu ro, ki bo tako veli ka kot vsa sve tov na indu stri ja
fosil nih goriv.«  Nje gov pogled na pri ho dnost pla ne ta se giblje med neiz ‐
mer nim opti miz mom in stra šlji vim obe tom pri ho dno sti, sam pro jekt pa je
ume ščen na subli mno mejo med resno stjo in lah ko mi sel no stjo. Čeprav je
navi de zno vse prej kot humo ren, se pro jekt poi gra va z dvo lič nim izbru hom
člo ve ko vih pose gov na pla ne tar ni rav ni: v neka kšnem iro nič nem obra tu
Young nami gne, da če bi člo ve štvo zno va vlo ži lo toli ko napo ra, kot ga je
name ni lo indu stri a li za ci ji, bi nam v dru go uspelo. 
4
5
Emmanuel PetitArchitecture and Irony
Uvod 45
Tre tje plo di šče sodob ne iro ni je naj de mo na soci al no po li tič nem podro čju,
kjer smo v zadnjem času pri ča vzpo nu popu liz ma. Pro ti si stem ske drže
popu liz ma po vsem sve tu, od Zdru že nih držav do Argen ti ne in od Fran ci je
do Ita li je, so naj o či tnej ši sin drom posku sa odpra vi ti »kre po sti« demo kra ci ‐
je, ki se pogo sto zdi jo abstrak tne in eli ti stič ne. Kaže, da izje mne raz me re
zadnjih kriz zah te va jo nekaj več od dol go ve znih, napor nih in for ma li stič nih
postop kov demo kra ci je. Tako je pan de mi ja pri si li la orga ne zdra vstve ne
dejav no sti, da izbi ra jo med tra ja njem svo jih pro to ko lov za pre iz ku ša nje
var no sti novih cepiv in hitro stjo nji ho ve ga uva ja nja; veli ki migra cij ski toko ‐
vi so zane ti li naci o na li stič no pri se ga nje na zla to dobo (ki je niko li ni bilo),
ko je bilo vse pre pro sto, nepo sre dno, in narav nost čudo vi to; novi kohor ti
pro te stni kov, od Last Gene ra ti on do Tyre Extin gu i shers, pa se spri čo
domnev no neiz o gib ne ga pod neb ne ga zlo ma zdi upra vi če no zaob i ti zakon.
A v tre nu tni situ a ci ji več krat poza bi mo, da demo kra tič ni for ma liz mi izvi ra jo
iz druž be ne pogod be, na kate ri teme lji jo naše moder ne civi li za ci je –
pogod be, ki je ende mič na kul tu ri, jezi ku in vsa ki obli ki druž be ne ga obče ‐
va nja. Vse, kar je pove za no s kul tu ro, je seve da po nara vi zaple te no in več ‐
pla stno, zato o tem ni mogo če govo ri ti na pre prost način. Če je bilo 20.
sto le tje doba, ko so bile v ime nu spo što va nja kom ple ksno sti »druž be ne
pogod be« vzpo sta vlje ne for mal ne druž be no po li tič ne insti tu ci je (med na ro ‐
dna sodi šča, glo bal ne trgo vin ske pogod be, geo po li tič na voja ška zave zni ‐
štva), pa je v 21. sto le tju pri šlo do čudne ga kon cep tu al ne ga krat ke ga sti ka,
ki je izzval nji ho vo odpra vlja nje. Če naj bi bila zara di svo je tisoč le tja dol ge
zgo do vi ne ustvar ja nja obla stnih raz me rij  “vsa arhi tek tu ra poli tič na”, bo
samo ne ga ci ja demo kra tič nih načel, ki tre nu tno pote ka zno traj Zaho dnih
(demo kra tič nih) reži mov, poro di la nje no notra njo iro ni jo – bodi si s tem,
kako inter pre ti ra mo, načr tu je mo in pred sta vlja mo svo je stav be, ali pa
s tem, kako se zara di tai stih stavb obnašamo.
Če je torej uvo dna teza tega ese ja, namreč da se iro ni ja nave zu je na
dvoj no real nost arhi tek tu re kot stva ri in kot skup ka idej, še vedno pre pri ‐
člji va, potem bi mora li biti dana šnji bur ni časi kot nalašč za vrni tev iro ni je
po obdo bju nje ne ga miro va nja, ki je sle di lo zato nu post mo der niz ma. Ko
bodo traj ni oz. uve lja vlje ni kli še ji arhi tek tur ne ga jezi ka, kot so sta bil nost,
umir je nost, traj nost, samo za vest in opti mi zem zno va soo če ni s temelj no
prvi no mišlje nja – pre iz pra še va njem – bomo pre sto pi li prag nove ga tre nut ‐
ka »teo ri je« v arhi tek tur nem diskurzu.
E.P. 2024

47
Anna Neimark
Michael Osman
Catching Flak
On the Irony of Fortresses
Anna Neimark, Michael OsmanArchitecture and Irony
1 Peter D. Eisenman’s aca d e m ic career in archi ‐
tec ture began by con tem plat ing philo soph i cal
ques tions of the field’s self-def i n i tion. For
exam ple,  “Notes on Con cep tu al Archi tec ture:
Towards a Def i n i tion,” Design Quar ter ly No.
78/79 (1970), 1–5;  “Post-Func tion al ism,” Oppo ‐
si tions 6 (Fall 1976). See also, many of the
essays in Eisen man Inside Out: Select ed Writ ‐
ings, 1963–1988 (New Haven: Yale Uni ver si ty
Press, 2004).
2 Paul de Man,  “The Con cept of Irony,” Aes thet ic
Ide ol o gy (Min neapo lis: Uni ver si ty of Min neso ‐
ta Press, 2006), pp. 163–184.
Catching Flak 49
“The ironization of form consists in a deliberate
destruction of the form.”
Walter Benjamin, Der Begriff der Kunstkritik
in der Deutschen Romantik (1920)
Archi tec ture has a writ ten aspect, some of which is relat ed to the design and
con struc tion of build ings and some of which employs lan guage as a tool for
the descrip tion of build ings in nar ra tive. When we con sid er archi tec ture as
a form of writ ing that includes all the above, it can be sen su ous, lit er al, fig u -
ra tive, and abstract—as an abstrac tion, archi tec ture can be rep re sen ta tion al
of itself.  An inevitable byprod uct of architecture’s writ ten aspect is its pro -
duc tion of irony.
We define irony along the lines of Paul de Man’s 1977 odd ly titled lec -
ture on  “The Con cept of Irony,” where he described the term as any thing but
a con cept.  Rather, de Man viewed irony as an inter rup tion in writ ten nar ra -
tive, a nega tion of its lin ear flow. Inso far as nar ra tive is the basis of civ i liza -
tion al his to ry, de Man main tains, it is the tech nique through which human
cul ture doc u ments its devel op ment over time.
Archi tec ture plays a sig nif i cant role in such an effort. For exam ple,
when a work of archi tec ture is intend ed to mark a moment in time—often as
a monument—it offers cul ture a cir cuit of ref er ence between his tor i cal nar ra -
tive and built form. In many cas es, one work of archi tec ture refers to anoth er
that pre ced ed it in his to ry and there by rein forces the lin ear i ty of the civ i liza -
tion al nar ra tive. Architecture’s ironies would there fore be inter rup tions to
this struc ture of nar ra tive; they might be inter pret ed as gaps with in the net -
works of ref er ence, or  “shorts” with in the cir cuit ry of his to ry. These forms of
archi tec tur al nega tion are mean ings that inter rupt any meta nar ra tive of civ i -
liza tion al meaning. 
Here, we will focus on one exam ple of an archi tec tur al irony that inter -
rupts the cul tur al meta nar ra tive: the fortress. It is one of the Ur-forms of
archi tec ture because it has tra di tion al ly func tioned in the defense of cities,
coast lines, and bor ders. Fortress es have a sto ried lit er a ture, and they con sti -
tute a sig nif i cant part of architecture’s mil i tary genre. First, we will show
how fortress archi tec ture devel oped through lan guage and then we will
explain the result ing irony of fortress es today.
As a form in the mil i tary genre, fortress es were expen sive, high ly tech -
ni cal, large-scale mil i tary con struc tions that war rant ed a spe cial ized set of
terms. Over time, this vocab u lary became a com mon syn tax for army engi -
neers and sol diers. The archi tec tur al gram mar of fortress-design and con -
struc tion reached a cli max at the end of the 17  cen tu ry with the work of
Sébastien Le Pre stre de Vauban, Louis the XIV’s guru of siege war fare. He
1
2
th
Anna Neimark, Michael OsmanArchitecture and Irony
3 Sébastien Le Pre stre de Vauban, The New
Method of For ti fi ca tion, 5  ed. (Lon don, 1722),
p. 68–85.
th
Catching Flak 51
for mal ized the use of words that rep re sent ed pre cise pro gram mat ic func tions
for the arrange ment of any fortress. At the start of his New Method of For ti fi -
ca tion, Vauban pro vid ed a list of words and their respec tive def i n i tions in
about twen ty pages. Here is a selec tion of ten terms as they appeared in the
con text of the British trans la tion of that lexicon: 
Banquette, a little foot-pace at the bottom of the parapet, upon which
the soldiers get up to fire into the moat, or upon the covert-way.
Battery, is a place raised, whereon to plant the great guns, and play
upon the enemy.
Breach, is the ruin which the cannon or a mine makes in a fortification
to take it by assault.
Chandeliers, are wooden parapets covered with bavins, filled with earth
about a foot high, made use of in approaches, mines and galleries, to
cover the workmen, and hinder the besieged from constraining them to
quit their labour.
Courtain, is the longest streight line that runs about the rampart drawn
from one flank to the other, and bordered with a good parapet five feet
high, behind which the soldiers place themselves to fire upon the
covert-way, and into the moat.
Esplanade, is the place void of houses, between the citadel and the
town.
Flank, is the part which joins the courtain to the face of the bastion,
from which the face of the next bastion requires its defence.
Gallery, is a covered walk, either of earth or turf. The sides of it are
made with planks and pillars; and they are made use of in the moat.
Palisades, are wooden stakes from five to seven feet high, armed with
two of three iron points, which are fixed before fortresses, courtains,
ramparts, and glaces.
Parapet, is an elevation of earth upon the rampart, behind which the
soldiers stand, and where the canon is planted for the defence of the
place. 3
Anna Neimark, Michael OsmanArchitecture and Irony
Catching Flak 53
Remov ing these words from their alpha bet i cal order allows us to
arrange them in a for ti fied stack, a sort of poem. Off set from the perime ter of
the moat, the chan de lier bedecked para pet looms upon the ram part, encir -
cling the bas tions that extend into the flanks con nect ed by cur tain walls.
These, in turn, descend inward toward the parade grounds, beyond the ban -
quettes and the bat ter ies of weapons. Revers ing direc tion, we fol low the line
of fire, along the vec tors of the pal isades, where gal leries dig in before the
glacis that undu late out ward and then flat ten into an esplanade of no-man’s
land. These sen tences do not only describe a tow er of stone and earth works,
they also com pose a tow er of words that was once held togeth er by the lan -
guage of fortresses. 
But the coher ence of lan guage has been breached. This assault is not
only the result of our awk ward attempt at writ ing an iron ic poem: the words
are sim ply hard to fol low. We also can not blame our selves as mere lay men
who lack the nec es sary knowl edge of these tech ni cal terms. Indeed, so many
of these words do sound famil iar because they have received new def i n i tions
that over whelm those devel oped by Vauban. Fortress es and their vocab u lary
have tak en on an iron ic char ac ter because of the cul tur al repres sion of their
tech ni cal mean ing. These terms have been (pur pose ly) for got ten from the
main stream of cul ture as the build ings have increas ing ly dis ap peared from
the lin ear nar ra tive of his to ry. Fortress lan guage appears to have become
antique, anti quar i an even. Mean while, phys i cal fortress build ings no longer
belong to strate gies of war, nor do they express the enclo sure of cities, nor
do they fig ure promi nent ly as pro tec tors of nation al bor ders. Cer tain ly,
nobody would take on the expense of build ing a fortress any longer. It is
ridicu lous to for ti fy a place with a build ing when one must defend against
drones or cyber at tacks, except metaphor i cal ly, as in design ing a  “fire wall.”
Fortress es are now memo ri al ized as sites of the lost nar ra tive strength of
architecture—they remain as his tor i cal sites of vic to ry or loss, as relics of
for mer polit i cal and strate gic rep re sen ta tions of power.
The writ ten aspect of fortress archi tec ture lives in the scrapheap of
metaphor. The very silli ness of a con tem po rary fortress allows it to con -
tribute to our def i n i tion of archi tec tur al irony. With its dis lo ca tion from cul -
ture, the lan guage of fortification—and its corol lary archi tec tur al forms—
have come to inter rupt the flow of cul tur al mean ing with archa ic mean ings.
Paul de Man would have called this, after Fichte, paraba sis. This is our mod -
ern Tow er of Babel. 
The lan guage of mil i tary archi tec ture has an exten sive dou ble life: ban -
quette fur ni ture, hang ing chan de liers, cur tain wall façades, urban boule vards,
inte ri or enfilades, Thanks giv ing parades, bat tery pow er, and print ed mag a -
zines. These are just some of the terms that have tak en on new mean ings and
Anna Neimark, Michael OsmanArchitecture and Irony
4 The lan guage of war fare more gen er al ly pop u ‐
lates crit i cal dis course. The word  “salient,” for
exam ple, means a pro ject ing fea ture of land ‐
scape; it is also known as a  “bulge” in
descrip tions of ter ri to ry. Often, it is a fea ture
with in a bat tle field that projects into ene my
ter ri to ry. See Hugh M. Cole, The U.S. Army in
World War II: The Euro pean The ater of Oper a ‐
tions. The Ardennes: Bat tle of the Bulge
(Wash ing ton, D.C.: Cen ter of Mil i tary His to ry
Unit ed States Army, 1993). More broad ly, see
Bruno Latour,  “Why Cri tique Has Run out of
Steam? From Mat ters of Fact to Mat ters of
Con cern,” Crit i cal Inquiry 30:2 (Win ter
2004), 225.
5 Michael Braun, More than 1,300 refugees are
stopped at sea or removed from Dry Tor tu gas
Nation al Park, WUSF, The Flori da Roundup,
Jan u ary 6, 2023 https://www.wusf.org/local-st
ate/2023–01-06/more-than-1300-refugees-sto
pped-at-sea-removed-dry-tortugas-national-p
ark (accessed Decem ber 10, 2024).
6 Otto Wag n er, Mod ern Archi tec ture: A Guide ‐
book for His Stu dents to This Field of Art,
trans. Har ry Fran cis Mall grave (San ta Mon i ca:
Get ty Cen ter for Arts and Human i ties, 1988).
See also, Carl Schorske, Fin-De-Siecle Vien na:
Pol i tics and Cul ture (New York: Vin tage
Books, 1979).
Catching Flak 55
have lit tle to do with war fare. There are still more terms relat ed to for ti fi ca -
tion that have not yet found their way into com mon par lance: glacis,
caponier, case mate. What might they come to mean?
At their moment of cul tur al rel e vance, fortress es bor rowed from oth er
gen res of archi tec tur al lan guage too. We can point to the terms used for
domes tic aspects of that archi tec ture that helped feed and house the gar ri son.
One won ders why cer tain fortress-terms also share philo log i cal kin ship with
ani mal anato my: how do cuts of meat relate to the bas tioned flank? In the
ser vice of irony, it is pos si ble to trace these ele ments of lan guage and their
cor re spond ing forms as they reemerge in incon spic u ous places, or at incon -
ve nient times. Fortress-irony, if such a thing can even be named, offers a cer -
tain com ic relief, albeit nerdy and even bor ing. At the same time, it may also
sharp en the crit i cal stakes, as it were—or give anoth er type of salience to
archi tec tur al rhetoric.
Just as main stream cul ture repress es the archa ic lan guage of mil i tary
archi tec ture, it also repress es the fortress es that linger in cities or under
them. Often, we ignore mil i tary build ings that pop u late the coun try side, or
we look past those that surf the waves in the sea. In 2023, hun dreds of
refugees from Cuba and Haiti were processed after land ing at Dry Tor tu gas
Nation al Park. News cov er age of this trag ic encounter with the Coast Guard
said lit tle of the beau ti ful archi tec tur al land mark Fort Jef fer son that occu pied
the back ground of the images.  This was one of the 42 forts of the so-called  
“Third Sys tem,” built to pro tect the US coast line after the British inva sion
that spawned the War of 1812. That mon u ment con tin ues to stand on the
west ern most island of the Flori da Keys, as  “Guardian of the Gulf.” But
there is irony in the fact that such fortress is now a snor kel ing and fish ing
des ti na tion over seen by the Nation al Park Service.
Per haps the great est repres sion of mil i tary archi tec ture fig ures strong ly
in one of the core nar ra tives of archi tec tur al mod ernism in Europe. The era -
sure of the medieval ram parts around the city of Vien na made space for the
Ringstraße at the end of the 19  cen tu ry and lit er al ly laid the ground work
for Otto Wag n er to the o rize a form of a mon u men tal mod ern metrop o lis.
Even the Vien nese archi tect Adolf Loos, with his dis tinc tive psy cho an a lyt i -
cal view of mod ern life—for Loos, archi tec ture was a tool that enabled
repression—was unable to see the new ly cleared land as the great est act of
repres sion: that of a for mer fortification. 
Canons, too, are a medi um of irony. In the Ger man lan guage, lit tle dis -
tinc tion is made between the weapons of war and the annals of dis ci pli nary
knowl edge: both kanonen are spelled with a sin gle n. Bring ing can nons into
the canon, Robin Evans described the conun drum faced by ear ly mil i tary
engi neers who sought to describe the pro ject ed sur faces of fortress es. The
4
5
th
6
Anna Neimark, Michael OsmanArchitecture and Irony
1
2
1 Albrecht Dürer, Etliche underricht, zu befestigung
der Stett, Schloß, und Flecken, (Gedruckt zu
Nürenberg, 1527).
2 Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, Traité de l'attaque
et de la défense des places (La Haye: chez Pierre
de Hondt, 1742). In an astonishing drawing, the
military engineer Sébastian le Prestre de Vauban
figuratively represented the explosion of lines –
this can be read as much an aesthetic attack as a
descriptive image. What explodes in the drawing is
a curtainwall.
7 Robin Evans,  “Archi tec tur al Pro jec tion,” Archi ‐
tec ture and Its Image, eds. Eve Blau and
Edward Kauf man (Cam bridge: The MIT Press,
1989), 18–35.
Catching Flak 57
form of a defen sive fort, he showed, made a direct rela tion ship between the
arc of an offen sive shot and the pro jec tion plane of draw ing. In the field,
a vec tor of offence pro duces a cor re spond ing geom e try of defense. On paper,
rep re sent ing that geo met ric con flu ence requires a set of rec i p ro cal ortho -
graph ic con ven tions. The longevi ty of these projections—plan, sec tion,
elevation—now cel e brates five cen turies of archi tec tur al atten tion and far
out lives their val ue for fortress design. Evans writes of one ear ly user, the
artist Albrecht Dür er, who spec u lat ed on the form of a fortress as a trun cat ed
cone with the visu al aid of a projectile’s path [ 1 ]. The con vex sur face was
simul ta ne ous ly formed by the attack of can non balls and informed by the
impres sion of bat tered arch es. Evans play ful ly dwelled on a pos si ble
moment of inde ci sion: Dür er need ed the wall to map the path of the pro jec -
tile, and he need ed the path to map the wall. We will nev er know which one
came first.  His pro jec tions of a fortress were there fore dou bled: they were
self-ref er en tial to the process of pro jec tion itself. Self-ref er ence, accord ing
to de Man, is a fun da men tal part of the iron ic trope as it posits the  “I”—the
self—and simul ta ne ous ly posits its destruc tion. In this case, the  “I” of the
fort is its geo met ri cal con struc tion and the  “not-I” is its destruc tion under
can non fire. Per haps this irony is cap tured in Vauban’s depic tion of a for ti fi -
ca tion caught in a cloud of linework flak [ 2 ]. Flak itself is an abbre vi a tion
of a com pound ed Ger man word coined dur ing World War II. The acronym
stands for the Flieger-abwehr-kanonen, or the fly ing defense can nons, that
pro duced clouds of shrap nel in the skies.
Dur ing this time of height ened emo tions brought about by wars, mil i -
tary terms might be the last object we might sus pect to remind us of irony.
There is noth ing iron ic about war, as it is expe ri enced. Yet we do find it dis -
turbing ly present in the mod ern lan guage of our dis ci pline. So, much like
a fortress under can non fire, we too are will ing to catch some flak for the
sim ple obser va tion that the fortress was once an archi tec tur al form that pro -
tect ed; and its mean ing was cul tur al ly clear. Now, it is a form that destroys
form. It is ironic. 
7
Anna Neimark, Michael OsmanArchitecture and Irony
Catching Flak 59
Bibliography
Braun, Michael. “More than 1,300 refugees are stopped at sea or removed from Dry Tortugas National
Park.”
WUSF, The Florida Roundup, January 6, 2023. https://www.wusf.org/local-state/2023-01-06/more-than-
1300-refugees-stopped-at-sea-removed-dry-tortugas-national-park (accessed December 10, 2024).
Cole, Hugh M. The U.S. Army in World War II: The European Theater of Operations. The Ardennes: Battle
of the Bulge (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History United States Army, 1993).
de Man, Paul. “The Concept of Irony.” Aesthetic Ideology (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press,
2006), 163-184.
Eisenman, Peter D. “Notes on Conceptual Architecture: Towards a Definition.” Design Quarterly No.
78/79 (1970), 1-5.
Eisenman, Peter D. “Post-Functionalism,” Oppositions 6 (1976).
Eisenman, Peter D. Eisenman Inside Out: Selected Writings, 1963-1988 (New Haven: Yale University
Press, 2004).
Evans, Robin. “Architectural Projection.” Architecture and Its Image. Eds. Eve Blau and Edward Kaufman
(Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1989), 18-35.
Le Prestre de Vauban, Sébastien. The New Method of Fortification. 5th ed. (London, 1722).
Latour, Bruno. “Why Critique Has Run out of Steam? From Matters of Fact to Matters of Concern.”
Critical Inquiry 30:2 (Winter 2004), 225-248.
Schorske, Carl. Fin-De-Siecle Vienna: Politics and Culture (New York: Vintage Books, 1979).
Wagner, Otto. Modern Architecture: A Guidebook for His Students to This Field of Art. Trans. Harry
Francis Mallgrave (Santa Monica: Getty Center for Arts and Humanities, 1988).

61
Cesira Sissi Roselli
Who Laughs Last?
The Architecture of
Entertainment as a Paradigm of
Serious Irony from Cedric Price
to the Present Day
Cesira Sissi RoselliArchitecture and Irony
1 Søren Aabye Kierkegaard,  “Irony as a Con ‐
trolled Ele ment, the Truth of Irony,” in The
Con cept of Irony with con tin u al ref er ence to
Socrates. Notes of Schelling’s Berlin Lec tures,
eds. by Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong
(Prince ton: Prince ton Uni ver si ty Press,
1989), 327.
2 Edi to r i al board.  “Lo scher zo tele fon i co a Mel ‐
oni e la nota del gov er no.” Il Sole 24 ore,
Novem ber 1, 2023. Con sult ed on Feb ru ary
14, 2024.
Who Laughs Last? 63
“Any one who does not under stand irony at all […] does not know the
refresh ment and strength en ing that comes with undress ing when the air gets
too hot and heavy and div ing into the sea of irony, not in order to stay there,
of course, but in order to come out healthy, hap py, and buoy ant and to dress
again” .
On Sep tem ber 18  2023 Ital ian Prime Min is ter Gior gia Mel oni
received a phone call by the African Union Commission’s President.
On Novem ber 1 , 2023, news was leaked that the phone call was actu -
al ly a prank call car ried out by the Russ ian com e dy duo Vovan & Lexus. In
fact, dur ing the con ver sa tion, no dis crep an cies emerged com pared to the
pub lic posi tions of the gov ern ment on the issues ten den tious ly raised by the
Russ ian inter locu tors.
The sim plic i ty of a prank call esca lates into an inter na tion al diplo mat ic
inci dent. This episode becomes emblem at ic as it demon strates (in addi tion to
the sys temic fragili ty of the fil ters with in the Ital ian Prime Minister’s Diplo -
mat ic Counselor's Office) how irony is employed to address extreme ly seri -
ous issues, such as, in this spe cif ic case, the war in Ukraine and ille gal immi -
gra tion from North Africa.
This episode tran scends the mere news event and leads to a recon sid er -
a tion of the cur rent sta tus of irony. If, on one hand, polit i cal cor rect ness
seems to have flat tened the debate, and on the oth er hand, polit i cal incor rect -
ness chal lenges the achieve ments of civ il liv ing, can irony still be a use ful
tool to inter pret the present and, more specif i cal ly, the cur rent state of the
archi tec tur al project? 
Irony is the fruit of a sin u ous,  “mali cious” intel li gence: it’s the cun ning
of Ulysses, the Labyrinth of Daedalus. It’s one of those inter ac tive strat e gy
devices that reverse the signs of a force: weak ness, through intel li gence
under stood as mètis, becomes a strength, swift and poly mor phic. Here aris es
the iron ic aspect of the dolos, the sur prise for the dis cov ered trick, the sub tle
play with the truth. Irony works by lever ag ing the opponent’s imag i na tion,
the ambi gu i ties of inter pre ta tion, and antic i pat ing the gaze of oth ers, artic u -
lat ing a dia logue in search of sys tem at ic agree ments, con tracts, armistices,
dis so nances, or con flict ual voids, where argu men ta tion means sav ing vio -
lence, which is not elim i nat ed but rather inter nal ized and used as a stimulus. 
This paper opens with a news sto ry from Italy to draw atten tion to how
irony, even against our will, con tin ues to per me ate every day life and the
spaces in which we live. 
The con tri bu tion is struc tured around reflec tions that emerged from the
mono graph ic issue of the Ottagono mag a zine in 1991, ded i cat ed to archi tec -
ture and enter tain ment. It devel ops across three inter pre ta tions of  ‘fun’ in
1
th
st
2
Cesira Sissi RoselliArchitecture and Irony
3 Giulio Giorel lo, La dan za del la paro la. L’ironia
come arma civile per com bat tere sche mi
e dog ma tis mi (Milano: Mon dadori, 2019), 53.
Trans lat ed by Michele Bazzoli.
4 Mar co De Miche lis,  “Archi tec ture and enter ‐
tain ment,” Ottagono 98 (1991): 4.
Who Laughs Last? 65
rela tion to archi tec tur al design: fun as an archi tec ture of devi a tion, fun as
a world with in the world, and fun as the frag men ta tion of the Vit ru vian tri ad.
The word  “fun” is placed in rela tion to irony, under stand ing  “fun” as
a poten tial appli ca tion of the iron ic approach in archi tec ture. In the projects
pre sent ed below, the idea of  “fun” opens irony up to a more col lec tive
dimen sion: the iron ic per spec tive of the indi vid ual design er extends into the
col lec tive sphere, trans forms ways of liv ing, and ques tions con sol i dat ed
habits of inter pret ing shared spaces.
Irony, architecture, and entertainment starting from Ottagono
Irony belongs to the sub jec tive realm of dialec ti cal exchange, leav ing objec -
tiv i ty to be what sur vives objec tions: it emp ties the con ven tion al code and
intro duces one or more vari a tions on a cod i fied subject. 
Irony’s gears lead to dis con nect ing shared mech a nisms from the usu al
sup port of lan guage to apply them in new yet coher ent seman tic universes. 
As Giulio Giorel lo writes:  “Irony, in order to work, needs a polar i ty, in
the sense that some one must be iron ic about some thing else, so there must be
an object of irony and an audi ence for the irony, and this audi ence must be
intel li gent enough to per haps be simul ta ne ous ly the object of the irony: this,
I believe, is a con di tion for under stand ing more about the world in which we
live.”
Such a con di tion repeats cycli cal ly through out his to ry. To exam ine how
this is reflect ed in the field of archi tec tur al design, some works by Cedric
Price are tak en as case stud ies in rela tion to a series of projects, start ing from
issue 98 in 1991 of Ottagono mag a zine, of which this con tri bu tion quotes
the text on its cov er,  “Who laughs last?”.
In the edi to r i al  “Archi tec ture and enter tain ment”, Mar co De Miche lis
writes regard ing the  “new towns” designed in the Unit ed States for Dis ney:  
“Charles Eames seems to have been the first among archi tect-design ers to
realise that this con trivance offered an almost ide al way of repro duc ing qual -
i ties com mon ly attrib uted to cities, which the cities them selves are in actu al
fact mate ri al ly inca pable of cre at ing.”
From here, archi tec ture comes into play as the cre ator of alter na tive
worlds, where desires of leisure and will for dis ori en ta tion take shape into
projects fueled by iron ic visions towards the same real i ty that tries to
exclude these dimen sions from dai ly life. From this crack in the gran ite wall
of effi cien cy at all costs, emerge archi tec tur al projects that cre ate pock ets of
resis tance to a modus viven di that seeks to fore see and opti mise every thing.
It’s the para dox of liv ing in a present where every thing seems to be enter -
tain ment, and where yet noth ing real ly is. On the con trary, to make
3
4
Cesira Sissi RoselliArchitecture and Irony
1
1 Photographic project by Sissi Cesira Roselli,
Brescia, Italy, 2024. Artwork: BrixiaDue by Andreas
Angelidakis.
5 “Enter tain ment at present strains against all
tem po ral and func tion al lim i ta tions. It is no
longer  “episod ic,” but is instead becom ing
chron ic. It no longer affects only free time, but
time itself.” Byung-Chul Han, Good Enter tain ‐
ment. A decon struc tion of the West ern pas sion
nar ra tive (Boston, MIT Press, 2019), 107.
6 The Fun Palace Project has been famous ly
and exten sive ly dis cussed in aca d e m ic cir ‐
cles. This con tri bu tion focus es exclu sive ly on
the notion of  ‘fun’ in rela tion to the archi tec ‐
ture intro duced by Cedric Price.
For a com pre hen sive and deep dis cus ‐
sion of the archi tec ture of the Fun Palace,
refer to: Saman tha Hard ing ham, Cedric Price
Opera (Lon don: Wiley-Acad e my, 2003);
Saman tha Hard ing ham, Cedric Price Works
1952–2003 (London/Montreal: AA/CCA, 2017);
Stan ley Math ews,  “The Fun Palace as Vir tu al
Archi tec ture. Cedric Price and the Prac tis es of
Inde ter mi na cy”, Jour nal of Archi tec tur al Edu ca ‐
tion III (2006): 39‒48; Stan ley Math ews, From
Agit-Prop to Free Space. The Archi tec ture of
Cedric Price (Lon don: Black Dog, 2007); Stan ‐
ley Math ews, Pier Vit to rio Aure li, Pot ter ies
Thinkbelt & Fun Palace (Paris: B2, 2016).
Who Laughs Last? 67
attrac tive, easy, and quick what by nature requires effort, con cen tra tion, and
slow ness (infor ma tion, edu ca tion, cul ture), neces si tates an endeav our that
has noth ing to do with the light ness being pro mot ed. In these spaces gen er at -
ed by such an exhaust ing labor we wit ness the con tra dic tion: pure enter tain -
ment is replaced by its slav ish com mit ment to be enter tain ing and to be
enter tained.
Con sid er ing Price as one of those authors capa ble of bal anc ing the
rigour of tech no log i cal ten sion and the deter mined open ness of abstrac tion,
today the need to revis it Price’s stud ies is linked to the desire to recon sid er
the project of enter tain ment as the con struc tion of alter na tive imag i nar ies, in
a pro lif ic exchange between tech ni cal sci ences and the o ret i cal visions. Expe -
ri ences such as those devel oped by Price once again become cen tral issues in
the present, where the sep a ra tion of the var i ous lev els of the design process
has estab lished an auton o my of the dis ci plines, caus ing their pro gres sive and
rec i p ro cal emptying.
The detach ment between the the o ry of archi tec ture and its unfold ing
with in real i ty has become increas ing ly evi dent and diver gent in recent
decades. While until Post mod ernism, tech no log i cal research and archi tec tur -
al imag i na tion would eas i ly exchange their terms in spa tial solu tions that
saw inter dis ci pli nar i ty not as an obsta cle but as an oppor tu ni ty, today the
abrupt meta mor phoses of the archi tec tur al project’s real i sa tion process es
seem to leave no room for diges tion, ver bal i sa tion, and irony. The clash of
the the o ry seems to cool down until becom ing a vague shad ow, often a con -
struct retroac tive ly placed around a project, or per haps sim ply a premise for
oth er pro fes sions with dif fer ent names.
The o ries should help us remem ber the ques tions that led to com plex
answers and should be insep a ra ble from oper a tiv i ty, as they are projects in
them selves. Archi tec ture is a lan guage, and as such, its form is also its con -
tent. The archi tec tur al project is the man i fes ta tion of a thought, and prac tice
is a thought enact ed. Archi tec tur al think ing is insep a ra ble from both the tan -
gi ble real i ty and the intan gi ble dimen sion, as it always per tains to the mod i -
fi ca tion of space, which is com posed of both con crete ness and intan gi bil i ty,
bod ies and relationships. 
We trace the steps of Ottagono, which, with Cedric Price’s Fun
Palace,  begins a series fea tur ing key projects that embody the notion of fun,
expressed through a series of expe ri ences shar ing the same iron i cal
approach, meant as an atti tude towards real i ty that is char ac ter ized by ana -
lyt i cal aware ness and an irrev er ent con scious ness which often ger mi nate in
times of cri sis and change.
The projects pre sent ed in the pages of Ottagono are: The Fun Palace by
Cedric Price (1961); The Enter tain ment Cen ter for Leices ter Square
5
6


Cesira Sissi RoselliArchitecture and Irony
7 Vit ru vius, On Archi tec ture, III.
8 Byung-Chul Han, op. cit , 37–38.
Who Laughs Last? 71
(Michael Webb, 1962); the Enter tain ment Tow er for Mon tre al (Peter Cook,
1963); the tem po rary the atre by Pietro Derossi for the XIV Tri en nale di
Milano (1968). Here we can add to this list three more projects in order to
out line an overview of the theme which may last up to the present day: The
Bang Bang Club (Ugo La Pietra, Milano, 1967), the project for Min istry of
Sound (OMA, Lon don 2015) and Andreas Angel i dakis instal la tion at the
Bres cia Due metro stop in Bres cia (Italy, 2023).
To define what are the com mon traits of these projects, from an archi -
tec tur al and polit i cal point of view, we can extrap o late three archi tec tur al
dec li na tions of the adjec tive fun, coined by Cedric Price’s Fun Palace, and
which can be traced back to the oth er men tioned projects. First dec li na tion:
fun as the archi tec ture of devi a tion, that is a project of time-space dis lo ca -
tion through the use of mate ri als, colours, and com pos i tive solu tions. Sec ond
dec li na tion: fun as a world with in the world, through the use of dif fer ent
scales with in the same project, and the simul tane ity of micro- and macro -
scop ic. Third dec li na tion: fun as the frag men ta tion of the Vit ru vian tri ad of:
fir mi tas, util i tas, venus tas.
The Archi tec ture of enter tain ment, in each of the above men tioned
projects, invites the view ers to take on a crit i cal stand regard ing the time and
the space they inhab it: in this sense, all these projects are also polit i -
cal projects.
1. Fun as Architecture of deviation
“Lux u ry, for Adorno, is the expres sion of unadul ter at ed joy. It is also con sti -
tu tive of art. Life thence finds ful fil ment in nei ther prac ti cal i ty nor instru -
men tal rea son. Instead, true joy springs from excess, exu ber ance, sump tu -
ous ness, the sense less, the lux a tion of the nec es sary. The sur plus or super flu -
ous is what frees life from all com pul sion. The absence of com pul sion or
care is more over an ele ment of enter tain ment, even of utopia, and is the sub -
stance of  ‘pure amuse ment’. This is a form of lux u ry, a lux a tion of work and
neces si ty, that brings it close to art:  “Amuse ment, free of all restraint, would
be not only the oppo site of art but its com ple men tary extreme.”
Refer ring back to Adorno’s def i n i tion of lux u ry, as quot ed by Byung-
Chul Han, the con cept of Fun as Archi tec ture of devi a tion is posit ed here.
Devi a tion is the dis cov ery of an alter na tive path, of non-obvi ous design
method olo gies. Anal o gous to the con cept of lux u ry in this sense, fun is also  
“a lux a tion of work and neces si ty”, and there fore a voice of free dom that
res onates clear ly in the works men tioned below.
In Price’s design approach, the archi tec tur al arte fact is not con ceived to
be con fined with in its  "wall-bound" finite ness, but to extend beyond its
7
8


Cesira Sissi RoselliArchitecture and Irony
9 Jakob Johann Von Uexküll, A For ay into the
Worlds of Ani mals and Humans
(Minneapolis/London: Uni ver si ty of Min neso ‐
ta Press, 2010).
10 Francesco Caset ti,  “Medi as cape: A Deca ‐
logue,” Per spec ta 51 (2018): 26.
11 Yve-Alain Bois, Ros alind Krauss, Form less:
A User’s Guide (New York: Zone Books,
1997), 18.
12 In the chap ter Haughty and hum ble ironies
(David Kolb, Post mod ern Soph i ca tions. Phi los ‐
o phy, Archi tec ture and Tra di tion (Chica go: The
Uni ver si ty of Chica go Press, 1990) David Kolb
address es the rela tion ship between irony and
archi tec ture by orga niz ing the fol low ing sub ti ‐
tles, which are impor tant to ref er ence in order
to under stand the author 's posi tion on the
sub ject: Judg men tal Irony; Roman tic Irony;
Decon struc tive Irony; Archi tec tur al Irony; Par ‐
o dy, Irony, and Politics.
Who Laughs Last? 75
func tion al voca tion and trig ger the cre ation of new phys i cal and social land -
scapes. Archi tec tur al objects devi ate from their perime ter, expand and
become envi ron men tal, based on Von Uexküll's notion of envi ron ment,
Where a por tion of ter ri to ry is acti vat ed by cer tain stim uli that define the
subject's envi ron ment and the sub ject itself. Archi tec tures, as envi ron men tal
objects, act upon real i ty like these stim uli, ignit ing a reac tion in an  
"unknown and invis i ble world" and recon fig ur ing it into an environment. 
Price’s archi tec tures expand and re-mod u late the space, in an oper a tion
sim i lar to that pro posed by Caset ti for media:  “Media are far more than sim -
ple pres ences in a space: they are com po nents that inner vate the ter ri to ry.
[…] To inner vate means to pro vide an indi vid ual or col lec tive body with
new organs that were pre vi ous ly exter nal to it.”  It’s not a coin ci dence that
Price often employs media devices, empha sis ing the pub lic dimen sion inher -
ent in his projects aimed at col lec tiv i ty, where archi tec ture draws new dis tri -
b u tion process es and ways of per ceiv ing the city, blur ring the bound aries
between inte ri or and exte ri or, pub lic and pri vate, real and vir tu al, ever last ing
and ephemeral.
The iron i cal mech a nism of archi tec ture is to be under stood as one of
the pos si ble read ings of real i ty, an even tu al mode d’emploi for the present,
iden ti fy ing in its essence a stingy tan gency with that which is the Form less.
As indeed  “noth ing in and of itself, the form less has only an oper a tional
exis tence: it is a per for ma tive, like obscene words, the vio lence of which
derives less from seman tics than from the very act of their deliv ery. The
form less is an oper a tion.”  Irony could thus be under stood as one of the
deviant ways that allow ideas to sur vive the impact. With real i ty, and to actu -
ate its uni ver sal inten tions with out expe ri enc ing its contingencies.
The irony of anticipatory architecture
David Kolb high lights how archi tec ture is less  “well-equipped” than all oth -
er arts to real ly be iron ic.  What Kolb seems to reproach irony for is pre -
cise ly its ten den cy to often slip into moral ism. In yield ing to the temp ta tion
to pass judg ments, irony los es sight of one of the essen tial con di tions for its
exis tence: the lit er al mean ing it employs must nec es sar i ly not be iron ic,
because only the deduced mean ing can be iron ic. The author empha sizes
how roman tic irony aris es from the dis par i ty between the bound less ness of
feel ing and the lim i ta tions of the lan guage that must trans late those feel ings,
that is, from the frus tra tion of hav ing to use finite tools to express the infi -
nite. On this trace of the infi nite, of the inde ter mi nate, the prin ci ple of irony
is trig gered, which attempts not to fill this void but to make it vis i ble and
express ible. Accord ing to Kolb, anoth er dimen sion is added in the
9
10
11
12
Cesira Sissi RoselliArchitecture and Irony
13 “At three o’clock every after noon, I get very
tired. I am no use in the office, so I go to this
won der ful dis torter of time and place called
the British Muse um. It dis torts the cli mate,
because the build ing has a roof over it; it dis ‐
torts my lazi ness, because I do not have to go
to Egypt to see the pyra mids; and it dis torts
time, because I can see some one wear ing an
Eliz a bethan dress. This auto mat ic dis tor tion,
whether of time or of place, when you vis it
a muse um is a good thing. If you vis it the
same muse um on two con sec u tive wet days, it
will be dif fer ent on both occa sions”. Cedric
Price in Hans Ulrich Obrist, …dontstop ‐
dontstop dontstop dontstop (Milano: Post media
Books, 2010), 72.
Who Laughs Last? 77
post mod ern peri od: the idea of decay inher ent in every ide al. Irony, there -
fore, decon structs roman tic the o ries and intro duces the Pla ton ic gap between
real i ty and its appear ance. For this rea son, decon struc tivist thought, which
empha sizes the inef fa ble, finds in irony one of its most dis tinc tive fea tures,
as it does not estab lish itself in the lan guage among fixed mean ings but in
the con trast between the attempt to fix a mean ing and the impos si bil i ty of
doing so. There fore, the pro found val ue that irony can have is to make us
aware of our fragili ty. In doing so, the design er should not force thought or
space into rigid and unchange able forms; this is the dan ger iden ti fied by
Cedric Price: the con text will change quick ly, and the build ings will out live
their irony, los ing all meaning.
A response to this issue can be found in Price's notion of  "antic i pa to ry
archi tec ture," where the author designs his works by plan ning both their
begin ning and their nat ur al and nec es sary end. Accord ing to Price, the life of
a build ing is so inter twined with the soci ety for which it is built that as one
changes, so does the oth er; as one ends, so does the oth er, and so the  "iron ic"
rela tion ship, or sim ply the rela tion ship of mean ing, remains con stant, where
con stant does not mean unchang ing, but respon sive to the rec i p ro cal fluc tu a -
tions of mean ing. Indeed, pre cise ly to avoid this risk – that the future inher -
its struc tures from the present that are now mean ing less and use less – archi -
tec ture must learn to think of itself with in a lim it ed tem po ral duration.
The design process can last a few min utes or a few cen turies, what mat -
ters is to not fos silise in a giv en moment try ing to quick ly tack le issues of
con tin gency, in an hon est and con tin u ous effort to ques tion the real util i ty of
an architecture.
Cedric Price under stands that archi tec ture is always too slow in
respond ing to the spin ning muta tions of the city, and there fore must project
itself into the future, striv ing to inte grate with this ongo ing meta mor pho sis
while know ing how to adapt in turn. Con se quent ly,  "antic i pa to ry archi tec -
ture" takes time, rather than space, as its pri ma ry sub ject – much like irony –
in order to come to terms with the plan ning of its own obsolescence. 
Time is always the cen tral dimen sion around which the design process
revolves: accord ing to Price, one of the key strengths of archi tec ture lies in
its func tion as a large time-dis tort ing machine.
An exam ple of this is the pro pos al pre sent ed by the author in 1994 for
the inter na tion al recon ver sion com pe ti tion of the Bank side Pow er Sta tion,
now the Tate Mod ern Gallery. Cedric Price pre sent ed a sketch and a two-
page text titled  “State ment on the Role of Cul tur al Cen tres in the Twen ty-
First Cen tu ry,” relat ed to the devel op ment of the South Bank project. The
pro pos al was to install a glass dome on top of the for mer pow er sta tion,
13
Cesira Sissi RoselliArchitecture and Irony
Who Laughs Last? 79
trans form ing the build ing into a muse um item for the city, ready to move
along the riverbanks.
With this mul ti fac eted inter pre ta tion of the com pe ti tion announce ment,
Price pre cise ly echoes the way muse ums are expe ri enced in the Eng lish cap i -
tal, as authen tic pub lic spaces – infor mal in their usage and open in the free
struc tures offered to vis i tors like large cov ered squares. Price takes this
vision to the extreme: the exhi bi tion leaves the muse um, becom ing a ful ly
pub lic event, exposed to the eyes of the cit i zens, and finds its place in the
city, which is sim ply a slight ly larg er museum. 
All the sens es through which the exhi bi tion space is per ceived are con -
sid ered in the design, from the sound of the muse um doors open ing to the
dif fer ent speeds at which vis i tors move through it, and even to how one can
inter nal ize an inti mate expe ri ence of art in such a vast environment.
Different ways of dealing with History
This con cep tion of real i ty as some thing that is already muse u mi fied high -
lights the com men tary on real i ty itself, which, through inter pre ta tion, makes
it inter est ing. This changes the rela tion ship one has with his to ry, mak ing it
indeed more flu id: her itage becomes new mate r i al for design in the form of
sec tions, frag ments, and cut-outs. 
In line with such design atti tudes, the projects pre sent ed in the pages of
Ottagono, which illus tra tive ly detail their plans and sec tions, include, among
oth ers, the Enter tain ment Cen ter for Leices ter Square by Michael Webb
(1962), the Enter tain ment Tow er for Mon tre al by Peter Cook (1963), and
Pietro Derossi's design for the the atre in the Ital ian Pavil ion of the XIV Tri -
en nale di Milano (1968).
Michael Webb’s Enter tain ment Cen ter for Leices ter Square (also elo -
quent ly known as Sin Cen tre) presents itself as a tow er device where the
sup port ele ments appear stripped and cov ered in metal lic scales, trans form -
ing the whole archi tec ture into a large danc ing object. The two parts that
com pose the project spin around the two large cir cu la tion sys tems, the ver ti -
cal and the hor i zon tal one. As a mat ter of fact, void of any com mer cial or
enter tain ing aim, the idea of fun lies pre cise ly in the cre ation of the
project itself.
Fol low ing the same impulse towards ver ti cal i ty, Peter Cook's Enter tain -
ment Tow er for Mon tre al is struc tured. The tow er accom mo dates a vari ety of
func tions con densed into an inter stel lar archi tec ture, engag ing with the
dream of immi nent lunar land ings and desired celes tial col o niza tion. Audi to -
ri ums, the atres, hotels, restau rants, a danc ing area, art gal leries, and an
Cesira Sissi RoselliArchitecture and Irony
14 “Actors, dancers, tightrope walk ers, and the
audi ence itself were to use the avail able
equip ment as a neu tral tool of their free dom,
respond ing to the invi ta tion to ascribe mean ‐
ing to the envi ron ment through their engage ‐
ment. The var i ous pro pos als for use would
renew the  "Place" by sug gest ing a for mal
arrange ment, even with out assign ing a defin i ‐
tive mean ing to the space (form as mon u ‐
ment), but high light ing a pos si ble sense
among many.” Pietro Derossi, Per
un’architettura nar ra ti va. Architet tura e prog et ‐
ti 1959–2000 (Milano: Ski ra 2000), 56. Trans ‐
lat ed by Michele Bazzoli.
15 Pietro Derossi,  “Rad i cal Recall”, Ottagono 98
(1991): 90.
16 The inscrip tion is found on a col lage dat ed
between 1976 and 1979, cre at ed by Cedric
Price in rela tion to the Gen er a tor project, pre ‐
served in the archives of the CCA in Montreal.
Who Laughs Last? 81
obser va to ry coex ist with in a stark design built with geo des ic domes and
mov able elements. 
A mesh tow er also appears minia tur ized in Pietro Derossi’s the atre for
the XIV Tri en nale di Milano (1968). The tow er, on which spot lights and
loud speak ers are attached, is one of the mobile devices that com pose the
project, which boasts: a pul pit with a con vex mir ror, a pro jec tion booth,
mov able par ti tions for pro jec tions and sound iso la tion, a semi sphere in
polyurethane and moquette, plat forms called  "pluripuffs", inclined planes,
and semi-rollers. These devices are aimed at struc tur ing space in an adapt -
able man ner; each object does not have a sin gu lar use but serves a momen -
tary neces si ty.  Thanks to its ver sa til i ty, dur ing the occu pa tion of the XIV
Tri en nale, this place became the per fect the atre for the lit polit i cal debate, as
Derossi writes:  “The con struc tion of the mag ic and the unre al to break
through the prac ti cal-inert world that oppress es us may become the road to
fol low in the search for free dom.”
2. Fun as A world within the world
Projects of vary ing scales, com mis sions, and mate ri als pop u late the Price
archive, rang ing from a recipe for cook ing a nice ly crunchy bacon to
a project for the Port of Ham burg. Mea sur ing the world is one of the recur -
ring themes in his writ ings: mea sure ment is what allows us to rep re sent real -
i ty in a nar rat able way, pro vides the nec es sary data to alter it, and helps us
under stand the rela tion ships between the ele ments of a project. 
The issue of mea sure ment is dis tinct ly dif fer ent from that of scale. In
fact, regard ing the Gen er a tor project, Cedric Price wrote:  “THE SYMBOL:
any size, only one shape.”  Archi tec ture is no longer a mat ter of scale but
rather of shape, and how its mean ing changes with alter ations in its mea sure -
ment. The over turn ing of these dimen sions cre ates an impasse, encap su lat ing
in a ges ture the uni ver sal and all-encom pass ing pow er of a sym bol that is
inher ent ly scale-less. 
Con nect ing the dis cus sion on archi tec tur al draw ing with that of scale,
it's inter est ing to note how Cedric Price used a stamp fea tur ing the out line,
both in plan and ele va tion, of a red Lon don bus as a unit of mea sure. He
would apply this stamp to the draw ings he pre sent ed to his clients. This was
imme di ate ly use ful for eas i ly com mu ni cat ing, even to those unfa mil iar with
tech ni cal draw ings, the pro por tions of the project. The Lon don bus used as
a unit of mea sure is par tic u lar ly evi dent in Serre I (1986) and Serre II (devel -
oped lat er between 1988 and 1990), a project for two green hous es com mis -
sioned for Parc de la Vil lette in Paris, inter pret ed by Price as two secret gar -
dens with in the large pub lic park designed by com pe ti tion win ner Bernard
14
15
16
Cesira Sissi RoselliArchitecture and Irony
17 From a for mal per spec tive, the ref er ences are
the Palm House at Kew Gar dens and a house
by Howard Gilman in White Oak, Flori da, cap ‐
tured in a Polaroid tak en and archived by
Price him self. (Saman tha Hard ing ham, Cedric
Price Works 1952–2003 (Lon don, Mon tre al:
AA/CCA), 677.
Who Laughs Last? 83
Tschu mi in 1983. In the case of Serre I and II as well, the con cept that a sin -
gle form could be deci sive when repeat ed at dif fer ent scales is revis it ed, and
the stamp of the red bus aids in under stand ing the rela tion ships between the
parts. The pre sen ta tion of the project always fea tures very pre cise tech ni cal
indi ca tions regard ing the tubu lar struc tures that would com pose the two
large trans par ent tun nels of the glass green hous es. Simul ta ne ous ly, there are
almost dream like signs that out line their inef fa ble yet equal ly impor tant
char ac ter is tics: the colours, the sound of water, the vari a tions in plant tex -
tures, and the scent of ros es. Since ros es were the main guests of these
green hous es – com mis sioned by Der ly, a per fume com pa ny – they fea ture
promi nent ly in Price's notes as large as architectures. 
The struc tures have an ellip ti cal sec tion, defined through a series of ear -
ly dig i tal devel op ments aimed at max i miz ing inter nal vol ume and nat ur al
light for opti mal plant growth.  This project also echoes, as in the Fun
Palace project, the theme of a minia ture uni verse, a world with in a world, an
archi tec tur al bub ble pro tect ing a small wonder.
No longer pro tect ing a nat ur al micro cosm, but a vivar i um of archi tec -
tur al exper i men ta tions, the par al lel uni verse of club bing in the late Six ties
draws from a com po si tion al lan guage anal o gous to that of Cedric Price in
terms of graph ic signs and struc tur al devices, which is seen in the use of
mesh beams the homage to the archi tec ture of transformability.
The microworlds of nightclubs
Night clubs con sti tute an island of iden ti ty in the city's homogenis ing mag -
ma; they are spaces of immer sion in unease. Par tic u lar ly in Italy, projects
such as the Piper in Rome (Francesco and Gian car lo Capolei, Man lio Cav al -
li, 1965), the one in Turin (Pietro Derossi, Gior gio Ceretti, Ric car do Rosso,
1966), and Mach 2 (Super stu dio, Flo rence, 1967) trans form night into the
new day of exper i men tal archi tec ture. These are places where the rela tion -
ship between body and space is exam ined, denied, and con demned. Music
becomes a cat a lyst for all the arts. Over the fol low ing decades, the space of
club cul ture evolved along side chang ing music trends, to which the design
must adapt. 
Club archi tec ture faces the chal lenge of design ing the enchant ment of
a sus pend ed space, where the recipe for suc cess fol lows mys te ri ous rules and
is dif fi cult to repli cate else where. Mak ing a desire tan gi ble is the start ing
point of these projects, which, like any sacred rit u al, suc cess ful par ty, or
indomitable bac cha nal, is made of noth ing becom ing the engine of every -
thing: archi tec ture has the dif fi cult task of chan nelling this ener gy with out
impos ing hier ar chies, allow ing it to explode in its yearn ing for free dom. In
17
Cesira Sissi RoselliArchitecture and Irony
18 Project real ized with P. Riz za to and A.
Jacober. Angela Rui (edit ed by), Ugo La Pietra.
Dis e qui li brat ing Design (Man to va: Cor rai ni,
2014), 78‒79.
Who Laughs Last? 85
this sense, night clubs become true tem ples of fun, where enter tain ment cap -
tures the fresh est cul tur al trends and makes them enjoy able for an audi ence
that absorbs their dis rup tive impact almost by osmo sis. Enter tain ment
becomes cul ture, and cul ture becomes com merce: the twists of irony are
often ruthless. 
In 1969, Ugo La Pietra designed the Bang Bang night club and the
Altre cose bou tique  in Milan. The bou tique is locat ed at street lev el, while
the night club is sit u at ed in the building's base ment. Like two sides of the
same coin, these two real i ties coex ist iron i cal ly, each mir ror ing the oth er:
music and fash ion, art and archi tec ture, com merce and enter tain ment. Day
and night blend togeth er in a simul ta ne ous exis tence that sees both the bou -
tique and the night club open at the same time. Both spaces are neu tral and
are acti vat ed by the vis i tors who, through a series of con trols, can low er
trans par ent methacry late cylin ders from the ceil ing. These cylin ders, serv ing
as dis play cas es for extreme ly valu able or dan ger ous items, con tain mer -
chan dise for sale. A slight ly larg er cylin der hous es the inclined ele va tor that
con nects the com mer cial area of the shop with the night-time area of the
club, allow ing nightlife mem o ries to resur face in the daylight. 
3. Fun as The fragmentation of the Vitruvian triad
In the work of Cedric Price, we wit ness a ques tion ing of the dialec ti cal pairs
on which archi tec ture has always relied: inside/outside, open/closed,
smooth/striped, static/dynamic.
With out mass, with out sur face, archi tec ture renounces every thing that
used to char ac ter ize it: it emp ties itself of a pre cise func tion in order to
become pluri-adapt able, it takes off its sta tus of the insti tu tion al mon u ment
to become a rela tion al device, it strips itself of mate r i al con sis ten cy to be
reab sorbed by the hori zon, van ish ing once again in nature, but always thanks
to the high est arti fice of technique.
There fore, the mal leabil i ty of irony requires the inter locu tor to over turn
com mon and lit er al mean ings to be under stood. In its elu sive con tours, irony
can embody a thought that antic i pates the future. 
With in its capac i ty to mul ti ply mean ings, irony can high light or smooth
out, reveal the unspeak able through a new code, or cre ate new alpha bets for
sub merged worlds. How ev er, in this rever sal of sce nar ios, it can also lead to
exclu sion. Irony car ries the risk of ambi gu i ty and, con se quent ly, the dan ger
of being mis un der stood or not under stood at all. It leaves the receiv er with
the final oppor tu ni ty: the pos si bil i ty of grasp ing or miss ing the pro found
mean ing of the mes sage. For those who prac tice irony, this pos es the risk of
end ing up on the mar gins of deci sion-mak ing, in the desert ed and
18
Cesira Sissi RoselliArchitecture and Irony
19 “Every thing is fable and every thing is true…
But from exces sive imag in ing, we always
lament the decep tion: and this decep tion
appears to us either com ic or trag ic accord ing
to our degree of involve ment” writes Piran del ‐
lo in On Humor. Trans lat ed by Michele Bazzoli.
On the oth er hand, Vladimir
Jankélévitch issues a warn ing right in the
open ing pages of his text Irony: Socrates, the
mas ter of irony, drank the hemlock.
20 To date, the project has not been real ized, and
the archi tects have stat ed on their social
media:  “Appar ent ly we won the com pe ti tion
(we were told so) but then sur pris ing ly the
project was can celled.” Source: Amy Frear son,
 “OMA reveals can celled design for Min istry Of
Sound night club with mov ing walls”. Dezeen.
Jan u ary 9, 2017.
21 In the same dia grams by OMA, the project is
defined as  “a desire mak ing machine able to
per ma nent ly act, change, adapt time and
space…” Source: OMA,  “Min istry of sound II”.
OMA. 2015.
22 Car lo Antonel li, Fabio De Luca, Dis coin fer no.
Sto ria del bal lo in Italia 1946–2006, (Milano:
Isbn Edi zioni, 2006), 135. Trans lat ed by
Michele Bazzoli.
23 Project  "Sub brix ia", the pub lic per ma nent con ‐
tem po rary art col lec tion at the 17 metro sta ‐
tions in Bres cia. Curat ed by Luca Lo Pin to and
pow ered by Fon da tion CAB.
Who Laughs Last? 87
uncon test ed realm of those who are exclud ed or who exclude them selves
from the game.
Ide al ly con tin u ing the review pre sent ed by the mag a zine Ottagono, we
insert in this sec tion the project for the Min istry of Sound II (OMA, Lon don
2015) and the instal la tion by Andreas Angel i dakis at the Bres cia Due under -
ground sta tion (Bres cia 2023).
Stu dio OMA won a com pe ti tion in 2015 to redesign the Min istry of
Sound in the Ele phant and Cas tle neigh bour hood of Lon don.  From the
ash es of the icon ic night club, the stu dio devel oped a pro pos al which both in
its inten tions and in its design solu tions, recalls the matrix of the Fun Palace.
Like the Fun Palace, OMA’s archi tec ture for Min istry of Sound II is
a dynam ic con tain er of expe ri ences, capa ble of adapt ing not only its inter nal
lay out to accom mo date var i ous func tions but also its exter nal form. The
project reimag ines its sil hou ette accord ing to its pro gram ming, alter ing its
vol ume to expand or com press in response to the activ i ties inside. The recur -
ring large lat tice beams that slide floors between them like giant draw ers
recall the tubu lar struc tures envi sioned by Cedric Price for the Fun Palace.
Indeed, as evi denced by the project pre sen ta tion, it explic it ly adopts the Fun
Palace con cept as a desire machine intend ed for a wide range of activ i ties.
As with every sub cul ture, its end is defined as soon as it begins to be
decrypt ed, and per haps this is the case today for club cul ture, which pass es
through the mesh es of  “the con stant frag men ta tion of a leisure offer that
encom pass es every thing and aggre gates noth ing.”  To this increas ing ly
frag ment ed offer cor re sponds an increas ing ly indi vid u alised use of the enter -
tain ment space, which, from muse ums, night clubs, the atres, and mul ti func -
tion al cen tres, moves cen trifu gal ly to focus on the sofa in our homes. From
there, through our devices, we access claus tro pho bic cul tur al, musi cal, and
artis tic offer ings, increas ing ly tai lored to what we already know and increas -
ing ly restric tive to the niche to which we belong. Thus, a moment of unusu al
light ness sur pris es us when we are forced to go out, move, and remem ber
that our bod ies live and move in a shared phys i cal space. 
In con ti nu ity with what was already inau gu rat ed by Post mod ernism
regard ing the shift in the mean ing of an object that trans lates based on its
mea sure ments in space, Andreas Angelidakis's project for the  “Brix i aDue”
metro sta tion is an exam ple of out-of-scale that iron i cal ly brings the theme
of archae ol o gy into the inef fa bil i ty of the present. Here the but tress es of the
sta tion are dressed as cyclo pean Doric columns. The rever sal of the clas si cal
struc tur al ele ment unleash es the sense of ver ti go at the base of the iron ic
approach: to show, through an oper a tion of rever sal, an unprece dent ed read -
ing of real i ty. In this spe cif ic case, the iron ic lan guage is also used for
a reflec tion on the times of archi tec ture, trig ger ing a short cir cuit between
19
20
21
22
23
Cesira Sissi RoselliArchitecture and Irony
24 Emmanuel Petit talks about Post-iron ic city in
regard to the projects pre sent ed in 2013 for
the Grand Paris. Emmanuel Petit,  “Project for
the Post-iron ic City,” Log 27 (2013): 11–20.
Who Laughs Last? 89
the archae o log i cal find and the tech no log i cal solu tion. The load-bear ing ele -
ment becomes a con tem po rary ruin and tells of the amaze ment of find ing
one self in an unsus pect ed else where. The forked columns unleash an iron ic
dis tur bance of Vid ler ian mem o ry, accen tu at ed by the mate ri als used: the soft
columns in rock wool and PVC give the final slap to the rigid i ty of the Vit ru -
vian tri ad, trans form ing the mar ble cold ness of clas si cism into the uncer tain
soft ness of con tem po rane ity sus pend ed in mid-air.
Episodes such as that of Angel i dakis bring the archi tec tur al lan guage,
hybridised with that of con tem po rary art, out side of its con ven tion al spaces.
A slice of enter tain ment escapes the log ic that wants to pack age it and falls
onto the tracks of every day life, bring ing us back to dis cov er a moment of
irony that awaits us not in a muse um or a club, but at a provin cial sub -
way stop.
If enter tain ment risks to be cap tured in the algo rithms, and the fun frays
in the design of utopic archi tec tures, is it then pos si ble to still be iron -
ic today?
Is irony in archi tec ture per haps a lux u ry that we can’t afford any more,
or is it a way to see real i ty, to inter pret the world from a non-schemat ic point
of view, free of preconceptions?
Irony in archi tec ture is an aware ness, a dis trust of what until recent ly
had been car ried for ward with blind faith: in the dis tance between the sub -
ject and the object, it repo si tions the author in rela tion to his work and the
work in rela tion to its time. In rela tion to irony, archi tec ture is called to
ques tion its own mon u men tal i ty, and the archi tect his own author ship,
relaunch ing a reflec tion on the mean ings with which these terms
are charged.
Irony is gen er at ed from a lack of faith and push es there fore towards
research, it fears immo bil i ty, it is hereti cal but not dis cour aged by the pos si -
bil i ty that the answers can be found else where and that the only way to find
them is to ques tion the giv en data, the fixed points. In this sense, it can still
be a way of read ing our time.
In the feared Post-iron ic city,  obsessed by eco log i cal rigour, where  
“the human delir i um” has been flat tened by sus tain able effi cien cy, irony
seems lost: it’s the tragedy of dis pens able archi tec ture. Bau drillard writes:  
“Indeed, this is the only gen uine func tion of the intel lect: to embrace con tra -
dic tions, to exer cise irony, to take the oppo site tack, to exploit rifts and
reversibil i ty – even to fly in the face of the law ful and the fac tu al. If the
intel lec tu als of today seem to have run out of things to say, this is because
they have failed to assume this iron ic func tion, con fin ing them selves with in
the lim its of their moral, polit i cal or philo soph i cal con scious ness despite the
fact that the rules have changed, that all irony, all rad i cal crit i cism now
24
Cesira Sissi RoselliArchitecture and Irony
25 Bau drillard writes about irony in rela tion to
the con cept of Witz events, that is, those
events that occur in a state of  “over fu sion”
and espe cial ly in an unpre dictable man ner in
our era. In this chap ter, Bau drillard argues for
the neces si ty of  “bet ting” on these fatal
events – such as com put er virus es – that dis ‐
rupt the core of the sys tem and over turn the
cer tain ty of order, num bers, and the inex ‐
orable. (Jean Bau drillard, The Trans paren cy of
Evil: Essays on Extreme Phe nom e na (New
York/London: Ver so, 1993), 39.26 The term occa sion here should be under stood
accord ing to Jankélévitch's def i n i tion, name ly
as an oppor tu ni ty for improve ment that man i ‐
fests in a state of grace:  “not an unex pect ed
stroke of luck that appears on its own, but
a guid ed chance put at the ser vice of our
free dom.” Jankélévitc Vladimir, Il non-so-che
e il qua si niente (Gen o va: Mari et ti, 1987), 83.
Trans lat ed by Michele Bazzoli.
27 The ref er ence is part of a dis cus sion fea tur ing
Odysseus at the moment of his return to Itha ‐
ca and his prepa ra tion for revenge against the
suit ors. Ibid., 125.
Who Laughs Last? 91
belongs exclu sive ly to the hap haz ard, the viral, the cat a stroph ic – to acci den -
tal or sys tem-led rever sals. Such are the new rules of the game – such is the
new prin ci ple of uncer tain ty that now holds sway over all. The oper a tion of
this prin ci ple is a source of intense intel lec tu al sat is fac tion (no doubt even of
spir i tu al sat is fac tion).”
Evanes cence of lan guage requires a con tin u ous readap ta tion of the
terms of think ing in order for this to be com pre hen si ble in the pas sage from
one sub ject to anoth er. As seen, the ambi gu i ty of irony ampli fies this already
com plex dynam ic, and for this rea son it is often expe ri enced with scep ti -
cism: he who knows how to smile can be a dan ger – he keeps some thing dia -
bol ic inside which can desta bi lize the order of things.
There fore, one of the tasks of the pro jec tive irony can be that of help ing
to become aware of an occa sion  and of its unique ness, improv abil i ty and
irre versibil i ty. And this, as Jankélévitch remarks, is because irony, unlike
humour, is a direct ed tac tic. Humour is vagabond, wan der ing, while irony
has  “secu ri ty and root ed ness”. In essence, an inten tion to want to change
things, even if some times veiled, is present in irony and is miss ing in
humour, which is con tent to smile about it, which  “does not hide swords in
the folds of its tunic.”  In light of this, it can be said that irony includes
a strat e gy in its approach and that this strat e gy can man i fest itself in archi -
tec ture through objects capa ble of pro found ly mod i fy ing a giv en envi ron -
ment, ini ti at ing rela tion ships that were pre vi ous ly unex plored, bear ers,
beyond their con struc tion, demo li tion, and recon struc tion, of new modes of
polit i cal thought for the project.
25
26
27
Cesira Sissi RoselliArchitecture and Irony
Who Laughs Last? 93
Bibliography
Antonelli, Carlo. De Luca, Fabio. Discoinferno. Storia del ballo in Italia 1946-2006. Milano: Isbn Edizioni,
2006.
Baudrillard, Jean. The Transparency of Evil: Essays on Extreme Phenomena. New York/London: Verso,
1993.
Bois, Yve-Alain. Rosalind, Krauss. Formless: A User’s Guide. New York: Zone Books, 1997.
Casetti, Francesco. “Mediascape: A Decalogue.” Perspecta 51 (2018): 21‒43.
De Michelis, Marco. “Architecture and entertainment.” Ottagono 98 (1991): 4‒6.
Derossi, Pietro. Per un’architettura narrativa. Architettura e progetti 1959-2000. Milano: Skira, 2000), 56.
Derossi, Pietro.“Radical Recall.” Ottagono 98 (1991): 89‒117.
Frearson, Amy. “OMA reveals cancelled design for Ministry Of Sound nightclub with moving walls”.
Dezeen. January 9, 2017. https://www.dezeen.com/2017/01/09/oma-scrapped-design-ministry-of-soun
d-nightclub-moving-walls-london/
Giorello, Giulio. La danza della parola. L’ironia come arma civile per combattere schemi e dogmatismi.
Milano: Mondadori, 2019.
Han, Byung-Chul. Good Entertainment. A deconstruction of the Western passion narrative. Cambridge:
MIT Press, 2019.
Hardingham, Samantha. Cedric Price Opera. London: Wiley-Academy, 2003.
Hardingham, Samantha. Cedric Price Works 1952–2003, London/Montreal: AA/CCA, 2017.
Jankélévitc, Vladimir. Il non-so-che e il quasi niente, Genova: Marietti, 1987.
Kierkegaard, Søren Aabye. “Irony as a Controlled Element, the Truth of Irony.” In The Concept of Irony
with continual reference to Socrates. Notes of Schelling’s Berlin Lectures, edited and translated by
Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong, 324–330. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989.
Kolb, David. Postmodern Sophications. Philosophy, Architecture and Tradition, Chicago: The University
of Chicago Press, 1990.
LacusCurtius. Vitruvius on Architecture (Latin, English). Book III. November 4, 2024. https://penelope.u
chicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Vitruvius/1*.html#3.2
Mathews, Stanley. Aureli, Pier Vittorio. Potteries Thinkbelt & Fun Palace. Paris: B2, 2016.
Mathews, Stanley. From Agit-Prop to Free Space, The Architecture of Cedric Price. London: Black Dog,
2007.
Mathews, Stanley. “The Fun Palace as Virtual Architecture. Cedric Price and the Practises of
Indeterminacy”. Journal of Architectural Education III (2006): 39‒48.
Obrist, Hans Ulrich, ...dontstopdontstopdontstopdontstop. Milano: Postmedia Books, 2010.
OMA. “Ministry Of Sound II”. OMA. 2015. https://www.oma.com/projects/ministry-of-sound
Cesira Sissi RoselliArchitecture and Irony
Who Laughs Last? 95
Petit, Emmanuel. “Project for the Post-ironic City.” Log 27 (2013): 11–20.
Rui, Angela (edited by). Ugo La Pietra. Disequilibrating Design. Mantova: Corraini, 2014.
Von Uexküll, Jakob Johann, A Foray into the Worlds of Animals and Humans, Minneapolis/London:
University of Minnesota Press, 2010.
“Lo scherzo telefonico a Meloni e la nota del governo.” Il Sole 24 ore, November 1, 2023. https://www.ils
ole24ore.com/art/meloni-tratta-inganno-falso-presidente-unione-africana-AFiSUJTB#

97
Sam Jacob
After / Image



























“True, Mas ter Doc tor, and since I find you so kind, I will
make known unto you what my heart desires to have;
and were it now sum mer, as it is Jan u ary, a dead time of
the win ter, I would request no bet ter meat than a dish of
ripe grapes.”
Christo pher Mar lowe: The Trag i cal His to ry of the Life and Death of Doc tor Faustus
I mean, have you seen images recent ly? Can you even look
when so many are so dis tress ing? Can you even recog nise
images giv en the num ber and speed that they come at you? Can
you make any sense of images when they are so often beyond
comprehension? 
Fleet ing, flow ing, stream ing like quick sil ver. All the frames
from a film out of order, or the pages of a library scat tered to the
winds. The tra di tion al sys tems of organ i sa tion shat tered and
replaced by feeds. Begin ning and end replaced by infi nite scroll
(invent ed in 2006 by Aza Raskin). The end of the end.
Like a lux u ry hotel break fast buf fet serv ing break fast, lunch
and din ner all at once, chick en feet, black for est gateau, pan ‐
cakes, spaghet ti, burg ers …Time and geog ra phy have col lapsed,
the hier ar chies of menu, cui sine, sequence have been shred ded.
Every thing all at once, anything-at-any-time.
In what is unques tion ably the era of images it has, iron i cal ly,
become hard er to look at them, more impos si ble to see. Images
are now the con duit of every thing. They act as the all-pow er ful
organ is ers of the world from fam i ly mem o ries to polit i cal pow er,
yet they have become ubiq ui tous to the point of banality.
Here we are. Haunt ed by insis tent phone-snap mem o ries of
things we can’t remem ber; immersed in a cul ture so entire ly visu ‐
al that visu al cul ture itself has become ungovern able. How can
any thing — an image in an age of images espe cial ly — mean any ‐
thing any more? If images are the water we swim in, has the sig ‐
nif i cance of an image dis solved entirely?
If you've seen every thing, what exact ly is the point of look ing
any more? If every image has equal val ue, is any thing sig nif i cant
any more? If we’ve become so numb, can any thing make us feel
again? How are we sup posed to both truth and satire are dead? 
And what does it mean to be in the busi ness of mak ing
images when they are now just an illus tra tion prof fered by
a prompt. Just anoth er con test ed truth brought into the world.
The image is not some thing that is made but rather con jured into
exis tence. Images might not even be there to be seen any more.
Per haps the total ubiq ui ty of the image coin cid ed with its
disappearance. 
How, in oth er words, can we resist this cul ture of images if
we, against the odds, still believe in the image? How can we
make space or time or focus that an image needs to exist as
a thing in the world? As a site itself rather than an atom in a mol ‐
e cule in a drop in a rag ing ocean. When we are dragged down or
drowned out, or washed away or otherwise… 
Per haps our only sal va tion is irony. That irony’s abil i ty to
give us dis tance and con nec tion simul ta ne ous ly can offer us the
only remain ing way to say I love you and real ly mean it.
In the after/image, in the age of screen burn, suf fer ing from
palinop sia: the recur rence of an image after the stim u lus has
been removed. 
The 20  cen tu ry had its image cri sis of course. The rise of
process es and means of dis tri b u tion and con sump tion: pho tog ra ‐
phy, mechan i cal repro duc tion, TV and the  ‘glob al vil lage’ etc. And
it had its ways of respond ing and recoup ing: cubism, col lage, pop
etc as ways to re-see images as things that could con tain con ‐
cepts and ideas like time and space, cat e go ry slips, forms
of critique. 
For us though, deep in the dig i tal mire, with out the ben e fit
of hind sight, things are less clear.
Images were once loca tion spe cif ic — con tex tu al. They were
print ed on a spe cif ic page of a par tic u lar book with a spe cif ic
cap tion. These phys i cal and cul tur al sites, things out side of the
image itself, gave mean ing to the image. The same image
encoun tered in dif fer ent environments—the library or
a newsstand—might acquire dif fer ent mean ings. Images in dif fer ‐
ent forms of media were also framed by their con text — the
tabloid, say, or the broad sheet. Where images resided gave
th
images par tic u lar mean ings. Cap tions that accom pa nied images
changed how we under stood them, how we engaged with them,
often pre ced ing the mean ing we derived from the image.
With the advent of search engines—Google Images—though,
they…the images became dis as so ci at ed from con text. Cut loose
from the anchor of place or cap tion: weight less, free float ing in
the infos phere like spores in the wind. The organ i sa tion al struc ‐
tures of cul ture and canon that once teth ered image to con text
were vapor ised by the search algo rithm, break ing the html code
that tied infor ma tion togeth er, cut ting the bond between image
and con text. And in doing so, loos en ing the spe cif ic mean ings
that the images once served. 
Now images exist in the mul ti di men sion al latent spaces of
gen er a tive AI models. 
At this moment RE-LAION 5B is the largest open image–text
pair dataset. It con tains 5.5 bil lion image-text pairs hoovered from
the inter net. This data is then processed using Con trastive Lan ‐
guage-Image Pre-train ing. CLIP, itself an AI neur al net work,
learns how to con nect visu al con cepts with lan guage which it
uses to cat e gorise images with out rely ing on human inter ven tion
to label and cat e gorise data. It detects for exam ple the con tent of
images and decides how close ly they match their descrip tive text.
Machine learn ing and look ing allows for the pro cess ing of such
huge num bers of images. 
Using recog ni tion, detec tion and image pro cess ing algo ‐
rithms each image is  ‘tokenised’ or chopped up into frag ments of
image/text chunks and asso ci at ing images with con cepts even
down to the pix el level. 
Each of these image-frag ments is ref er enced against an
index (objects, colour shape, type etc), often with a sin gle frag ‐
ment tagged to many cat e gories. The index retains the links
between each label and its image-frag ment ref er ent to form the
fun da men tal plat form that allows future image generation. 
The inter nal log ic of an image dis mem bered, its own self
decon tex tu al ized. Bro ken into micro frag ments, into inven to ries of
image-ingre di ents and ready to be reassem bled to approx i mate
the inputs of brief text prompts. 
Archi tec ture has had its own his tor i cal obses sions with log ‐
ging, mea sur ing, record ing, sort ing, nam ing. These acts, from the
Renais sance to Charles Jencks, from Stu art and Revett antiq ui ties
through Ban is ter Fletch er, in books from lan guage of clas si cal
archi tec ture to the lan guage of post mod ern archi tec ture. A con ‐
tin u ous project that organ ised orders, styles, win dows, regions,
peri ods. And its own his to ry of using these as lan guage mod els to
gen er ate new pos si bil i ties. What is John Soane’s house except a
(phys i cal ly small yet incred i bly dense) Lan guage Mod el? All those
frag ments, casts, and mod els ready to be reassem bled into new
archi tec tur al propositions?
Dig i tal cul ture might not have changed all images them ‐
selves. Archi tec tur al imagery might not all be pro duced by AI
(yet). Much is not a prod uct of col lage (though a lot is). Draft ing
might still assert its truth in rela tion to con struc tion. Ren ders as
sim ply high-tech remakes of mea sured per spec tives, Alber ti with
pro cess ing pow er and Hol ly wood aes thet ics. The struc ture, intent
and log ic of the image remains the same. But dig i tal cul ture does
—and has—changed our rela tion ship to images.
A lament for a van ished order that could be disrupted.
All Images Copy right Sam Jacob
129
Kyle Dugdale
Transfer of Power
A Calendar of Classical
Contradictions from Trump to
Biden
Kyle DugdaleArchitecture and Irony
1 Mela nia Trump (@FLOTUS),  “I am excit ed to s
hare the progress of the Ten nis Pavil lion at @
WhiteHouse,” Twit ter, March 5, 2020.
2 Mela nia Trump (@FLOTUS),  “I am pleased to
announce the ground break ing of a new ten ni
s pavil ion,” Twit ter, Octo ber 8, 2019. Inter est ed
read ers may note that in Mela nia Trump’s
recent ly pub lished mem oir,  “the sin gle event
that … gets the most images (more than her
wed ding, more than her husband’s inau gu ra ‐
tion) is the ren o va tion of the White House ten ‐
nis pavil ion.” Mon i ca Hesse,  “In the Pan theon
of First Lady Mem oirs, Mela nia Trump’s Is So
me thing Else,” Wash ing ton Post, Octo ber
8, 2024.
3 “Ten nis Pavil ion Pro pos al,” Nation al Cap i tal
Plan ning Com mis sion, 2019.
4 For the ini tial announce ment by Archi tec tur al
Record ’s edi tor-in-chief that the mag a zine had
 “obtained what appears to be a pre lim i nary
draft of the order,” see Cath leen McGuigan,  
“Will the White House Order New Fed er al Arc
hi tec ture to be Clas si cal?,” Archi tec tur al
Record, Feb ru ary 4, 2020.
Transfer of Power 131
March 5, 2020
Around lunchtime on Thurs day, March 5, 2020, the First Lady of the Unit ed
States of Amer i ca, Mela nia Trump (née Knavs), post ed to Twit ter an
announce ment of progress on the con struc tion of a new ten nis pavil ion in the
grounds of the White House.  It was the lat est update on a project that had
been under way for sev er al months already—a project that she her self had
announced toward the end of the pre vi ous year. In an ear li er tweet she had
made a promise:  “This struc ture will be a tes ta ment to Amer i can crafts man -
ship and skill.”
As word spread, the inter net erupt ed in fury.
It was evi dent ly bad enough to be twit ter ing about ten nis at the very
moment when the nation was stag ger ing under the ris ing threat of
a pandemic—when hos pi tals not so far away would soon be set ting up
refrig er a tor trucks to act as tem po rary morgues. Sud den ly ten nis pavil ions
seemed ter ri bly friv o lous. But it was worse than that. This was no ordi nary
ten nis pavil ion. This was a clas si cal ten nis pavilion.
A glance at the design, by the archi tect Steven Span dle, would have
revealed a scheme that was not, per se, unusu al ly ambi tious. It replaced
a struc ture that was strict ly for get table: a thin ly-built shed con tain ing a toi let
and var i ous bas ket balls, pre sum ably relics of the Oba ma admin is tra tion. The
new design, cov er ing a lit tle over one thou sand square feet, was cer tain ly
more sol id; but it was hard ly obtru sive. If any thing, it might have been
accused of a lack of ambi tion. Much like the many oth er White House addi -
tions that came before it, it was explic it ly  “informed by the exist ing
architecture”—partly on the log ic that the pres i den tial ten nis pavil ion,
intend ed more for pri vate retreat than for pub lic per for mance, need not
aspire to assert itself against the Exec u tive Res i dence itself.  Two mod est ly
scaled vol umes, punc tured by arched win dows, brack et ed a more open cen -
tral por ti co with four columns even ly dis posed across its length. The façade
was clean ly detailed, with out much in the way of super flu ous orna ment
beyond a sol id text book ren di tion of the Tus can order, as rec om mend ed by
Vig no la, via Jef fer son. The whole thing was no less sym met ri cal and no
more inno v a tive than the lay out of the adja cent ten nis court—which was
itself, of course, ordered accord ing to the rules of a long-estab lished tra di -
tion. No sur pris es here.
Be that as it may, the pavilion’s clas si cal vocab u lary com pound ed
the problem.
After all, a few weeks ear li er, some one had leaked the draft of a new ly
pro posed pres i den tial exec u tive order—provisionally (but pre dictably) enti -
tled  “Mak ing Fed er al Build ings Beau ti ful Again.”  Com plete with
1
2
3
4
Kyle DugdaleArchitecture and Irony
5 Miri am Sitz,  “AIA Con demns GSA Request for
Clas si cal-Style Fed er al Cour t house in South F
lori da,” Archi tec tur al Record, August 21, 2020.
6 Com ple tion was announced on Decem ber 7,
2020, dur ing the clos ing weeks of the Trump
admin is tra tion. The pavil ion did not see exten ‐
sive pres i den tial use under the Biden
administration.
7 Don ald J. Trump,  “Pro mot ing Beau ti ful Fed er al
Civic Archi tec ture,” The White House, Pres i ‐
dent Don ald J. Trump, Decem ber 21, 2020.
Transfer of Power 133
Wikipedia foot notes, the doc u ment was not an excep tion al ly glo ri ous affair;
but it betrayed mon u men tal ambi tions. It sug gest ed that new ly com mis -
sioned fed er al buildings—courts of jus tice, gov ern ment offices, even struc -
tures built for the nation’s most tedious fed er al agencies—should demon -
strate a vis i ble com mit ment to clas si cal and tra di tion al vocab u lar ies. This
was not only a vote of con fi dence in clas si cal architecture’s capac i ty to meet
twen ty-first cen tu ry chal lenges; it was explic it ly framed as noth ing oth er
than a rejec tion of twen ti eth-cen tu ry mod ernism and its legacy.
Mem bers of the Amer i can Insti tute of Archi tec ture prompt ly sent more
than 11,400 let ters to the White House con demn ing the pro pos al.
It would be safe to assume that the vast major i ty of those archi tects
were not, them selves, clas si cists, but trained instead to prac tice in a vocab u -
lary that can trace its ori gins to such (embar rass ing ly Euro cen tric) ear ly-
twen ti eth-cen tu ry sources as Le Cor busier, Wal ter Gropius, and the Bauhaus,
via the so-called Inter na tion al Style that—for bet ter or for worse—has
shaped the canon of recent archi tec tur al ped a gogy, inform ing glob al archi -
tec ture of the past half-cen tu ry from Kuala Lumpur to Kin shasa. In reject ing
the lega cy of mod ernism and of all that it encom pass es, the vocab u lary of
the White House ten nis pavil ion there fore calls into ques tion the ped a gogy
of almost all of America’s pro fes sion al schools, and the qual i fi ca tions of
their grad u ates. That goes some way, no doubt, toward explain ing those
11,400 let ters, and the out rage that accom pa nied the announce ment of
progress on the president’s new pavil ion.
But there was more at stake here. This episode proved, after all, to be
part of a longer sto ry, of which the nar ra tive out lines were still emerging.
December 18, 2020
The plot thick ened in the months that followed.
In fact, between the end of 2020 and the start of 2021, the reluc tant
han dover of pres i den tial pow er in Wash ing ton, DC was accom pa nied by
a ver i ta ble fury of clas si cal dra ma. On Decem ber 18, one month before the
end of his term, out go ing pres i dent Don ald Trump signed a more pol ished
ver sion of the pre vi ous ly leaked doc u ment, now reg is tered as Exec u tive
Order 13967: Pro mot ing Beau ti ful Fed er al Civic Archi tec ture.  Crit ics not ed
with some glee that Trump’s own pre vi ous career in real estate was not con -
spic u ous for its rig or ous com mit ment to the clas si cal vocabulary—excepting
the let ter forms occa sion al ly used to spell out his name on his build ings’
façades. But his order rec om mend ed nonethe less that new ly com mis sioned
fed er al projects demon strate a vis i ble com mit ment to clas si cal form. And
again America’s archi tec tur al estab lish ment protested.
5
6
7
Kyle DugdaleArchitecture and Irony
8 For a rep re sen ta tive selec tion of assess ments
(their titles only occa sion al ly less nuanced
than their con tents, inter spersed with a few
bright coun terex am ples and sup ple ment ed by
read ers’ com ments) dat ing main ly to the days
imme di ate ly after pub li ca tion of the leaked
draft, see Steve Rose,  “Will Trump Make Arch
i tec ture Great Again? The Dark His to ry of Dic t
a tor Chic,” Guardian, Feb ru ary 5, 2020, Lil ly
Smith,  “Trump’s Exec u tive Order Would Impos
e Clas si cal Style on Fed er al Build ings: Should
We Be Wor ried?” Fast Com pa ny, Feb ru ary 5,
2020, Phineas Harp er, “Tra di tion al Archi tec tur
e Has Fre quent ly Been Lever aged to Sup port
Vio lent Polit i cal Agen das,” Dezeen, Feb ru ary
6, 2020, Philip Ken ni cott,  “Why Trump Should
n’t be Allowed to Dic tate How Fed er al Build in
gs are Designed,” Wash ing ton Post, Feb ru ary
6, 2020, Michael J. Lewis,  “In Praise of Mod ern
Archi tec ture,” Wall Street Jour nal, Feb ru ary 6,
2020, Adam Rogers,  “The Trump Admin is tra tio
n and the New Archi tects of Fear,” Wired, Feb ‐
ru ary 6, 2020,  “What’s So Great About Fake R
oman Tem ples?,” edi to r i al, New York Times,
Feb ru ary 7, 2020, Michael Kim mel man,  “MAGA
War on Archi tec tur al Diver si ty Weaponizes Gr
eek Columns,” New York Times, Feb ru ary 7,
2020, Kate Wag n er,  “Dunc ing About Archi tec t
ure: The Igno rance and Racism Behind the Ri
ght-Wing Push for  ‘Clas si cal’ Fed er al Build ing
s,” New Repub lic, Feb ru ary 8, 2020, Justin
David son,  “Trump’s Clas si cal-Archi tec ture Edi
ct Is Dumb—But Not Worth the Out rage,” New
York Mag a zine, Feb ru ary 10, 2020, Matt Ford,  
“The Non-Fas cist Case for Clas si cal Archi tec t
ure,” New Repub lic, Feb ru ary 10, 2020, Ross
Douthat,  “Trump’s De-Polar iz ing Archi tec ture
Plan,” New York Times, Feb ru ary 11, 2020, Kai
Gutschow,  “Why So Many Archi tects Are Ange
red by  ‘Mak ing Fed er al Build ings Beau ti ful Ag
ain,’” The Con ver sa tion, Feb ru ary 12, 2020,
Blair Kamin,  “How Should Trump Make Fed er a
l Archi tec ture Great? By Ignor ing the Ide o logu
es Who Speak For Clas si cism and Mod ernism
,” Chica go Tri bune, Feb ru ary 12, 2020, Andrew
Fer gu son,  “Trump’s Beau ti ful Pro pos al for Fe
d er al Archi tec ture,” Atlantic, Feb ru ary 20,
2020, Cur tis Dozi er, ed.,  “Not Just Hitler and M
us soli ni: Neo-Nazis Love Neo clas si cal Archi te
c ture Too,” Pharos, Feb ru ary 20, 2020, Antho ‐
ny Palet ta,  “Trump’s Cul ture Wars Come to Ar
chi tec ture,” Boston Review, Feb ru ary 25, 2020,
Samia Hen ni, “The Colo nial i ty of an Exec u tive
Order,” Cana di an Cen tre for Archi tec ture, June
21, 2020, and Lyra Mon teiro,  “How a Trump Ex
ec u tive Order Aims to Set White Suprema cy in
Stone,” Hyper al ler gic, Jan u ary 12, 2021.
Transfer of Power 135
Trump’s order trig gered instant con dem na tion from the Amer i can Insti tute of
Archi tects. This was only to be expect ed, if not guar an teed to sway the
undecided—the AIA being famous, after all, nei ther as a deposit of crit i cal
depth nor as a bea con of eth i cal clar i ty. But even in its pre lim i nary form, the
order had also elicit ed a good num ber of less explic it ly insti tu tion al reac -
tions, often from pun dits pos sessed of a murky com bi na tion of deep-seat ed
prej u dice and shal low famil iar i ty with classicism’s his to ry. Few acknowl -
edged the ori gins or diver si ty of clas si cal and tra di tion al form, adopt ing
instead the same nar row ly Euro pean con cep tion of clas si cism invoked by
Trump’s order. Lib er al crit ics aligned briefly with far-right suprema cists in
equat ing clas si cism with whiteness—in obsti nate refusal of classicism’s
poly chrome his to ry, both lit er al and metaphor i cal. Many cher ry-picked their
prece dents from the low est-hang ing branch es of the his tor i cal record. Invo -
ca tions of 1930s Nazi archi tec ture, in par tic u lar, were quick and easy, typ i -
cal ly focused more close ly on the com mis sion ing of clas si cists to artic u late
the lan guage of author i ty than on the hir ing of mod ernists to con struct the
machin ery of exter mi na tion. Few, in any case, ques tioned the order’s own
bina ry con fronta tion between the clas si cal and the mod ern, and many sur ren -
dered ful ly to sim plis tic read ings of a strict ly lin ear archi tec tur al his to ry.
There was lit tle room for com plex i ty, even in read ing the most obvi ous of
local prece dents. There was no space to acknowl edge, for exam ple, that the
orig i nal design for America’s Exec u tive Man sion was hard ly au courant at
the moment of its pro pos al, or that the entire ty of the White House inte ri or
dates to the 1950s or lat er; that pre cious lit tle of the cur rent US Capi tol is
orig i nal to its con cep tion, that its cur rent east front was com plet ed in 1962,
or that its cur rent west front is in good mea sure a 1980s repli ca paint ed to
look like mar ble. Archi tec tur al his to ry is in fact burst ing with appar ent con -
tra dic tions, yet the gen er al pref er ence, all around, was for con cep tu al tidi -
ness and intel lec tu al sim plic i ty: the archi tec tur al-his tor i cal equiv a lent of an
eighth-grade read ing lev el.
Aver age respons es scored lit tle bet ter on prag mat ics. There were count -
less asser tions as to the impor tance of free dom of choice—architectural lib -
er als rec on cil ing with con ser v a tives to demand free dom from gov ern ment
regulation—but few expres sions of con cern over the dis as trous lega cy of the
past century’s free choic es: the glob al impact of thin, glassy archi tec tures
depen dent on pump ing mas sive quan ti ties of con di tioned air into arti fi cial ly
lit inte ri ors, or the grow ing body of evi dence on the extrac tive impli ca tions
of glass, steel, and con crete, or the heavy addic tion to chem i cal sub stances
and tox ic build ing materials—the syn thet ic mem branes, short-lived sealants,
and adhered sur faces of junk space. There was lit tle dis cus sion of the build -
ing industry’s intent to resolve the fun da men tal prob lems of a fos sil-fuel
8
Kyle DugdaleArchitecture and Irony
9 For var i ous cau tions, includ ing one from the
Insti tute of Clas si cal Archi tec ture and Art, see
Julie Lask ie,  “Why Clas si cists Are Against Tru
mp’s Draft Exec u tive Order,” Archi tec tur al
Digest, Feb ru ary 21, 2020, Michael Lyk oud is,  “I
Teach Archi tec ture: Trump’s Plan for Fed er al
Build ings Is a Bad Idea,” Wash ing ton Post,
Feb ru ary 10, 2020, and Cath leen McGuigan,  
“Voic es Rise Up in Protest at Prospect of Fed e
r al Clas si cal Style Man date,” Archi tec tur al
Record, March 2020. For a brave but mis lead ‐
ing ly titled attempt to sum ma rize con flict ing
reac tions, see Anto nio Pacheco,  “Archi tec ture
Crit ics Shrug Over Trump’s Clas si ciz ing Exec ‐
u tive Order,” Archinect, Feb ru ary 20, 2020.
10 Amer i can Insti tute of Archi tects,  “AIA Con dem
ns Exec u tive Order Man dat ing Design Pref er e
nce for Fed er al Archi tec ture: AIA to Work with
Pres i dent-Elect Biden to Reverse the Exec u tiv
e Order,” press release, Decem ber 21, 2020.
This fol lowed a Feb ru ary 20, 2020 let ter to  
“The Hon or able Don ald J. Trump, Pres i dent,”
signed by thir ty-four for mer pres i dents of the
AIA, implor ing the nation’s pres i dent to recon ‐
sid er the pro pos al that fed er al build ings  “be
exe cut ed in neo clas sic style of design.” In the
full ness of time, pub lic state ments were also
issued by the Amer i can Soci ety of Land scape
Archi tects, Archae o log i cal Insti tute of Amer i ‐
ca, Archi tec ture Lob by, Doco mo mo US, Mid ‐
dle East Stud ies Asso ci a tion, Nation al Coun cil
on Pub lic His to ry, Nation al Orga ni za tion of
Minor i ty Archi tects, Nation al Trust for His toric
Preser va tion, Orga ni za tion of Amer i can His to ‐
ri ans, Soci ety for Clas si cal Stud ies, and Soci ‐
ety of Archi tec tur al Historians.
11 Pew Research Cen ter,  “Pub lic Trust in Gov ern ‐
ment: 1958–2024,” June 24, 2024.
Transfer of Power 137
mind set by offer ing more sophis ti cat ed, high er-order solu tions extract ed
from the same mind set and deliv ered by the same sup pli ers. Few enter tained
the notion that some val ue might be derived from a con cert ed effort to revis it
archi tec tur al forms and prac tices that emerged across cen turies of build ing
with min i mal ly processed, local ly derived mate ri als, bright ened by the light
of the sun, and so forth. Few drew any con nec tion to the debate over
architecture’s endur ing com mit ment to fast fash ion, where this year’s looks
must of course dif fer from last year’s offer ings, deliv ered at low up-front
invest ment and high long-term cost. Instead, most bought into the asser tion
that clas si cal archi tec ture is inher ent ly more expen sive than its alter na tives,
with out not ing that build ing well will always be more costly—in the short
term—than build ing cheap ly. Nei ther the exec u tive order nor its pro test ers
engaged with sub stance at this lev el. The focus was on image, and on style.
But Trump’s order also prompt ed more thought ful expres sions of
unease from oth er groups, along with more care ful ly word ed warn ings from
com mit ted clas si cists, who wor ried that the exec u tive order’s actu al effects
on pub lic dis course would be equiv o cal at best.
The AIA’s press release, mean while, was unam bigu ous. Its head line
read:  “AIA con demns exec u tive order man dat ing design pref er ence for fed -
er al archi tec ture.” Its sub ti tle struck a more opti mistic tone:  “AIA to work
with Pres i dent-Elect Biden to reverse the exec u tive order.”
Among oth er things, Trump’s exec u tive order stat ed that the design of
fed er al build ings  “should uplift and beau ti fy pub lic spaces, inspire the
human spir it, enno ble the Unit ed States, and com mand respect from the gen -
er al pub lic.” More specif i cal ly, it assert ed that clas si cal archi tec tur al meth -
ods,  “as prac ticed both his tor i cal ly and by today’s archi tects, have proven
their abil i ty to meet these design cri te ria.” Par tic u lar care must be tak en,
repeat ed its author (who was most cer tain ly not the pres i dent him self),  “to
ensure that all Fed er al build ing designs com mand [the] respect of the gen er al
pub lic for their beau ty and visu al embod i ment of America’s ideals.”
To the word respect the author might have added (but did not) the word
trust. Between 1958 and 2019 pub lic trust in the fed er al gov ern ment fell
steadi ly from 73% to 17%.  The sig nif i cance of this shift can not be over -
stat ed; it is tied, after all, to a broad er fear that democ ra cy itself is under
threat. All agree that the fear is legit i mate, even if the allo ca tion of blame is
dis put ed. But the con tri bu tion (or legit i mate response) of archi tec ture is
debat able, as is the respon si bil i ty of the archi tec tur al pro fes sion toward
a pub lic that is not guar an teed to share its assess ments of con tem po rary
design. Can archi tec ture aspire not only to com mand respect but also to earn
the trust of the gen er al pub lic? And is an archi tec ture designed to accom plish
9
10
11
Kyle DugdaleArchitecture and Irony
12 US Depart ment of the Inte ri or and Nation al
Park Ser vice,  “Design Guide lines: The White
House and President’s Park,” Decem ber
1997, 1. 13 Ibid., 5.
14 Ibid., 6–7.
15 Cath leen McGuigan,  “The People’s House,”
Archi tec tur al Record, Jan u ary 14, 2021. For an
even high er assess ment of the US Capi tol as  
“the nation’s great est build ing and the world’s
fore most sym bol of democ ra cy,” see Cates by
Leigh,  “Hen ry Hope Reed and the Gold en
City,” in The Gold en City, by Hen ry Hope Reed
(Mona cel li, 2020), 9. Reed him self iden ti fied
the Capi tol Rotun da as  “America’s supreme
inte ri or” (77).
Transfer of Power 139
the one also like ly to achieve the oth er? Can archi tects suc ceed where politi -
cians have so patent ly failed?
Ear li er gen er a tions were not always ambiva lent on this count. Design
direc tives pre pared for the US Depart ment of the Inte ri or under Pres i dent
Clin ton start ed from the premise that adopt ing design guide lines for the
White House (at least) would, pre cise ly,  “serve to pro tect the pub lic trust.”
Not only the archi tec ture itself, but even the open spaces around the archi -
tec ture were to  “rein force a sense of dig ni ty and pow er.”  More pre cise ly,
the guide lines appealed to  “the clas si cal con cept of deco rum in pub lic archi -
tec ture.” For unfa mil iar read ers, they spelled out the word’s significance:
Redis cov ered by Ital ian Renais sance design ers, this ancient con cept
refers to the selec tion of build ing styles and sites that evoke an appro pri ate
pub lic mes sage of pow er and respect …
The abil i ty to illus trate the pow er of the exec u tive in a repub lic has
always been and con tin ues to be the sin gle most dif fi cult chal lenge for
design ers. The attrib ut es of the imagery that con veys this author i ty are sub tle
yet unde ni ably present, and they are imme di ate ly dis cernible to all who vis it
the site. The White House con tin ues to serve as a sym bol of pow er and
author i ty large ly as a result of design ers over 200 years under stand ing the
impor tance of these design prin ci ples and apply ing them with genius. As
a result of their efforts, the White House and President’s Park today are
inter na tion al sym bols of demo c ra t ic pow er and par tic i pa tion in the gov ern -
ment of a great republic.
The White House and President’s Park are first and fore most a pub lic
trust.
Not every archi tect would artic u late, today, a com mit ment to the design
pur suit of  “an appro pri ate pub lic mes sage of pow er and respect”—or, for
that mat ter,  “pow er and author i ty.” Even the pre dictably patri ot ic lan guage
of  “a great repub lic” has fad ed from use with in most archi tec tur al cir cles.
Inas much as the vocab u lary of the clas si cal is asso ci at ed with such words, it
is like ly to pro voke unease.
And yet, to many read ers, the con nec tions between archi tec ture and
America’s nation al aspi ra tions may seem self-evi dent. Even Archi tec tur al
Record mag a zine, in an edi to r i al deeply crit i cal of Pres i dent Trump’s exec u -
tive order, described the Capi tol as  “the sin gle most potent sym bol of
America’s repub lic,” an  “essen tial emblem of democ ra cy.”  Clas si cal build -
ings more gen er al ly—includ ing, espe cial ly, both the White House and the
US Capitol—routinely top pub lished lists of the nation’s most high ly
respect ed build ings. The AIA’s own sur vey of  “America’s Favorite Archi tec t
ure,” con duct ed in 2007 and not repeat ed, placed six of the nation’s top ten
best-loved build ings in Wash ing ton, DC. Most were clas si cal, or more prec-
12
13
14
15
Kyle DugdaleArchitecture and Irony
16 For fur ther dis claimers see Alex Fran gos,  “In t
he Eye of the Behold er: Pub lic, Design ers at O
dds On What’s a Beau ti ful Build ing,” Wall
Street Jour nal, Feb ru ary 7, 2007.17 For a (not entire ly unbi ased) def i n i tion of this
cat e go ry see James Stevens Curl and Susan
Wil son, The Oxford Dic tio nary of Archi tec ture,
3  ed. (Oxford Uni ver si ty Press, 2015), under  
“New Classicism.”
rd
18 On the Capi tol in par tic u lar, see for instance
Alan Gowans, Styles and Types of North Amer ‐
i can Archi tec ture: Social Func tion and Cul tur al
Expres sion (Harper Collins, 1992), not ing (at
85) that the architecture’s image has been so
potent  “that forty-sev en of the fifty state capi ‐
tols unmis tak ably emu late it.”
19 For an Octo ber 2020 sur vey com mis sioned by
the (not entire ly dis in ter est ed) Nation al Civic
Art Soci ety, sug gest ing a strik ing una nim i ty
across divi sions of pol i tics, race, eth nic i ty,
gen der, income, edu ca tion, and age, see  “Ame
r i cans’ Pre ferred Archi tec ture for Fed er al Buil
d ings: A Nation al Civic Art Soci ety Sur vey Co
n duct ed by The Har ris Poll,” Nation al Civic Art
Soci ety, Octo ber 2020.
20 Barack Oba ma, Novem ber 16, 2016, quot ed in
Jazmin Kay,  “Behind the Scenes: Pres i dent Ob
a ma Vis its the Acrop o lis in Athens, Greece,”
The White House, Pres i dent Barack Oba ma,
Novem ber 17, 2016.
Transfer of Power 141
ise ly, neo clas si cal. Per haps pre dictably, the sur vey prompt ed crit i cism from
architects—who argued, for one, that it focused too nar row ly on exter nal
image, and on style.
But pop u lar opin ion cares lit tle about the AIA’s scru ples or the
historian’s dis tinc tions between clas si cal, neo clas si cal, and new clas si cal.
Irre spec tive of its sta tus rel a tive to the move ments of archi tec tur al moder ni -
ty, the clas si cal lan guage of Wash ing ton, DC is held to fit the bill for the
sym bol ic archi tec ture of democ ra cy.  Its defend ers point to the rhetor i cal
open ness and sym me try of its por ti cos, the sta bil i ty and bal ance of its con -
stituent parts, the clar i ty and ratio nal i ty of its mason ry tec ton ic, the basic
famil iar i ty of its vocab u lary, its trans la tion of uni ver sal human expe ri ence
into for mal geome tries, its pop u lar asso ci a tion with legit i mate author i ty, its
will ing ness to rein force its sym bol ic mes sage through the use of orna ment,
and its capac i ty to cal i brate its com mu nica tive ambi tions between the poles
of aus ter i ty and cel e bra tion. Clas si cal archi tec ture, they insist, com mu ni cates
an appro pri ate gov ern ing tone, and its roots sink deep into the pop u lar imag -
i na tion across bound aries of polit i cal per sua sion; as such, it has the capac i ty
to bring the coun try togeth er.  But above all, they point to its explic it par -
tic i pa tion with in a longer cul tur al tradition.
Trump’s pre de ces sor, Pres i dent Barack Oba ma, had him self been seen
to endorse that mes sage when, dur ing a state vis it to Greece in 2016, on the
final over seas trip of his pres i den cy, he paused before the film cam eras on
the Athen ian Acrop o lis to give a brief archi tec tur al-his tor i cal lec ture to
his country:
We’ve got the Parthenon behind us, part of the Acrop o lis. It is here in
Athens that so many of our ideas about democ ra cy, our notions of cit i zen -
ship, our notions of rule of law, began to devel op. And so when you vis it
a site like this … you’re also send ing a sig nal of the con ti nu ity that exists
between what hap pened here, the speech es of Per i cles, and what hap pened
with our Found ing Fathers.
And it’s a very impor tant role for the Pres i dent of the Unit ed States to
send a sig nal to the world that their cul ture, their tra di tions, their her itage,
their mon u ments, are some thing of val ue, and are pre cious, and that we have
learned from them. Because what that does then is send a strong sig nal
around the world that we view our selves as part of a broad er human i ty and
a com mu ni ty of nations that can work togeth er to solve prob lems.
But in recent years oth ers have ques tioned clas si cal architecture’s delib -
er ate par tic i pa tion with in that longer cul tur al tra di tion, just as they have
ques tioned Athen ian notions of democ ra cy and cit i zen ship. And when it
comes to the clas si cal archi tec ture of America’s own cap i tal city, the pop u lar
visu al imag i na tion of the last four years has had to deal with an extra or din-
16
17
18
19
20
Kyle DugdaleArchitecture and Irony
21 Eleanor Holmes Nor ton, long time con gress ‐
woman for the Dis trict of Colum bia, was vocal
in protest ing the nor mal iza tion of this new
and sleek ly mod ern archi tec ture: see Scott
Mac Far lane,  “Met al Fenc ing Around Capi tol In
creas ing ly Fre quent and Con tro ver sial Secu ri t
y Mea sure,” CBS News, Feb ru ary 6, 2023.
Transfer of Power 143
ary bar rage of con flict ing images. Only some of them send a sig nal that
Amer i ca has learned last ing lessons of cit i zen ship, of the rule of law, of
polit i cal con ti nu ity. Only some of them might be deemed to com mand the
respect of the gen er al pub lic for their beau ty and visu al embod i ment of
America’s ideals.
January 6, 2021
In the days after the sign ing of Trump’s Decem ber 18, 2020 order Pro mot ing
Beau ti ful Fed er al Civic Archi tec ture, America’s archi tects voiced their
protest. But on Jan u ary 6, 2021, it was a dif fer ent crowd that marched upon
the US Capitol—its Corinthi an columns form ing an order ly back ground to
the vio lence of the mob. The build ing served, in effect, as the back drop to
a dra mat ic per for mance, com plete with light ing and effects and cos tumes.
The scenery had been care ful ly chosen—such that it would not be entire ly
disin gen u ous to say that the tableau was designed: designed for effect, for
rep re sen ta tion and cir cu la tion with in a high ly image-con scious media cul -
ture. Whether hos tile or sym pa thet ic, those doc u ment ing the event invari ably
took care to include the clas si cal archi tec ture in the back ground. It made for
strik ing images.
Riot ers could be seen, for exam ple, scal ing the rustication—a dis tinc -
tive ly clas si cal motif that not only pro vides human scale but also rein forces
the tec ton ic solid i ty of the wall by adding shad ow lines to an oth er wise sheer
ver ti cal sur face, mak ing its scale leg i ble and lit er al ly mak ing its scal ing pos -
si ble. Pho tographs doc u ment ed Trump’s sup port ers strug gling to find
a foothold on the pilaster cap i tals, pulling them selves up by the pro file mold -
ings, shuf fling along the edges of the cor nice, aban don ing deco rum to press
their bod ies spread ea gle against the rus ti cat ed wall. Here, fram ing a less than
flat ter ing por trait, the rus ti ca tion pro vid ed the ver ti cal mod ule for a rever sal
of the image of Vit ru vian man—or, per haps, its Renais sance rep re sen ta tion
by Leonar do. Man, the mea sure of all things.
The hours imme di ate ly fol low ing mere ly added to the visu al con tra dic -
tions, gen er at ing unfa mil iar sights. The US Capitol’s rhetor i cal ly open por ti -
cos, and their soar ing columns of sol id stone, were soon closed off by visu al -
ly trans par ent but non-scal able steel fenc ing topped with razor wire.  The
clas si cal was fore closed by the mod ern, the white colon nade by the black
wall. Sol diers in mil i tary fatigues were bil let ed in the Capi tol dur ing ensu ing
impeach ment pro ce dures, their recum bent bod ies dis posed like a low-lev el
fig ur al frieze around the perime ter of the Rotun da. Draped across the sand -
stone floors in order ly dis ar ray, the uni fy ing cam ou flage of their com bat uni -
forms blend ed with the var ie gat ed pat terns of the stonework, yet seemed
21
Kyle DugdaleArchitecture and Irony
22 Justin David son,  “Can an Armored Capi tol Still
Be the People’s House?” Curbed, Jan u ary
13, 2021.
23 Edward Clark,  “Report of the Archi tect of the
Capi tol,” in Annu al Report of the Sec re tary of
the Inte ri or on the Oper a tions of the Depart ‐
ment for the Fis cal Year End ed June 30, 1877,
by Carl Schurz (Gov ern ment Print ing Office,
1877), 898.
24 Aaron Blake,  “Joe Biden’s Inau gu ra tion Speec
h Tran script, Anno tat ed,” Wash ing ton Post,
Jan u ary 20, 2021.
Transfer of Power 145
strange ly out of place in a space more fre quent ly asso ci at ed with the civ il
lib er ties of civil ian dress. As they slept, these rep re sen ta tives of the Nation al
Guard were guard ed by upright rep re sen ta tions, in bronze, of Dwight D.
Eisen how er and Mar tin Luther King, Jr. Above them hung an 1843 paint ing
by Robert Weir, depict ing the Pil grims pray ing for divine pro tec tion, their
pas tor rais ing his eyes up into the dome of the Capi tol Rotun da, the words  
“God with us” inscribed onto the sail of their ship Speed well. At the pil -
grims’ feet lay mus ket, hel met, and armour.
On Jan u ary 6, also in dis ar ray, albeit not entire ly un-ordered, the mob
of Trump’s sup port ers had occu pied the same space, their red caps and mot -
ley flags set against the flags and caps of the paint ings on the walls behind
them. In the typo log i cal ly pre cise words of Sen a tor Amy Klobuchar, the riot -
ers  “des e crat ed this tem ple of our democ ra cy,” pro cess ing uncer e mo ni ous ly
around the Rotun da and paus ing from time to time to doc u ment their actions
on social media. Their atti tudes were curi ous ly self-con scious; as the crit ic
Justin Davi son wrote soon after,  “Hav ing bro ken in, all those self-appoint ed
patri ots dressed like Visig oths went milling around the halls of pow er look -
ing var i ous ly sheep ish, awed, goofy, and mur der ous. Fil ing obe di ent ly
between vel vet ropes, they explored the Rotun da and Stat u ary Hall, places
where, at anoth er time and in anoth er way, they would have had every right
to be.”
Had they raised their eyes above the fig ures of their fel low riot ers, and
past the fig ures in the paint ings, they would have seen anoth er set of bod ies
cir cu lat ing around the Rotun da in the space of the fig ur al frieze above, look -
ing down on them in silent wit ness: Con stan ti no Brumidi’s  “Frieze of Amer i -
can His to ry,” designed in 1859, begun in 1878, com plet ed in 1953, and  “rep -
re sent ing in light and shad ow events in our his to ry arranged in chrono log i cal
order.”
As a cal en dar of sorts, that frieze is hard ly rep re sen ta tive; yet it may
nonethe less reward clos er study, if pri mar i ly by way of a warn ing built into
the fab ric of the archi tec ture. Some thing sim i lar might be said for Brumidi’s
paint ing in the dome itself, high above, enti tled  “The Apoth e o sis of Wash in
g ton”—after the Greek ἀποθέωσις,  “deifi ca tion,” or  “ele va tion to the sta tus
of a god.” America’s pres i dent is here dei fied before our very eyes.
January 20, 2021
On Jan u ary 20, 2021, America’s 46  pres i dent was sworn into office  “in the
shad ow of the Capi tol dome,” as he put it in his inau gu ra tion speech.
Despite secu ri ty con cerns and pan dem ic con straints, he had deemed it sym bo
l i cal ly essen tial—now more than ever—for the inau gu ra tion to take place, as
22
23
th
24
Kyle DugdaleArchitecture and Irony
25 See Peter Minosh,  “Amer i can Archi tec ture in
the Black Atlantic: William Thornton’s Design
for the Unit ed States Capi tol,” in Race and
Mod ern Archi tec ture: A Crit i cal His to ry from
the Enlight en ment to the Present, ed. Irene
Cheng, Charles L. Davis II, and Mabel O. Wil ‐
son (Uni ver si ty of Pitts burgh Press, 2020), 54. 26 For this idea in the con text of Ital ian urban ‐
ism, albeit with cross-ref er ence to par tic i pa ‐
to ry pol i tics and to the pub lic spaces of Wash ‐
ing ton, DC, see David May ernik,  “The Shape
of Pub lic Space: Place, Space, and Junk ‐
space,” in Per spec tives on Pub lic Space in
Rome, from Antiq ui ty to the Present Day, ed.
Gre go ry Smith and Jan Gadeyne (Ash gate,
2013), 301–29, espe cial ly 302.
27 Klobuchar here offers a text book rehearsal of
the lan guage of pri or inau gu ra tion speech es,
Lincoln’s includ ed, as dis cussed by Robert N.
Bel lah,  “Civ il Reli gion in Amer i ca,” in  “Reli gion
in Amer i ca,” spe cial issue, Daedalus 96, no. 1
(Win ter 1967): 1–21.
Transfer of Power 147
usu al, in front of the Capi tol. In this he was not only hon our ing the orig i nal
intent of a build ing specif i cal ly designed to offer a suit able pub lic con text
for pres i den tial inau gu ra tion cer e monies;  he was also endors ing the fif -
teenth-cen tu ry human ist doc trine of Alber ti, who held that sound clas si cal
urban form, par tic u lar ly if designed with an eye to the dra ma of pub lic per -
for mance, can rep re sent and facilitate—although it will not nec es sar i ly
create—a civ il soci ety.
Giv en the con di tions of the pan dem ic, the mem bers of the pub lic who
would typ i cal ly rep re sent America’s civ il soci ety at an inau gu ra tion were
large ly absent. They had been replaced by an array of 200,000 Amer i can flag
s, duti ful ly aligned across the pub lic space of the Mall. But the event drew
one of the largest TV audi ences in his to ry, next in rank ings to the audi ence
for the inau gu ra tion of America’s first Black pres i dent twelve years prior. 
Wit ness es to the cel e bra to ry speech es might have detect ed a more vocal
com mit ment than usu al to the notion that DC’s clas si cal archi tec ture served
as an endur ing sym bol of democ ra cy. Moments before Joseph Biden’s
speech, Sen a tor Klobuchar had inter spersed her wel com ing remarks with
more point ed ref er ences to the sig nif i cance of the Capi tol. In her account, its
archi tec ture played a cen tral role in plac ing the event into the longer con text
of two hun dred and forty-four years of an imper fect Amer i can democ ra cy.
Look ing back to the 1861 inau gu ra tion of Pres i dent Abra ham Lin coln, which
took place in front of the orig i nal tem ple por ti co of the Capitol’s east front,
she not ed:  “This con veyance of sacred trust between our lead ers and our
peo ple takes place in front of this shin ing Capi tol dome for a rea son.” The
sacred trust of which she spoke evi dent ly found its legit i mate sym bol ic
home in what she described as  “this tem ple of our democ ra cy.” End ing with
a flour ish, she added:  “Today on these Capi tol steps and before this glo ri ous
field of flags, we reded i cate our selves to its cause.”
On that cold but clear inau gu ra tion morn ing, the bright white dome of
the Capi tol was indeed shin ing in all the full ness of its nine teenth-cen tu ry-
cast-iron glo ry, above a build ing decked out in the pomp and cir cum stance of
the occa sion, with high lights of red and blue. Gigan tic flags hung between
the paired Corinthi an columns of the Capitol’s west front, as if the por ti co
had been invent ed for that pur pose. Care ful ly select ed cit i zens in smart dark
suits and colour ful over coats were seat ed in order ly rows, present in per son
to bear wit ness to the pro ceed ings. In the back ground, secu ri ty per son nel
stood at watch. Both the appa ra tus of the inau gu ra tion and its duti ful doc u -
men ta tion by the media played the archi tec ture to full advan tage. Clas si cal
archi tec ture, approached on axis, was here the self-con scious back drop to the
free exer cise of Amer i can democ ra cy, wit nessed by a watch ing world.
25
26
27
Kyle DugdaleArchitecture and Irony
28 Sil vester Bea man,  “Pres i den tial Inau gu ra tion
Cov er age: Rev. Sil vester Bea man Bene dic tion
,” C‐SPAN, Wash ing ton, DC, Jan u ary 20, 2021,
5 min., 2 sec.
29 Lil ly Smith,  “Even the White House Logo Got a
 Makeover: See What Changed,” Fast Com pa ‐
ny, Jan u ary 27, 2021.
30 India Block,  “Wide Eye Cre ates  ‘Dynam ic and
Archi tec tur al’ White House Logo,” Dezeen, 17
Feb ru ary 2021.
31 In a dif fer ent reg is ter alto geth er, every sin gle
Amer i can Ivy League uni ver si ty uses clas si cal
let ter forms for its logo, although the pre sen ta ‐
tion is today more typ i cal ly dig i tal
than physical.
Transfer of Power 149
Just a few min utes lat er, in his clos ing prayer, the Rev erend Sil vester Bea -
man, pas tor of Bethel AME Church in Wilm ing ton, Delaware, qual i fied the
assess ment of that shin ing dome with a more cir cum spect reminder, appeal -
ing to  “these hal lowed grounds, where slaves labored to build this shrine and
citadel to lib er ty and democ ra cy.” As he spoke, the cam era of America’s
atten tion panned back across the Capitol’s clas si cal archi tec ture.
But the same day saw the release of a new archi tec tur al logo for the
White House—designed to be  “for ward-look ing while hav ing its roots in
some thing very tra di tion al.”  Its design ers explained that it sym bol ized the
new president’s  “desire to bring the coun try together”—and that it came
com plete with clas si cal let ter forms intend ed to com mu ni cate  “a gov ern ing
tone.”
It is not clear that this ges ture was the prod uct of exten sive archi tec tur -
al-his tor i cal intro spec tion, or that it should be invest ed with too much delib -
er ate mean ing. That said—as arte facts that sug gest a more nuanced range of
atti tudes to archi tec tur al his to ry, clas si cal let ter forms are not unin ter est ing.
Each Tra jan ic capital—ultimately derived, like all such let ter forms, from the
archi tec tur al inscrip tion cut into the stone at the base of Trajan’s Col umn in
Rome—is effec tive ly a small piece of clas si cal archi tec ture drawn into the
present and reap pro pri at ed for new use. That monument’s orig i nal inscrip -
tion  “to the Emper or Cae sar, son of the dei fied Ner va” (imp cae sari divi ner -
vae f etc.), was hard ly a record of pub lic-spir it ed demo c ra t ic process; and
yet sub se quent adop tions of those same let ter forms have turned their pow er
to very dif fer ent ends. The same forms can com mu ni cate rad i cal ly dif fer ent
mean ings. But two thou sand years lat er, they still pre serve some thing of
their orig i nal ele gance and weight i ness, some times in har mo ny with and
some times at odds with their new use, some times pre serv ing their orig i nal
three-dimen sion al mate ri al i ty and some times thinned out into insub stan tial
vec tors of dig i tal form, some times adopt ed with intel li gence and some times
vic tims of mis ap pro pri a tion. Although the effec tive ness of their use is
uneven, fed er al agen cies impose typo graph ic stan dards upon their pub li ca -
tions for good rea son. Even the care ful ly ser ifed let ters TRUMP on a build -
ing façade com mu ni cate greater grav i tas than the cheap and rapid ly aging
cur tain wall con struc tion that typ i cal ly stands behind them.
February 24, 2021
Four weeks after his inau gu ra tion, on Feb ru ary 24, 2021, Pres i dent Biden
revoked Trump’s Decem ber 18, 2020 Exec u tive Order 13967 (Pro mot ing
Beau ti ful Fed er al Civic Archi tec ture). It was a day filled with sig na tures,
revo ca tions, and new exec u tive orders. The legit i ma cy of his action was
28
29
30
31
Kyle DugdaleArchitecture and Irony
Transfer of Power 151
rein forced by the deploy ment of the full grav i tas of the pres i den tial office.
Clas si cal architecture’s com mu nica tive pow er trans ferred peace ful ly from
Trump to Biden. That after noon, White House press pho tographs duti ful ly
doc u ment ed the per for mance of Biden’s pres i den tial duties at a desk placed
care ful ly against the back drop of the base mould ings of the State Din ing
Room’s Corinthi an pilaster order, behind a pres i den tial seal ren dered author -
i ta tive by the clas si cal let ter ing that cir cu lat ed around its perimeter.
Kyle DugdaleArchitecture and Irony
Transfer of Power 153
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157

159
George Papamattheakis
Re-enter Pliocene
Irony and Sincerity in
Speculative Architectural
Fiction
George PapamattheakisArchitecture and Irony
1 Super stu dio,  “Sal vages of Ital ian His toric Cen ‐
ters: Omens for Good For tune for your Cities,”
trans lat ed by Lucia Allais, Log 22 (2011). First
pub lished in Ital ian in 1972.
2 Ibid, Sheet No. 794.
3 The quote is from the project’s web site, Plan ‐
etc i ty; see Liam Young, ed., Plan et City (Mel ‐
bourne: Uro Pub li ca tions, 2020).
Re-enter Pliocene 161
Two Large-Scale Design Fictions
“Flood Flo rence per ma nent ly by build ing a dam at the Gon foli na ravine”
sug gest ed the Ital ian col lec tive Super stu dio in their project Sal vages of Ital -
ian His toric Cen ters, which was fea tured in a 1972 issue of the jour nal IN.
An accom pa ny ing pho tomon tage depict ed the Brunelleschi dome sur round ed
by water and plea sure boats—as the last buoy ant reminder of the his to ry
lying beneath. For  “build ings,” Super stu dio claimed,  “are con served bet ter
and longer when they are sub merged [in water] than when they are exposed
to atmos pher ic agents.”  The text was writ ten on a doc u ment tem plate craft -
ed to look offi cial and was accom pa nied by a map of the Arno val ley show -
ing the geo graph ic expanse of the designed flood. The archi tects were
respond ing to their con tem po ra ne ous dis course on the preser va tion of archi -
tec tur al mon u ments, which was par tic u lar ly vivid in Italy. The pro pos al for
the flood ing of Flo rence was only one of six inter ven tions tar get ing an equal
num ber of impor tant Ital ian cities. The rest of the pro pos als were no less
bold: bury the cen ter of Rome; drain and pave over all of Venice’s canals;
nest Naples with in an illus trat ed shed; tilt all build ings in Pisa; enclose
Milan with in a glass cage. Some times, Super stu dio argued, one first needs to
destroy, in order to be saved.
Cut to 48 years lat er. Pic ture  “a city of 10 bil lion peo ple, the entire pop -
u la tion of the earth—where we sur ren der the rest of the world to a glob al
scaled wilder ness and the return of stolen lands”: 221,376 km² of build ings,
7,047 spo ken lan guages, 49,445,671,570 solar pan els, 42,877,520,340 fruit
trees, and oth er pre cise ly account ed for ele ments com pose a busy, dense, and
ever lumi nes cent agglom er a tion fit to accom mo date every per son on earth.
This is Plan et City, a 2020 spec u la tive project by Aus tralian archi tect Liam
Young and a team of researchers he brought togeth er, respond ing to the con -
ver sa tions on cli mate adap ta tion and plan e tary urban iza tion. The City is
imag ined in dif fer ent medi ums, includ ing a film, a book, and a series of cos -
tume instal la tions and dance performances.
Although half a cen tu ry and many real iza tions apart, the two projects
bear impor tant sim i lar i ties. Despite their dis tinct points of interest—historic
preser va tion for Super stu dio and plan e tary urban iza tion for Young—both
projects essen tial ly com prise design fic tions that oper ate on ter ri to r i al scale.
More than ori ent ed to any par tic u lar build ing or man made con struc tion, they
both tar get a large-scale ref or ma tion of the bio geo phys i cal environment.
In addi tion, despite their sim i lar ly gar gan tu an claims, both projects
man age to remain sus pend ed between seri ous ness and absur di ty. The out ra -
geous sug ges tion of a Pliocene era preser va tion base line did not stop Super -
stu dio from demon strat ing their nuanced under stand ing of the preser va tion
1
2
3
George PapamattheakisArchitecture and Irony
4 Young, Plan et City, 40.
5 For the phrase  “demon stra tion per absur dum”
see Adol fo Natal i ni,  “On Draw ing,” Draw ing
Mat ter, 4 Feb ru ary 2016. For the argu ment on
Superstudio’s  “grandiose style” see James
Dun bar, and Edi tors,  “Adol fo Natal i ni with
Super stu dio at Draw ings Mat ter: A research
Guide to The Col lec tions,” Draw ing Mat ter, 29
July 2024. Both arti cles were last accessed on
August 15, 2024.
Re-enter Pliocene 163
dis course they entered, and from artic u lat ing an hon est and seri ous vision
that is more-than-tech ni cal: dis pleased with the pre vail ing atti tudes that, in
their opin ion, par a lyzed his toric cen ters and opened the way for an econ o -
miza tion of mon u ments, Super stu dio sought to unearth a rad i cal poten tial of
preser va tion. Sim i lar ly, Plan et City, Young writes,  “is a city form that … has
evolved through the most rig or ous prag ma tism. … [it] is a ground ed and
pos si ble pro pos al devel oped from real cal cu la tions, cut ting edge research,
and the sup port of a dis trib uted coun cil of acclaimed envi ron men tal sci en -
tists, tech nol o gists, econ o mists and authors.”  At the same time, both
projects are unavoid ably marked by their extrav a gant claims, embrac ing
absur di ty as a form of con scious strat e gy. Adol fo Natal i ni, one of the out spo -
ken Super stu dio mem bers, lat er made clear that their pho tomon tage projects
aimed at “demon stra tio per absur dum,” a design-rhetor i cal device stretch ing
the premis es and claims of a pro pos al  “in grandiose style” in order to make
what they saw as a crit i cal point.  In a par al lel fash ion, Young admit ted that
Plan et City dri ves his hypoth e sis  “almost to the point of absur di ty,” per haps
point ing to the immense impli ca tions that such a plan would entail on the
phys i cal, and even more on the human geog ra phy of the plan et. Bal anc ing
between hon est inten tions and rhetor i cal absur di ty, both projects are posed
not as real iz able projects, but rather as provo ca tions aimed at their con tem -
po ra ne ous ongo ing discourses.
Yet, despite all oth er sim i lar i ties, the two design fic tions are uttered in
marked ly dif fer ent tones of voice. With its col or ful ly dark, cyber punk-sat u -
rat ed visu als, Plan et City express es a solemn agony. It trans ports the view er
to a near future where auto mat ed urban farms and fes ti va lesque dance rit u als
have man aged to coex ist lit er al ly on top of each oth er, allow ing enough
space for an urgent glob al ecosys tem restoration—that some decid ed they
have to get seri ous about. Sal vages on the oth er hand, fore grounds its bright
pho to col lages and is sur round ed by a cer tain play ful ness. Super stu dio wink
at their read ers as they friv o lous ly sug gest that preser va tion should be done
oth er wise. In oth er words, Plan et City may be bur lesque, but is per ceived as
a sin cere, urgent, and action-ori ent ed provo ca tion, while Sal vages is
unavoid ably read with in an aura of bal anced irony. Both projects are dis mis -
sive of their con tem po ra ne ous con di tions and dis cours es, yet Plan et City
points to a pos i tive project, while Sal vages doesn’t seem both ered to com mit
to one.
I am inter est ed to exam ine this diver gence, ask ing why the two projects
are pre sent ed and encoun tered dif fer ent ly, and what these dis tinc tions can
tell us. Is theirs just a dif fer ence in atti tude? My argu ment is that there is an
evo lu tion in the geneal o gy of design fic tions that attempt to grasp the world
at ter ri to r i al scale, and in this evo lu tion we are increas ing ly see ing a sort of
4
5
George PapamattheakisArchitecture and Irony
6 In launch ing this com par i son, the read er may
rea son ably won der why I have cho sen Sal ‐
vages over, say, the Con tin u ous Mon u ment,
which more direct ly address es a con di tion of
plan e tary urban iza tion and could thus be
a more fit ting com pan ion to Plan et City.
Although at first glance and con tent-wise the
Con tin u ous Mon u ment and Plan et City may
seem clos er, I argue they are not. The Con tin ‐
u ous Mon u ment uses build ing-scale archi tec ‐
ture as its vocab u lary and, cru cial ly, is invest ‐
ed in the sym bol ic poten tial of max i mum
urban iza tion as an infra struc tur al mon u ment
in a sort of nos tal gic plea. On the oth er hand,
both Sal vages and Plan et City are rather
forms of envi ron men tal man age ment that
claim to be more ratio nal than sym bol ic, and
that uti lize a vocab u lary that extends from
build ings to bio geo phys i cal ele ments (e.g.
rivers in Sal vages) and to orga ni za tion al pro ‐
to cols (e.g. zones of exclu sion in Plan et City).
Anoth er point that may appear prob lem at ic in
this com par i son is that the one project imag ‐
ines the anni hi la tion of the city while the oth ‐
er imag ines a form of an ulti mate city. Still
how ev er, the premis es are in essence very
sim i lar: because for Young’s ulti mate city to
exist, some form of Super stu dio-like city-anni ‐
hi la tion will need to take place. One more
qual i fi ca tion is due here: The emer gence of
spec u la tive design after the 1990s and the
work, most notably, of Antho ny Dunne and
Fiona Raby con tra dicts the ten den cy of archi ‐
tec tur al spec u la tion to dis tance itself from
irony and playfulness—that I will be elab o rat ‐
ing below. How ev er, the Dunne & Raby type of
spec u la tive design con nects most ly to artis tic
prac tices and small er scale objects, and as
such, I believe, should be treat ed sep a rate ly
from the field of archi tec ture and archi tec tur al
speculation—especially as my inter est here
lies pri mar i ly with large-scale envi ron men tal
design. On spec u la tive design see Antho ny
Dunne and Fiona Raby, Spec u la tive Every ‐
thing: Design, Fic tion, and Social Dream ing
(Cam bridge, MA: MIT Press, 2013); Matt Mal ‐
pas,  “Between Wit and Rea son: Defin ing
Asso cia tive, Spec u la tive, and Crit i cal Design
in Prac tice,” Design and Cul ture 5, no. 3
(2013): 333–56.
7 Hashim Sarkis and Roi Salgueiro Bar rio with
Gabriel Kozlows ki, eds, The World as an Archi ‐
tec tur al Project (Cam bridge, MA: MIT Press,
2019). As they affirm in their intro duc tion (3),
this is a his to ry that has remained under ex ‐
plored, if not entire ly sup pressed. Among oth ‐
er rea sons for this, they cite per sis tent
ideological—and I would also add
historiographical—fixations with the scale of
the nation-state, as well as a sys tem at ic
neglect of the his tor i cal reci procity between
archi tec ture and the dis ci pline of geography.
Re-enter Pliocene 165
oper a tive spec u la tions sub sti tut ing their rather rhetor i cal post mod ern coun -
ter parts. In this evo lu tion, probed by a sense of urgency for the envi ron men -
tal predica ment, irony is dis placed as an unnecessary—if not irresponsible—
ingredient. How ev er, irony, I will posit, still retains a rad i cal pos si bil i ty in
refram ing and ques tion ing the premis es of a spec u la tive sort of think ing,
some thing that the anx ious ly uttered oper a tive fic tions are less effec tive at.
Although I do not claim that Sal vages or Plan et City are nec es sar i ly the
most com pre hen sive or rep re sen ta tive exam ples, or even that they are the
best match for each oth er, I do believe they are indica tive of the spec u la tive
archi tec tur al think ing of the respec tive time peri ods they appeared in.
More over, trans lat ing a tru ism from sci ence fic tion stud ies, spec u la tive
design and land scape fic tions can be a good barom e ter of the intel lec tu al cli -
mate at a cer tain point in time, reveal ing the hon est desires of artists, archi -
tects, and oth er cre ators, uttered as they are uncon strained by
client pragmatics.
From Sincerity to Irony and Back
Due to their scalar ambi tions, the two projects con sid ered here could be clas -
si fied with in a longer his to ry of archi tec tur al attempts to nego ti ate large-
scale envi ron men tal trans for ma tions. Hashim Sarkis and Roi Salgueiro Bar -
rio with Gabriel Kozlows ki mapped part of this domain in their 2019 book
The World as an Archi tec tur al Project, which col lect ed 50 designs aimed at
a ter ri to r i al or plan e tary scale in the peri od since the late 19  cen tu ry.
Although until recent ly under ex plored, this his to ry is crit i cal in under stand -
ing the lin eage with in which spec u la tions like Sal vages and Plan et City
emerged.
As the vol ume by Sarkis and his col leagues show, to a large extent
architecture’s pre oc cu pa tion with the world is devel oped as part of the ongo -
ing mod ernist project with such authors as Arturo Soria y Mata and Patrick
Ged des in the turn of the 20  cen tu ry, and more sig nif i cant ly with Le Cor -
busier, Buck min ster Fuller, or Ivan Leonidov dur ing the inter war peri od.
One char ac ter is tic exam ple recit ed in The World, con sis tent with the exam -
ples I am study ing here, is the Atlantropa project by the Ger man archi tect
engi neer Her man Sörgel. With in the con text of the Ger man colo nial project,
and influ enced by the rise of inter na tion al devel op ment infra struc tur al
projects, Sörgel approached the dis tri b u tion of water, earth, ener gy, and min -
er als around the Mediter ranean basin as a design project, essen tial ly propos -
ing a uni fied treat ment of Europe and Africa as one con ti nen tal land mass,
where the water of the Mediter ranean Sea could be redis trib uted freely
towards the dri er areas of North Africa. Uti liz ing a sys tem of kilo me ter-long
6
th
7
th
George PapamattheakisArchitecture and Irony
8 Ibid., 80–89.
9 Extend ing this obser va tion, it could be argued
that cer tain rad i cal groups of the 1960s and
1970s man i fest ed ear ly expres sions of what
lat er came to be called an accel er a tionist
ideology—i.e. the belief that if sig nif i cant ly
accel er at ed, the process es of cap i tal ism
would even tu al ly col lapse. See Robin Mack ay
and Armen Avaness ian, eds., Accel er ate: the
Accel er a tionist Read er (Fal mouth, UK: Urba ‐
nom ic, 2014).
10 Natal i ni,  “On Drawing.”
11 Lucia Allais,  “Dis as ter as Exper i ment:
Superstudio’s Rad i cal Preser va tion,” Log 22
(2011): 127.
12 Besides Super stu dio and Archizoom, the
move ment includ ed oth er groups such as
UFO, Grupo 9999, and Zzig gu rat as well as
some indi vid ual archi tects. See Catharine
Rossi and Alex Coles, The Ital ian Avant Garde
1968–1976 (Berlin: Stern berg Press, 2013); and
Emilio Ambasz, ed., Italy: The New Domes tic
Land scape: Achieve ments and Prob lems of
Ital ian Design (New York: Muse um of Mod ern
Art, 1972).
Re-enter Pliocene 167
hydro elec tric dams in the straits of Gibral tar and the Dar d anelles, Atlantropa
imag ined a Mediter ranean that was low ered by as much as 500 meters,
reveal ing entire ly new land scapes in the process. Inter est ing ly, after
Germany’s defeat in the sec ond World War, Sörgel reframed the project as
a cli mate engi neer ing intervention—a form of spec u la tion that had slow ly
start ed to appear in both the West and the Sovi et Union.  Sörgel’s
Atlantropa exem pli fies an atti tude towards ter ri to r i al-scale archi tec tur al
projects up until the 1960s, in which visions were mega lo ma ni a cal but still
very earnest ly pro posed. Influ enced by the under stand ing of an increas ing ly
inter con nect ed world, and expressed most ly by men of the glob al north,
these visions reveal a hero ic, pos i tive, opti mistic, and high ly nor ma tive atti -
tude towards the  “design of the world.”
Such over ly con fi dent visions came to be rad i cal ly chal lenged by
a wave of anti-mod ernist reac tions by archi tects and col lec tives in the 1960s
and 1970s. How ev er, the scalar ambi tion that mod ernism pro gres sive ly
rehearsed was not entire ly dis card ed, but rather it was turned to its head:
Rad i cal groups includ ing Archizoom and Super stu dio embraced the engage -
ment with the scale of ter ri to ry and the ref or ma tion of the envi ron ment, yet
pur pose ful ly expos ing its absur di ty. In 1971, Archizoom pub lished No-Stop
City as a paper project in Domus, posit ing an end less and ulti mate pro gram -
ming of the sur face of the plan et. In a sim i lar vein, from 1969 to 1971
Super stu dio devel oped The Con tin u ous Mon u ment, a vision for archi tec tur al
sin gu lar i ty in which a behe moth ic liv ing infra struc ture encir cles the earth
and envelops human i ty in a ter mi nal con di tion of ubiq ui tous urban i ty.
Despite their extrav a gance, projects like No-Stop City and The Con tin u ous
Mon u ment were not meant as sim plis tic par o dies. That is, their obvi ous ly
iron ic style should not be read as an attempt to un-con struc tive mock ery of
their con tem po ra ne ous archi tec tur al real i ty. Rather, they implied an earnest
pre oc cu pa tion with the rad i cal poten tial of architecture’s accel er a tion and
even tu al anni hi la tion.  Adol fo Natal i ni, one of the Super stu dio mem bers lat -
er spoke of their work in this peri od as employ ing a form of  “utopi an
irony.”  Sal vages is con ceived with in this con text, con tin u ing the under ly -
ing cri tique of architecture’s com plic i ty with cap i tal. The pro pos al to sub -
merge Flo rence ref er enced the very recent 1966 flood of the city that Ital ians
still had fresh mem o ries of. As Lucia Allais has sug gest ed, the log ic of dis as -
ter is uti lized for its rad i cal poten tial to rethink cer tain givens,  “upset ting the
log ic of cap i tal ist hyper-accu mu la tion by reshuf fling the mat ter of archi tec -
ture.”  Per haps not acci den tal ly, the Flo rence flood is also the con text with -
in which the Ital ian Rad i cal Archi tec ture move ment begins to coa lesce, fur -
ther point ing to the poten tial of bold shocks of the sta tus quo.  But in Sal -
vages, as in oth er projects sug gest ed by Rad i cal Archi tec ture groups, while
8
9
10
11
12
George PapamattheakisArchitecture and Irony
13 For Superstudio’s reori en ta tion in their prac ‐
tice after 1972, see Allais,  “Dis as ter as Exper i ‐
ment,” note 2; and Peter Lang and William
Menk ing, eds., Super stu dio: Life With out
Objects (Milano: Ski ra, 2003).
14 Sarkis, Salgueiro and Kozlows ki, The World, 17.
15 Of course, this should not be treat ed as an
absolute bound ary; rather it out lines the main
body of a gen er al trend, the chrono log i cal lim ‐
its of which always remain porous and dynam ‐
ic. For an exam ple with a lat er project by Rem
Kool haas and OMA/AMO see specif i cal ly note
41 below.
16 See Mar co Deseri is,  “Irony and the Pol i tics of
Com po si tion in the Phi los o phy of Fran co  ‘Bifo’
Berar di,” The o ry & Event 15, no. 4 (2012). On
Kool haas appar ent cyn i cism, cf. Emmanuel
Petit,  “Chap ter 5: Kool haas,” in Irony: Or, the
Crit i cal Opac i ty of Post Mod ern Archi tec ture
(New Haven: Yale Uni ver si ty Press, 2013), 178–
211.17 Rein hold Mar tin, Utopia’s Ghosts: Archi tec ture
and Post Mod ernism, Again (Min neapo lis: Uni ‐
ver si ty of Min neso ta Press, 2010), xxi. Mar tin
believes that this pro scrip tion extend ed to the
prac tice of spec u la tion more gen er al ly. This
may be true for the field of archi tec ture, but
the inverse is true for most oth er domains:
finance, pol i cy mak ing, tech no log i cal fore cast ‐
ing etc; see my analy sis below.
18 For the project by Design Earth see their
Geosto ries: Anoth er Archi tec ture for the Envi ‐
ron ment (New York: Actar, 2019). For the
project by Plan B see their City of Sev en Bil ‐
lion: A Con struct ed World, exhi bi tion at the
Yale School of Archi tec ture, 3 Sep tem ber — 14
Novem ber 2015. Cf. Roi Salgueiro Bar rio,  
“Reimag ing Earth: Archi tec ture and the crit i ‐
cal and spec u la tive uses of geo vi su al iza tion,”
City, Ter ri to ry and Archi tec ture 10, no. 22
(2023): 1–16. In his review of Plan B’s car to ‐
graph ic project, he reads it as a pro jec tive
(rather than pure ly descrip tive) one, yet
I would con test that it is so only as far as the
epis te mol o gy of archi tec ture is con cerned.
For an overview of projects after the mil len ni ‐
um, includ ing Plan B’s City of Sev en Bil lion,
see Sarkis, Salgueiro and Kozlows ki, The
World, 440–519.
Re-enter Pliocene 169
the inten tions were utter ly sin cere, the design ges tures were rather iron ic and
absurd—perhaps sug gest ing a dis il lu sion ment with what archi tec ture and
design could real ly achieve.
The ear ly 1970s, when Sal vages is pub lished, seems to mark a shift ing
moment in this irony-infused, larg er-than-build ing focused atti tude. This was
true not only for Super stu dio, who went on to focus on more ground ed and
anthro po log i cal mate ri al ist projects such as their Fun da men tal Acts and
Glob al Tools projects, but also more gen er al ly for the domain of archi tec tur -
al spec u la tion.  Indeed, in The World, the edi tors acknowl edge that the
three decades that fol lowed until the ear ly years of the new mil len ni um were
sig nif i cant ly less dense in forms of ambi tious design spec u la tions: Fol low ing
 “a very intense moment of plan e tary spec u la tion in the mid 1960s and ear ly
1970s … its cul tur al death comes after the late 1970s with the con sol i da tion
of a post mod ernism that reacts against the archi tec tur al profession’s involve -
ment with broad er soci etal issues by reori ent ing design toward the inter nal
con di tions of the dis ci pline, his to ry, and the space of the city.”  Per the
book’s analy sis, Rem Kool haas and Made lon Vriesendorp’s City of the Cap -
tive Globe con cludes this phase in archi tec tur al his to ry.  Inter est ing ly, in
the lat ter, irony, it seems, has trans formed into cynicism—a sur ren dered
accep tance of the sta tus quo also defend ed by some as prag ma tism, a mode
of work for which Kool haas will become known.  Ret ro spec tive ly, com -
men ta tors and the o rists not ed that this was a peri od in which the future as
a pos i tive project waned. With regards to archi tec ture, in his 2010 revi sion
of post mod ern his to ri og ra phy, Rein hold Mar tin indi cates that among
postmodernism’s rules of engage ment was  “a near uni ver sal pro scrip tion
against utopi an thought.”
It wasn’t until the turn of the mil len ni um that an inter est in ter ri to r i al-
scale think ing in archi tec ture was new ly nour ished. The ris ing envi ron men tal
anx i eties brought back the earth-spheres and expand ed envi ron ments into
archi tec tur al draw ings. Even if many of those are ana lyt i cal or diag nos tic,
such as Design Earth’s Geosto ries nar ra tive series or the car togra phies by
Plan B in their City of Sev en Bil lion, oth ers do engage with propo si tion al
spec u la tions, like Young’s Plan et City.  Com mon among them is an earnest
atti tude seem ing ly dri ven by a sense of urgency, even tu al ly form ing what we
could call oper a tive speculations—fictions that are not nec es sar i ly made to
be real ized, but to insti gate some sort of action. Yet, in their sin cere utter -
ances, this lat ter wave of ter ri to r i al scale spec u la tions, is also defined by
a more reserved ethos com pared to the excit ed pro nun ci a tions of their mod -
ern-era coun ter parts. What’s cru cial in the con text of this essay, how ev er, is
that in these con tem po rary spec u la tions, the cli mate and bio di ver si ty con -
cerns, as well as the urge to under stand and map the Anthro pocene seems to
13
14
15
16
17
18
George PapamattheakisArchitecture and Irony
19 Steven Con nor,  “What is/was Post-Mod ern:
Irony, Urgency (and So On),” Jencks Foun da ‐
tion, 2022.
20 David Fos ter Wal lace,  “E Unibus Plu ram: Tele ‐
vi sion and U.S. Fic tion,” Review of Con tem po ‐
rary Fic tion 13, no. 2 (1993): 151–194.
21 Tim o theus Ver meulen, and Robin van den
Akker,  “Notes on Meta mod ernism,” Jour nal of
Aes thet ics & Cul ture 2, no. 1 (2010): 5–6.
Interestingly—but less convincingly—their
read ing into Archi tec ture uses the work of
Her zog & de Meu ron. A more nuanced and
insight ful read ing of the inter sec tion between
meta mod ernism and archi tec ture can be
found in Jimenez Lai,  “Between Irony and Sin ‐
cer i ty,” Log 46 (2019): 23–32.
Re-enter Pliocene 171
leave lit tle space for play ful ness or irony. The recent addi tions in this longer
geneal o gy, through their explic it claims to plan e tar i ty, detailed sta tis ti cal
account ing of meta bol ic and mate r i al process es, and per sis tent GIS aes thet -
ics, com mu ni cate the sober and seri ous inten tions of their authors.
Metamodernism, Technologies of Speculation, and Disciplined
Imaginations
Τhe wan ing and sub sti tu tion of post mod ern irony that I observed above in
the con text of archi tec tur al spec u la tion appears to extend to oth er domains of
cul tur al pro duc tion as well. In a recent com men tary crit ic and schol ar of
post mod ernism Steven Con nor observed that the  “as-yet unchris tened era [of
the] ear ly decades of the twen ty-first cen tu ry has seen a dras tic shrink age in
the capac i ty and appetite for irony and ambiva lence and a return of absolute
forms of belief, along with the desire for unqual i fied com mit ment.”  The
ten den cy was not ed ear li er in lit er ary stud ies, where by some accounts it fol -
lowed the explic it call by influ en tial post mod ern writer David Fos ter Wal -
lace in the ear ly 1990s who urged cre ators to adopt a new sen si bil i ty that
would steer clear of the osten si bly cool, yet cyn ic, detached, and often
nihilis tic irony of post mod ernism, replac ing it with an ethos of new sin cer i -
ty.  In 2010, exam in ing the fields of archi tec ture, art, and film, schol ars of
cul tur al and urban stud ies respec tive ly, Tim o theus Ver meulen and Robin van
den Akker, observed a pat tern in the  “struc ture of feel ings” expressed in
these fields after the turn of the mil len ni um, and sug gest ed to name it  “meta -
mod ernism.” Accord ing to them, the cat e go ry rep re sents an oscil la tion  
“between a mod ern enthu si asm and a post mod ern irony, between hope and
melan choly, between naiveté and know ing ness, empa thy and apa thy, uni ty
and plu ral i ty, total i ty and frag men ta tion, puri ty and ambi gu i ty.”  In their
read ing too, even if still present, irony was nonethe less dis placed as a dom i -
nant strat e gy. For both com men taries the renewed cul tur al sen si bil i ty comes
as a response to an expe ri ence of social real i ty char ac ter ized by finan cial,
polit i cal, and envi ron men tal uncer tain ties. To be sure, their empha sis dif fers:
While Ver meulen and van den Akker high light  “hope”—or bet ter, a  “melan -
choly for hope”—for a col lec tive ly  “bet ter world,” Con nor rather focus es on  
“urgency” as the crit i cal fac tor over shad ow ing irony. In both cas es, how ev er,
the imper a tive is the same: an engaged approach. If the  “melan choly for
hope” means one wants to believe they can act mean ing ful ly,  “urgency”
demands that one must act mean ing ful ly. In both cas es, dis en gaged crit i cism
is not enough; the world requires prac ti cal responses.
How ev er, it would be insuf fi cient to explain this devel op ment from old
irony to new sin cer i ty sole ly on the grounds of an abstract ly renewed
19
20
21
George PapamattheakisArchitecture and Irony
22 See Andy Hines,  “When Did It Start? Ori gin of
the Fore sight Field,” World Futures Review 12,
no. 1 (2020): 4–11; and Theo Reeves-Evi son,  
“The Art of Dis ci plined Imag i na tion: Pre dic ‐
tion, Sce nar ios, and Oth er Spec u la tive Infra ‐
struc tures,” Crit i cal Inquiry 47 (2021): 719–46.
23 See John Williams,  “World Futures,” Crit i cal
Inquiry 42 (2016): 473–546.
24 Williams,  “World Futures,” 524, and see also
his appendix .
25 Donel la H. Mead ows, Jor gen Ran ders, and
Den nis L. Mead ows, The lim its to growth:
A report for the Club of Rome’s project on the
predica ment of mankind (New York: Uni verse
Books, 1972).
26 Donel la H. Mead ows,  “The His to ry and Con ‐
clu sions of The Lim its to Growth,” Sys tem
Dynam ics Review 23, no. 2/3 (2007): 191.
27 Or, bet ter, a few dif fer ent fields of sci ence,
such as strate gic fore sight and cli mate mod el ‐
ing to name two. Exam ples of how the mod el ‐
ing cul ture evolved after the 1970s include the
first sim u lat ed cli mate pro jec tion authored by
James Hansen and his six col leagues in 1981,
the socioe co nom ic Inte grat ed Assess ment
Mod els (IAMs) that the IPCC adopt ed lat er in
the 1990s, and all the way to the more recent
com pu ta tion al sim u la tion of a dig i tal twin for
the entire earth sys tem by graph ics com pa ny
Nvidia—appropriately named Earth‐2. As
Isaac Held has argued with regards to cli mate
mod el ing specif i cal ly, the pri ma cy of sim u la ‐
tion is such that it ren ders sec ondary the
under stand ing of the very sys tems that are
being sim u lat ed. See Matthias Hey mann and
Amy Dahan Dalmedico,  “Epis te mol o gy and
pol i tics in Earth sys tem mod el ing: His tor i cal
per spec tives,” Jour nal of Advances in Mod el ing
Earth Sys tems 11 (2019): 1139–52; and Isaac M.
Held,  “The gap between sim u la tion and
under stand ing in cli mate mod el ing,” Bul letin
of the Amer i can Mete o ro log i cal Soci ety 86, no.
11 (2005): 1609–14.
Re-enter Pliocene 173
col lec tive sen ti ment. I want to sug gest that the tech nolo gies of spec u la tion
are cru cial in the cre ation of this feel ing and ratio nale. The ways in which
the future is thought, fic tions are con struct ed, and pro jec tions are made are
impor tant in both the epis te mo log i cal con struc tion of the sense of urgency,
and the pro mo tion of the feel ing of hope for the future. For the main ques -
tion of this essay—that is the inter ro ga tion of the devel op ment from Sal -
vages to Plan et City—the post war cul ture of future think ing, and espe cial ly
the devel op ments around the 1970s, play a cen tral and con se quen tial role.
Mod el ing, sim u la tion, sce nario plan ning, tech no log i cal fore cast ing, and
cyber net ic think ing were all words in an emer gent vocab u lary of con tem plat -
ing and design ing the future in the west ern post war world, fol low ing the
shock of the sec ond World War and lat er the inse cu ri ties of the Cold War.
A prac tice that had start ed right after World War II, one that lat er came to be
called strate gic fore sight research, was steadi ly for mal iz ing into a dis ci -
pline.  This field, pri mar i ly inhab it ed by tech nol o gists, engi neers, and
econ o mists (and lat er many com put er sci en tists), was com ing to thor ough ly
shape plan ning, replac ing archi tec ture and design as the priv i leged fields of
plan ning and propo si tion al think ing. Cer tain insti tu tions and researchers
intro duced and sys tem atized nov el tech niques in think ing about the future.
One of the bet ter known sto ries is that of Her man Kahn, who devised
a method of think ing through and com par ing alter na tive plau si ble ver sions
of the future while work ing for the RAND cor po ra tion in the 1950s.  In the
next decade Kahn found ed the Hud son Insti tute to elab o rate on and dis sem i -
nate his method, where he and his col leagues offered sce nario plan ning
work shops to cor po rate employ ees. As his to ri an John Williams notes, by the
1970s more than six ty cor po ra tions such as IBM, Coca Cola, the Nation al
Bank of Mex i co, and Roy al Dutch Shell were using some form of sce nario
plan ning to lay out their cor po rate strate gies.  The increas ing com pu ta tion -
al pow er was key to this devel op ment, as it allowed not only for a wider con -
sid er a tion of future alter na tives, but also for pre ci sion in mod el ing. The
same year that Sal vages was pub lished, in 1972, the Club of Rome pre pared
its sem i nal report titled Lim its to Growth, which was one of the first attempts
at exten sive mod el ing of future envi ron men tal change.  Engi neer and com -
put er sci en tist Jay Forrester’s infa mous  “world mod el” that was used to pro -
duce the report fac tored in  “66 Crit i cal Prob lems” of human i ty and pro duced
pro jec tions for the future of the earth and its sys tems.  The cul ture of pro -
jec tive mod el ing only kept ris ing there after, fur ther sys tem atiz ing future
think ing and turn ing it into a sci ence.  In oth er words, while the Architet -
tura Rad i cale move ment in Italy and their archi tect con tem po raries in the
UK, the US and the USSR were cre at ing their many times friv o lous, qua si-
22
23
24
25
26
27
George PapamattheakisArchitecture and Irony
28 Reeves-Evi son,  “The Art of Dis ci plined Imag i ‐
na tion,” 731.
29 Back min ster Fuller,  “World Game: How It
Came About,” in Fifty Years of the Design Sci ‐
ence Rev o lu tion and the World Game (Car bon ‐
dale, Ill., 1969), 112; cit ed in Williams,  “World
Futures,” 504–05. 30 Wei-Ning Xiang and Kei th C. Clarke,  “The Use
of Sce nar ios in Land-Use Plan ning,” Envi ron ‐
ment and Plan ning B: Plan ning and Design 30,
no. 6 (2003): 885–909.
31 Espe cial ly with regards to Plan et City, which
is more close ly exam ined here, the con nec ‐
tions become even more pro claimed through
the ref er ences to sce nario think ing, cli mate
mod el ing, or Dox i adis and Fuller, that Liam
Young and his col lab o ra tors in the book often
employ. For a char ac ter is tic exam ple see Ben ‐
jamin H. Brat ton,  “On Spec u la tive Design,” in
The Time Com plex: Post-Con tem po rary, edit ed
by Armen Avaness ian and Suhail Malik (Mia ‐
mi, FL: [Name], 2016).
32 In his case the phrase is used in rather pos i ‐
tive under tones; see Paul J. H. Schoe mak er,  
“Dis ci plined Imag i na tion: From Sce nar ios to
Strate gic Options,” Inter na tion al Stud ies of
Man age ment & Orga ni za tion 27 (1997), 43–70.
33 See Melin da Coop er,  “Tur bu lent Worlds:
Finan cial Mar kets and Envi ron men tal Cri sis,”
The o ry, Cul ture and Soci ety 27 (2010): 167–90;
and Fred erik Tygstrup,  “Spec u la tion and the
End of Fic tion,” Para grana 25, no. 2 (2016), 97–
111.
Re-enter Pliocene 175
lib er at ed visions, a few west ern think tanks, states, and cor po ra tions were
estab lish ing future think ing into a seri ous busi ness and sys tem atized task.
To be sure, it remains a ques tion as to whether there was an inter face
between these two worlds. Although it is out side the scope of this essay to
pro vide his tor i cal evi dence of how spe cif ic spec u la tive prac tices after the
1970s might have been influ enced by the rise and sys tem ati za tion of futur o -
log i cal think ing, nonethe less, a few points can begin to make the case for
this con nec tion. Let me first note that, indeed, future think ing and fore sight
were com ing to the atten tion of a wider pub lic in what cul tur al stud ies schol -
ar Theo Reeves-Evi son called a  “social iza tion of pre dic tion.” Study ing evi -
dence from art works and exhi bi tions of the 1970s he notes a “gen er al dif fu -
sion of pre dic tive think ing” that not only was the result of a height ened  
“con fi dence in the new social tech nolo gies of spec u la tion,” but it also meant
that  “the spec u la tive infra struc tures devel oped with in orga ni za tions such as
RAND found their way into wider pub lic con scious ness.”  Sec ond ly,
received lit er a ture on a few per sonas influ en tial in archi tec tur al cir cles
attests to the exis tence of an inter face between the then worlds of archi tec -
ture and strate gic fore sight, even if thin. Buck min ster Fuller is one of the
peo ple inhab it ing this inter face, per haps most sig nif i cant ly with his late
1960s World Game. Ini tial ly pro posed for the Expo  ’67 in Mon tre al, this was
essen tial ly a game of resource logis tics, where play ers would com pete to  
“make the total world work suc cess ful ly for all of humankind,” pro duc ing
sce nar ia of the future on their way.  In anoth er instance, around the same
time, Fuller’s close acquain tance Con stan ti nos Dox i adis and his col leagues
put their in-house super-com put er at work, to pro duce  “49 mil lion sce nar ia”
for the future devel op ment of Detroit.  It seems there fore fair to oper ate
under the hypoth e sis that from the 1970s, the increas ing sys tem ati za tion of
future-think ing and strate gic fore sight began to seep into the prac tices of
archi tec tur al spec u la tion. Fifty years lat er, projects such as Plan et City,
Geosto ries, or City of Sev en Bil lion, can be con fi dent ly placed at the result -
ing end of this lin eage.
The devel op ment of future think ing in these past 50 years is cru cial for
the argu ment pur sued here, because the evo lu tion of the new socio-tech ni cal
appa ra tus of spec u la tion effec tive ly  “dis ci plined imag i na tion,” as man age -
ment the o rist and con sul tant Paul Schoe mak er would evoca tive ly phrase it
close to the turn of the mil len ni um.  Inter est ing ly, this dis ci plin ing and its
vocab u lary of tech niques has pro vid ed use ful ways of nav i gat ing uncer tain ty
and risk—while para dox i cal ly it has simul ta ne ous ly helped to repro duce
them.  But what I want to focus on here, is the sug ges tion that a dis ci plined
imag i na tion is also usu al ly a nar row er one. In its ear ly his to ry, fore sight and
sce nario plan ning could some times include quan ti ta tive rea son ing based on
28
29
30
31
32
33
George PapamattheakisArchitecture and Irony
34 John Williams describes how Her man Kahn
grew unin ter est ed in his work on com pu ta ‐
tion al Monte Car lo sim u la tions, and pro gres ‐
sive ly devel oped an inter est for more open-
end ed, nar ra tive-dri ven, and cre ative-writ ing
tech niques; see Williams, “World Futures.”
35 Tygstrup,  “Spec u la tion and the End of Fic ‐
tion,” 101.
36 The argu ment on plur al futures is put forth in
Williams,  “World Futures.”
37 Reeves-Evi son,  “The Art of Dis ci plined Imag i ‐
na tion,” 745.
38 See Lau ren Rickards, Ray Ison, Hart munt Fün ‐
fgeld, and John Wise man,  “Open ing and Clos ‐
ing the Future: Cli mate Change, Adap ta tion,
and Sce nario Plan ning,” Envi ron ment and
Plan ning C: Gov ern ment and Pol i cy 32, no. 4
(2014), 587–602.
Re-enter Pliocene 177
com putable fac tors, yet it was essen tial ly a text-based, nar ra tive tech nique,
that often incor po rat ed less plau si ble, imag i na tive, and far-fetched pro jec -
tions.  In some occa sions the sce nar ia could even be informed or played
out in game-like settings—like in Fuller’s World Game. But as the com pu ta -
tion al pow er increased, the focus on plau si bil i ty, high res o lu tion, and pre cise
cal cu la tions seems to have over tak en the imag i na tive and the play ful. Cul -
tur al stud ies schol ar Fred erik Tygstrup puts it this way:
“Pre dic tion tech nolo gies have made us awful ly good at fore cast ing, at
look ing into things to come, but it is as if we no longer look at a wide hori -
zon, but only into a nar row zone where what we know is pro longed, a future
with a nar row scope and a high res o lu tion, as it were. Feed ing on such pre -
dic tions, our his tor i cal imag i na tion itself might even tu al ly suf fer…”
In hind sight, spec u la tive think ing since the 1960s has shift ed away
from a cul ture of mul ti ple and diver gent futures towards one of fin er grained
and more focused pro jec tions.
The Epistemological Potential of Irony
In his con clu sion, Reeves-Evi son observes that the par tic u lar ways of spec u -
la tion that took hold after the 1960s, entrenched as they are in spe cif ic state,
insti tu tion al, and cor po rate prac tices cre ate cer tain path-depen den cies in the
think ing and mak ing of futures,  “at the expense of an expand ed field of spec -
u la tive prac tices.”  These path depen den cies may be cre at ed by the dom i -
nant and tak en-for-grant ed axioms of cap i tal ist and growth-ori ent ed log ic.
For exam ple when Shell, with all its pow er ful lob by ing appa ra tus and infra -
struc ture embed ded ness shapes its cor po rate strat e gy accord ing to sce nar ia
mod eled after the max i miza tion of hydro car bon extrac tion and prof its,
essen tial ly dri ving ener gy poli cies in that exact path for decades to fol low.
Or, path depen den cies may be cre at ed when the cli mate of envi ron men tal
and oth er emer gen cies dic tate a par tic u lar quick-fix and solu tion-ori ent ed
type of think ing. For exam ple when the IPCC choos es to only pur sue  “real is -
tic” sce nar ia that are pol i cy rel e vant (instead of utopian/dystopian), which
often comes to mean sce nar ia informed by—and essen tial ly perpetuating—
the sta tus quo.  But there is also anoth er, less explored type of clo sure, that
con cerns the epis te mo log i cal assump tions about how cer tain tech nolo gies
and insti tu tions work—or ought to work in the near future, and this is where
I want to turn my attention.
In the  “new ly-sin cere” search for mature and plau si ble sce nar ia, the for -
mer two con di tions con strain ing imag i na tion (con stant growth and emer -
gency log ics) have grown immune to irony—neutralizing it as emp ty rad i cal -
ism or nihilism. How ev er, the third type of clo sure, the one con cern ing epist-
34
35
36
37
38
George PapamattheakisArchitecture and Irony
39 Deb o rah Coen and Fredrik Albrit ton Jon s son,  
“Between His to ry and Earth Sys tem Sci ence,”
Isis 113, no. 2 (2022): 407–16.
40 Super stu dio,  “Sal vages of Ital ian His toric Cen ‐
ters,” Sheet No. 794 (empha sis added).
41 In a spec u la tive project that is rel e vant to my
dis cus sion here in both scale and inten tion,
OMA/AMO with Rem Kool haas respond ed to
this par tic u lar 1972 UNESCO Con ven tion with
a fake counter-con ven tion,  “not ing that cul tur ‐
al her itage and nat ur al her itage are over ‐
whelm ing us” and sug gest ed that an inverse
oper a tion to preser va tion is nec es sary to be
pur sued as well:  “the col lec tive demo li tion of
cul tur al and archi tec tur al her itage that con sti ‐
tutes Insignif i cant Uni ver sal Junk.” The
project, pub lished in 2010 in the con text of
OMA’s exhi bi tion at the Venice Bien nale, can
be placed as a lat er addi tion in the geneal o gy
of more play ful and iron ic projects I described
above. Still, one can quite con fi dent ly argue
that both this project and Koolhaas’s atti tude
in gen er al is not char ac ter is tic of con tem po ‐
rary archi tects’ main (envi ron men tal) con ‐
cerns. For the counter-con ven tion where the
quotes are from and Koolhaas’s argu ment see
Rem Kool haas,  “CRONOCAOS,” Log 21 (2011):
119–23. Thank you to an anony mous review er
for point ing out the project to me.
42 By con trast, the more recent wave of archi tec ‐
tur al spec u la tion doesn’t seem to per form this
work, at least in the lev el of epis te mol o gy. For
exam ple, in all its dar ing illus tra tion of
a human exclu sion zone that occu pies 98% of
the earth simul ta ne ous ly restor ing vital
wilder ness, Plan et City relies on an urban
epis te mol o gy that favors  “citi ness” and the
city as the object of ana lyt i cal atten tion, in an
approach that urban the o ry is con sid er ing
increas ing ly obso lete. See Neil Bren ner and
Chris t ian Schmid,  “Towards a new epis te mol ‐
o gy of the urban?” City 19, no. 2–3 (2015), 151–
82.
Re-enter Pliocene 179
e mol o gy, seems to still be respon sive to irony. In oth er words, irony can be
oper a tive in ques tion ing epis te mo log i cal assump tions that make future think -
ing too dis ci plined, and the ges tures in Sal vages tes ti fy to this.
When Super stu dio pro posed in jest to flood the Flo ren tine basin, they
per formed a dou ble epis te mo log i cal leap. For one, they unset tled one of
preservation’s core ques tions, name ly what era the preser va tion ist should
priv i lege, or in oth er words, how far back one should look at and dig about.
Rea son ably, in the preser va tion of human her itage, this ques tion only makes
sense with regards to the time span of human civ i liza tion. Yet, in an utter -
ance that could be mis in ter pret ed as just child ish, Super stu dio posit ed that
restor ing nature in the con di tion that it was a few mil lion years ago can be at
least equal ly ben e fi cial. In hind sight, this leap feels even more sig nif i cant as
their propo si tion keeps chal leng ing nature restora tion prac tices still today,
50 years lat er. Recent ly, his to ri ans of sci ence Deb o rah Coen and Fredrik
Albrit ton Jon s son not ed a his tor i cal ly con struct ed  “Holocene nos tal gia” per -
me at ing the sci ences and Anthro pocene dis course, and warned against a nat -
u ral iza tion of cer tain restora tion thresh olds.  The dis ci pline of earth sys -
tems sci ence and the prac tices in ecol o gy and con ser va tion biol o gy, they
argue, have raised the Holocene in a priv i leged podi um, only because it’s
imme di ate ly-before the indus tri al accel er a tion. Antic i pat ing this cri tique,
Sal vages pro posed to look at the com bined nat ur al and cul tur al her itage in
a rad i cal ly dif fer ent way.
Superstudio’s sec ond epis te mo log i cal leap had to do with the nature-
cul ture inter face. As they wrote,  “As with any oper a tion to restore a his tor i -
cal con di tion, [a return to the Pliocene geo log i cal con di tion] will be of the
high est val ue in the eyes of any one inter est ed in cul ture.”  That is, Super -
stu dio posit ed nat ur al con ser va tion as a cul tur al oper a tion, a the sis that also
remains sig nif i cant half a cen tu ry lat er, when the insti tu tion al process es of
nat ur al and cul tur al preser va tion have grown pro gres sive ly dis tinct. Once
again, 1972 was a sig nif i cant year in this his to ry as UNESCO pub lished the
land mark Con ven tion Con cern ing the Pro tec tion of the World Cul tur al and
Nat ur al Her itage, in which the two types of her itage were referred to in tan -
dem, yet in sub se quent years their treat ment would take sep a rate paths.
Superstudio’s cheeky atti tude was meant to be provoca tive, yet exam -
ined close ly, their irony seems fair ly pro duc tive, espe cial ly in break ing away
from cer tain epis te mo log i cal givens. Irony sur faces as a tool with the capac i -
ty to enlarge the hori zons of spec u la tion. And it does so by open ing up the
pos si bil i ty of epis te mo log i cal nov el ty. Play ful ly against the grain, and as
Super stu dio would want it, epis te mo log i cal decon struc tion can indeed be
cre ative.  Naivety, absur di ty, antin o my, and irony can help escape from
path-depen den cies and epis te mo log i cal lock-ins, exact ly because they chall-
39
40
41
42
George PapamattheakisArchitecture and Irony
Re-enter Pliocene 181
enge the unthink able. And their prac tice feels even more rel e vant when the
amassed abil i ty to cor re late and pre dict, mod el and sim u late, tends to ren der
obsolete—or alto geth er discard—any non-pos i tive project.
George PapamattheakisArchitecture and Irony
Re-enter Pliocene 183
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187
Ralitza Petit
AI: Peter Pan’s Runaway
Shadow, Digital Twins and an
Intelligently Artificial
Architecture of Irony
Rhetoric and Form
Ralitza PetitArchitecture and Irony
AI: Peter Pan’s Runaway Shadow, Digital Twins
and an Intelligently Artificial Architecture of Irony 189
Arti fi cial Intel li gence is hot; and some archi tects are get ting cold feet.
Those same archi tects would con sid er them selves social ly engaged and
cul tur al ly involved, and most def i nite ly of their own time. While ver i ta ble
con tem po rane ity often eludes archi tec tur al prac tice, and some times the o ry,
the gap between cul tur al changes and archi tec tur al response has been attrib -
uted to the ardu ous ness and length of the process of con cep tion, design, and
con struc tion of build ings. The gap can fur ther be described as the time lag
between con cep tu al rhetoric of desired cul tur al effect and real ized in phys i -
cal mate ri al i ty of archi tec tur al form; this gap — a dis crep an cy between the
the o ret i cal expec ta tion and the phys i cal real i ty of archi tec ture — is per cep ti -
ble but not insur mount able. Most ly, archi tec tur al form catch es up with its
desired rhetoric —even tu al ly. The process of catch ing up is often revealed
though irony.
The time lagged race from archi tec tur al the o ry to prac tice has been par -
tic u lar ly pro nounced with the ultra rapid infil tra tion of arti fi cial ly intel li gent
tools in life, cul ture, soci ety, envi ron ment — AI is seem ing ly in every thing
and every where. Such omnipres ence is afford ed by the rather loose def i n i -
tion of the term to encom pass any dig i tal oper a tion appear ing to be based in
com put er expe ri ence, or machine learn ing, which process is under stood to
be root ed in pat tern recog ni tion of source data; more over, AI per for mance
adapts and improves over time — in con trast to dig i tal oper a tions through
pre vi ous ly explic it sequen tial computation.
The char ac ter is ti cal ly vast amount of source data and AI’s incred u lous
speed of data con sid er a tion have pro duced a new sit u a tion in rela tion to
architecture’s noto ri ety of being slow to change. The unique prob lem for
archi tec ture is that this inno va tion has reached glob al accep tance and per va -
sive ness in an unusu al ly short time and at an unusu al ly large scale. In addi -
tion, the said inno va tion did find its place in build ings and the o ry at an
unprece dent ed scale. Pre vi ous ly, it was only dur ing major cat a stroph ic
moments in his to ry, when destruc tion near ly oblit er at ed the phys i cal i ty of
build ings. In such moments, the ideation of a soci etal change and its co-
exist ing archi tec ture were sep a rat ed by a gap of such immense swift ness that
the result ing jux ta po si tion of destroyed real i ty and dreamt up effect could be
under stood through irony. 
Unlike in his tor i cal ly cat a stroph ic sit u a tions, the AI-age is unusu al ly
pro duc tive and high ly pos i tive — yet, the gap between con cep tu al iza tion and
actu al iza tion, zeit geist and build ings has appeared just as abrupt ly. This
ensu ing iron ic engage ment of AI with archi tec ture is man i fest ed in two
ways: on the one hand, build ings man age to incor po rate or find them selves
endowed with the lat est AI-ness — in the case of intel li gent build ings; or on
the oth er hand, the new technology—Artificial Intelligence—finds its way
Ralitza PetitArchitecture and Irony
1
1 The Edge — Amsterdam, the world’s most
intelligent and greenest building. Image: Wire
Collective.
1 BRE Group,  “The Edge, Ams ter dam receives
BREEAM Award for new office construction.”
BREEAM, stand ing for Build ing
Research Estab lish ment Envi ron men tal
Method is a British agency act ing as a lead ing
Euro pean asses sor and reg u la tor of sus tain ‐
abil i ty. The Edge Ams ter dam as assessed to
be 98.4% sus tain able at the time of its open ‐
ing in 2015— the high est score ever record ed
at the time.
AI: Peter Pan’s Runaway Shadow, Digital Twins
and an Intelligently Artificial Architecture of Irony 191
into the method of design ing which is then termed gen er at ed. In both cas es,
an archi tec tur al the o ry of irony can con cep tu al ize the con nec tion between
ultra-fast and high ly flex i ble com pu ta tion and the stead fast ness of firm ly
ground ed buildings. 
As an intel li gent build ing case of irony, one could con sid er The Edge
Ams ter dam, designed by PLP Archi tec ture for Edge Real tors. The project
began with the ambi tion to show case the real estate group’s net-zero strat e -
gy, and upon its open ing in 2014, the forty thou sand square meter office
build ing was, indeed, pro nounced the most intel li gent build ing in the world.
Its twen ty-eight thou sand sen sors, installed through out the build ing, direct ly
assign (arti fi cial) intel li gence by mak ing con tin u ous elec tron ic mea sure -
ments which in turn ini ti ate con tin u ous adjust ments to the func tion al i ty of its
mechan i cal sys tems. Such a process of obser va tion and opti miza tion of pat -
terns of func tion al i ty is typ i cal of what is con sid ered an AI sys tem. An
exam ple of a char ac ter is tic under go ing such AI opti miza tion is ener gy con -
sump tion; and the suc cess of reduc ing the amount used thanks to a con tin u -
ous cycle of mea sure ment and adjust ment has con tributed to the Edge
Amsterdam’s rat ing as the world’s green est build ing.  The appa ra tus of sen -
sors, track ing and chas ing ide al con stel la tions of mea sured pat terns, lit er al ly
pins (arti fi cial) intel li gence onto the phys i cal i ty of a build ing in much the
same way that smart ness is added to tele phones, watch es, toast ers et cetera.
The irony of this arti fi cial ly acquired intel li gence is that the endeav or side -
steps the mate ri al i ty or the appear ance of the Edge—its architecture—in
order to con tin u ous ly opti mize exter nal and inter nal environments.
Envi ron men tal sen sors have exist ed for some time, and their pre ci sion
and ver sa til i ty has grown to mea sure val ues for: tem per a ture, humid i ty, elec -
tri cal con duc tiv i ty, min er al com po si tion, light, wind speed and direc tion, air
qual i ty, solar radi a tion, rain fall and under ground water lev els, pres sure and
qual i ty amongst a plen ti tude of mea sur ables. In fact, almost every aspect of
the envi ron ment can be mea sured and mon i tored through sophis ti cat ed sen -
sors which cre ate data that rarely if ever reach es con cep tu al archi tec tur al
design. Yet, these devices soon er or lat er make their pres ence known and
very vis i ble in build ings. More over, the expan sive ness and speed of AI
allows dig i tal ly enabled gad get cre ation and con tin u ous reg u la tion to out -
pace the con cep tion of archi tec tur al form. The often-manda to ry devices
appear almost par a sit i cal ly attached to build ings of any type, non cha lant ly
dis miss ing archi tec tur al morphology.
The irrel e vant, irrev er ent and iron ic bid of AI-ing archi tec ture through
sen sors often falls flat due to the fact that most of these sen sors are mea sur -
ing para me ters that could not mean ing ful ly affect archi tec tur al form. Unlike
a farmer who could mea sure the soil’s humid i ty and react in the direct ben ef-
1
Ralitza PetitArchitecture and Irony
2 Vit ru vius, On Archi tec ture, III.
3 The only strict ly archi tec tur al com ments refer
to the ori en ta tion of the build ing with respect
to sun light and the trans par ent mate r i al of the
glaz ing. The glaz ing mate r i al is fre quent ly
extolled for its func tion al i ty in har vest ing
solar energy.
4 Ack er man, Dis tance Points.
While Brunelleschi is cred it ed with
being the first to out line the con struc tion of
lin ear per spec tive, the method was described
in print by Leon Batista Alber ti in Del la Pit tura
(On Paint ing) which was writ ten in 1435.
Notably, Alberti’s De re aed i fi ca to ria (On
Build ing) is pre sumed to have been writ ten in
the decade after 1443 and does not con cern
itself with rep re sen ta tion but rather the
under stand ing of architecture.
AI: Peter Pan’s Runaway Shadow, Digital Twins
and an Intelligently Artificial Architecture of Irony 193
it to crops, an archi tect is often aghast at the util i ty of pos si ble mea sure -
ments as none of them relate to a building’s Vit ru vian oblig a tion for fir mi tas,
util i tas or venus tas.  In fact, some times the most advanced AI-pow ered opti -
miza tions in build ings appear to func tion bet ter with out the building’s ele -
ments or the occu pants’ actions. For exam ple, forced air ven ti la tion depends
on the main te nance of a par tic u lar inter nal vol ume for the main te nance of
pres sure bal ance. An opened door — inter nal or exter nal — imme di ate ly dis -
rupts the care ful ly mea sured bal ance, fol lowed by a dis rup tion of tem per a -
ture expec ta tions, which in turn trig ger the open ing of more doors or win -
dows while the entire opti miza tion process becomes iron i cal ly superfluous.
Not sur pris ing ly, the large num ber of arti cles on the most intel li gent
build ing in the world, the built epit o me of blend ing the newest of tech nol o gy
with archi tec ture, not once so much as men tion the built project’s archi tec -
ture. With out excep tion, each descrip tion of the Edge extolls the tech no log i -
cal ly savvy way of mea sur ing and con tin u ous ly adjust ing char ac ter is tics per -
tain ing to the micro cli mate or the pop u la tion of the build ing, but very lit tle
is not ed in respect to the for mal order of space.  AI opti miza tion was not
attempt ed through archi tec tur al means — such as mate r i al trans paren cy for
the mod u la tion of light, or struc tur al poros i ty for the mod u la tion of air flow,
as mere exam ples; instead, the mechan i cal sys tems of mod u la tion are dis -
con nect ed from the body of archi tec ture; the result: an envi ron ment in iron ic
par al lel to the phys i cal pres ence of architecture.
Notwith stand ing its unre mark able archi tec ture, The Edge has been pro -
claimed as noth ing short of a  “cul tur al rev o lu tion” on the basis of its unusu al
occu pa tion style: each day desks and offices are redis trib uted. The human
occu pant, through their sub jec tive pres ence in archi tec ture, becomes key to
an archi tec tur al con cep tu al iza tion of space, the sub ject-object rela tion ship
that is in a per ma nent repo si tion ing and track ing becomes the mode of spa -
tial def i n i tion. In the age of dig i tal iza tion, the con tin u ous ly tracked rela tion -
ship between sub ject and object is par tial ly or whol ly dig i tal ized. Under -
stand ing the method of dig i tal iza tion requires revis it ing of the his tor i cal
posi tion ing of the human sub ject while com pre hend ing architecture’s object. 
Archi tec ture as a spa tial orga ni za tion, a for mal archi tec tur al order,
ensu ing from the direc tion al rela tion ship subject—object, is a the o ret i cal
stance plac ing the sub ject in the posi tion of under stand ing archi tec ture
through vision. This geo met ri cal rela tion ship of the sub ject to the object is
defin able through opti cal laws of per spec ti val pro jec tion. The aware ness of
per spec ti val pro jec tion is often traced to the rep re sen ta tion of archi tec ture in
paint ing dur ing the Renais sance, notably described in Alberti’s trea tise On
Paint ing . Even more impor tant ly, it became pos si ble for the reverse con -
struc tion of per spec ti val pro jec tion to be used as a design tool — allow ing
2
3
4
Ralitza PetitArchitecture and Irony
2
3
2 Palazzo Spada, section along the gallery axis
showing perceived space in dashed lines.
3 Character creation in an online game, Example
from World of Warcraft. Image: Blizzard
Entertainment, 2025.
5 Otto,  "Francesco Borromini."
6 Evans, Trans la tions from Draw ing to Build ing.
The sub ject-object con nec tion with respect to
archi tec ture and per spec tives has been dis ‐
cussed in much detail by Robin Evans as
a con cep tu al con nec tion between archi tec ‐
ture and math e mat ics, geom e try in par tic u lar.
Fur ther more, he describes a direc tion al i ty
from draw ing towards build ing.  “Trans la tions
from Draw ing to Build ing,” 165.
7 Reil ly,  "World of War craft Reach es 12 Mil lion
Subscribers."
World of War craft is one of the old est
and most pop u lar games simul ta ne ous ly con ‐
nect ing mil lions (over 9M in Feb ru ary 2024
and report ed ly more than 140M over time) of
par tic i pants at a moment in time in a dig i tal
envi ron ment the rep re sen ta tion of which is
shared amongst the dig i tal repli cas while the
phys i cal human play ers are geo graph i cal ‐
ly dispersed.
AI: Peter Pan’s Runaway Shadow, Digital Twins
and an Intelligently Artificial Architecture of Irony 195
the assump tion of per spec ti val pro jec tion to effec tive ly mod u late the per cep -
tion of phys i cal three-dimen sion al space. For exam ple, Borromini’s well-
known visu al  “enlarge ment” of Palaz zo Spa da  is achieved by con scious ly
using the opti cal illu sion of per spec ti val pro jec tion as a design tool.
A gallery in the palaz zo appears more than four-times longer that its actu al
length — a per cep tion of a larg er scale which is achieved by slop ing the
floor and vary ing the height of ceil ings, col umn size and spac ing. Spec tac u -
lar as it may be, this illu sion of an enlarged space only works if the view ing
sub ject is stand ing with in a spe cif ic opti mal view ing posi tion. Only from
that posi tion can one con jure a sub jec tive opin ion about the height and dis -
tance of the per spec ti val ly fore short ened space based on pre vi ous ly encoun -
tered sim i lar spaces and the aware ness of his or her own height and dis tance
from the implied flat com pos ite image of a view. Thus, three-dimen sion al
phys i cal space is clear ly depen dent on the con cep tion afford ed by the two-
dimen sion al image — through the con struc tion of a per spec tive view. The
human subject’s aware ness of his or her own fig ure and pro por tions gives
mea sure and ref er ence to the spa tial order – the architecture.
An exten sion of the con cep tion of spa tial order in dig i tal terms became
quick ly neces si tat ed by the advent and pop u lar i ty of video games. The
urgency of the resolv ing over laps and inter sec tions of inter act ing co-play ers
neces si tat ed an order of dig i tal spa tial i ty. Geo met ri cal pro jec tion-based visu -
al rep re sen ta tion of dig i tal ly defined and ideat ed space opened the pos si bil i -
ty to imag ine inter ac tion with in a dig i tal ly invent ed space, as if it were an
opti cal illu sion of anoth er world. The resound ing expan sion of dig i tal worlds
through online gam ing came short ly after the online game World of War craft
was intro duced in 2004 ; the pop u la tion of active pay ing sub scribers quick ly
reached twelve mil lion play ers. What hap pened in the ear ly 2000s, and over -
whelm ing ly so in 2004 with the launch of World of War craft, is that online
com mu ni ca tion — for busi ness or leisure — evolved into an idea of space
due to the per sis ten cy of the gam ing dig i tal sub ject which con tin ues to exist,
and be seen by oth er logged-in play ers, after the subject’s human play er is
no longer con nect ed to the dig i tal world.
Even if dig i tal ly defined space were to be accept ed as spa tial by its the -
o ret i cal def i n i tion though math e mat i cal coor di nates, the human sub ject
could only be imag ined with in this Carte sian space through math e mat i cal
def i n i tion of vir tu al i ty— as a Vir tu vian Man. This Vir tu vian Man — not
a mis spelling but rather a vir tu al ren di tion of Leonardo’s Vit ru vian Man, has
been known by a few names already — an avatar, a char[acter], an emo ji con,
recent ly and most over whelm ing ly: a skin. What makes the Vir tu vian sub -
ject, and his or her cor re spond ing dig i tal envi ron ment equiv a lent ly anthro -
pocen tric — or avataro cen tric — is that this sub ject is inscribed in math em-
5
6
7
Ralitza PetitArchitecture and Irony
4
4 Bitmoji avatars positioned geographically and
their Snapchat appearance modified accordingly
to reflect a solar eclipse in 2017. Image: Alex
Heath/Business Insider/Snapchat.
8 The overt ly pop u lar social app Snapchat main ‐
tains a bit mo ji (avatar) con tin u ous ly and ref ‐
er ences the real geo graph i cal loca tion of the
human sub ject asso ci at ed with the bitmoji.
AI: Peter Pan’s Runaway Shadow, Digital Twins
and an Intelligently Artificial Architecture of Irony 197
at i cal ly mea sured terms, algo rith mi cal ly defined and geo met ri cal ly rep re -
sent ed by coor di nate-based terms in exact ly the same way as the
environment’s archi tec ture. Gam ing engines, i.e. cod ed com put er soft ware,
often with the use of AI, in effect define Carte sian coor di nates and then con -
tin u ous ly check the verac i ty of this alge bra ic con struc tion by con vert ing
(trans lat ing) the coor di nates into a two-dimen sion al rep re sen ta tion of per -
spec ti val pro jec tion which in turn is under stood by the human eye as spatial.
While phys i cal archi tec tur al order can be per ceived and under stood
through a flat two-dimen sion al rep re sen ta tion there of, for exam ple through
per spec tive of a sim i lar pre vi ous ly encoun tered pro jec tion as is the case in
Palaz zo Spa da, the dig i tal def i n i tion of space is already three-dimen sion al ly
con ceived. In oth er words, dig i tal space’s only mode of exis tence is in the
form of math e mat i cal ly for mu lat ed coor di nates — that is, its con cep tion is
already three-dimen sion al by def i n i tion and two-dimen sion al pro jec tive rep -
re sen ta tions on screens or VR devices are only a sec ondary rep re sen ta tion,
how ev er indis pens able in  “access ing” the real i ty of dig i tal space.
Hence, geom e try, and par tic u lar ly per spec tive, becomes the basis of the
spa tial com pre hen sion which gives the pos si bil i ty of con cep tu al iza tion of
alge braical ly defined objects in much the same way that the mech a nism of
real space per cep tion is explained as an opti cal geo met ri cal sketch of how
the brain inter prets the infor ma tion cap tured by the eyes. In oth er words, the
vir tu al gam ing space is actu al ly three-dimen sion al by def i n i tion since it
exists only as a con cept defined through three dimen sion al coor di nates.
Under stand ing and access ing this sci en tif i cal ly described three-dimen sion al -
i ty, how ev er, neces si tates a two-dimen sion al pro jec tion, con struct ed using
the same rules as if it were show ing phys i cal archi tec tur al space. The Vir tu -
vian and Vit ru vian sub jects, the skin and the human impose ref er enc ing con -
trol on their respec tive envi ron ments through the rules of pro jec tive geom e -
try and with the premise of a subject’s scale and proportions.
The World of War craft char ac ter remained in that  “world,” it also did
not dis ap pear upon a player’s exit from the game. How ev er, with the pro lif -
er a tion of gam ing worlds, a human could define mul ti ple char ac ters as mul ti -
ple iter a tions and repli ca tions of a dig i tal sub ject. More over, many of these
char ac ters can exist in more than one dig i tal world. The char ac ter can fur ther
assume aspects of the appear ance of their human and as alter-egos in the
form of dig i tal fig urines; the char ac ters can start to inhab it maps cor re spond -
ing to real loca tions.  AI-gen er at ed alter ations to the rep re sen ta tions of the
fig urines adapt their appear ance to reflect a real location’s speci fici ty. These
adjust ments to rep re sen ta tion are often inde pen dent of the subject’s per cep -
tion but in direct response to the object of the dig i tal ly mea sured
environment.
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Ralitza PetitArchitecture and Irony
9 “The term  ‘sand box’ is apt ly derived from the
con cept of a child’s sandbox—a play area
where kids can build, destroy, and exper i ment
with out caus ing any real-world dam age. Sim i ‐
lar ly, a dig i tal sand box allows exper i men ta tion
and test ing with out reper cus sions out side its
con fined space.” via Proof point cyber secu ri ty
indus try leader. 10 Game Devel op er (online pub li ca tion on gam ‐
ing) report ing on Will Wright’s talk in Van cou ‐
ver (June 9, 2008).
AI: Peter Pan’s Runaway Shadow, Digital Twins
and an Intelligently Artificial Architecture of Irony 199
The absorp tion of real humans into rep re sen ta tions, via dig i tal ly mea sured
rela tion ships to the envi ron ment — such as loca tion, speed, prox im i ties,
frequency—has coin cid ed with the rel a tive loss of inter est in tra di tion al
games — those with a pre de ter mined quest to be ful filled or a score to be
bet tered. The online games of the 2020s have moved away from the quest
sce nar ios in favor of open-end ed worlds. Pop u lar titles, such as Fort nite,
Minecraft and Roblox, which play out in open worlds, fall into a new cat e go -
ry of  “sand box games” to sig ni fy both the absence of a pre ex ist ing goal and
the pos si bil i ty of mod i fy ing the envi ron ment.  “The term  “sand box” is apt ly
derived from the con cept of a child's sandbox—a play area where kids can
build, destroy, and exper i ment with out caus ing any real-world dam age. Sim i -
lar ly, a dig i tal sand box allows exper i men ta tion and test ing with out reper cus -
sions out side its con fined space.”
In 2008, the cre ator of TheS ims game—one of the two games that start -
ed the sand box genre—Will Wright dis cussed gam ing as a way to define  
“pos si bil i ty space, build mod els of expe ri ences, and col lect ref er ence knowl -
edge called  'schema' that bet ter enable us to suc cess ful ly nav i gate through
our real i ty.”
The subject’s engage ment with a sand box environment’s object is
simul ta ne ous ly lim it ed by the clear bound ary of what con sti tutes the box, i.e.
dig i tal pro jec tive rep re sen ta tion, but also freed by the count less mul ti tude of
dig i tal objects to be cre at ed in the sand — dig i tal ly alge braical ly defined
objects that can be per spec ti val ly pro ject ed like the sub ject. The verac i ty of
rep re sen ta tion and cred i bil i ty of per sis tence of the dig i tal ly described sub ject
is made pos si ble through the geo met ri cal pro jec tion and shared time dura -
tion. In oth er words: the human sub ject is repli cat ed into a sub ject who is
math e mat i cal ly defined in time. The repli cate is fur ther kept into exis tence
and con tin u ous, often autonomous, evo lu tion by the many ver sions (var i ous
worlds) of an inter con nect ed dig i tal envi ron ment, con tin u ous ly rede fined
into per sis tence. Some of these open dig i tal worlds are refer ring to geo -
graph i cal ly deter mined loca tions, i.e., phys i cal places on Earth that have
been dig i tal ly pro ject ed as to become acces si ble to the dig i tal subject.
Grad u al ly, with the aban don ment of the demand for a quest and the
adop tion of the open world sand box mod el on the one hand, and the nat u ral -
iza tion of skins into social media inter ac tions — com plete with the geo -
graph i cal posi tion ing of the skin, also called a bit mo ji, dig i tal rep re sen ta tion
has trans formed into open mul ti pli ca tion in the cre ation of a dig i tal enti ty,
a subject-skin.
The dig i tal sub ject was con ceived in a mode of avataro cen tric con trol
of the dig i tal spa tial i ty through the reliance on pro jec tive two-dimen sion al
rep re sen ta tions, such as per spec tive. With the dig i tal subject’s con tin ued
9
10
Ralitza PetitArchitecture and Irony
11 A relat ed sociological/philosophical study on
the ques tion of iden ti ty in the age of social
media was devel oped by Sher ry Turkle. That
study ques tions the idea of self from a Lacan ‐
ian premise. Turkle,  "Who Am We?," 148–152.
AI: Peter Pan’s Runaway Shadow, Digital Twins
and an Intelligently Artificial Architecture of Irony 201
repli ca tion, or spawn ing, to use the gam ing term, and the mul ti ple entries
into dig i tal iza tions, and marked pro lif er a tion of dig i tal two-dimen sion al rep -
re sen ta tions of phys i cal envi ron ment — tracked and pieced togeth er through
the many games and dig i tal medias that are con nect ed — the def i n i tion of
the sub ject has become less pre cise. While visu al rep re sen ta tion of the sub -
ject, through pro jec tion such as per spec tive, was intend ed to con cep tu al ize
dig i tal inter ac tions as tak ing place in visu al ized space, over whelm ing dig i tal
rep re sen ta tion of phys i cal space has allowed the dig i tal sub ject to be scat -
tered across phys i cal and dig i tal, lead ing to an ambigu ous iron ic posi tion ing
of the sub ject in rela tion to phys i cal or dig i tal space.  The human sub ject
under went a com plete re-def i n i tion to be  “spawned” in the form of an avatar
— entire ly in dig i tal terms. Sub se quent ly, the semi-autonomous dig i tal repli -
cas, the bit mo ji sub jects re-entered the phys i cal world through actu al geo -
graph i cal posi tion ing ref er enced from the phys i cal world. Mean while, the
phys i cal, solid ly built, environment’s response to dig i tal iza tion has been to
either exist entire ly as a dig i tal mod el rep re sent ed sim i lar ly to the sub ject, or
alter na tive ly — to incor po rate some elec tron ic means of ref er enc ing the
phys i cal object, some dig i tal con nec tiv i ty as a com mon ref er ence system. 
The fist appli ance pur port ed to have been con nect ed to the inter net
(called ARPANET at the time) was a Coca-Cola vend ing machine locat ed in
a build ing on Carnegie-Mel lon University’s cam pus — at some time dur ing
1982. As the sto ry goes, a grad u ate stu dent unnerved by the vend ing
machine’s loca tion four min utes away from his office, and its irreg u lar
stock ing, devised a way of check ing on the avail abil i ty of drinks with out
mak ing the walk to the machine. After some cre ative wiring of the indi ca tor
lights and some pro gram ming, the com put er sci ence depart ment fel low stu -
dents were able to check the sta tus of the vend ing machine from their
respec tive com put ers. From the point of view of these stu dents that sure ly
appeared as a case of sub ject ref er enc ing object, a human sub ject describ ing,
defin ing and ulti mate ly con trol ling the inan i mate object. Con sid er ing the
man ner of ref er ence, how ev er, the vend ing machine had to  ‘com mu ni cate’
with the inter net by send ing the same kind of sig nals, or pack ets, in the same
for mat, or pro to cols, as the human stu dents did while exchang ing thoughts
via ARPANET-sent mes sages. That is the inan i mate machine was behav ing
in a man ner iden ti cal to the live humans. The objects in human envi ron ments
able to com mu ni cate in a sim i lar way will come to be described as par tic i -
pat ing in the Inter net of Things (IoT) and by 2008–2009 close to thir teen bil -
lion such objects exist ed, which meant that more things than peo ple were
con nect ed through IoT. 
And while the Coke machine at Carnegie Mel lon may have been a sin -
gle device with a straight for ward com mu ni ca tion vocab u lary of  ‘full’ or  
11
Ralitza PetitArchitecture and Irony
12 The episode dis cussed aired in 2019. By this
date the num ber of IoT con nect ed objects has
reached 9.5 bil lion, while the entire Earth’s
pop u la tion has remained under 8 billion.
AI: Peter Pan’s Runaway Shadow, Digital Twins
and an Intelligently Artificial Architecture of Irony 203
‘emp ty’, the IoT would evolve and amass into an entire typol o gy of  ‘smart
build ings’, smooth ly allow ing for the grad ual loss of the hier ar chi cal con -
cep tion of sub ject refer ring to object, where the sub ject-object or sub ject-
envi ron ment con nec tion deeply embed ded in the cen ter of past archi tec tur al
trea tis es becomes ambigu ous: IoT allows  ‘things’ — appli ances, fur ni ture,
entire build ings and urban spaces to be inter con nect ed in a sim i lar way and
with sim i lar weight as peo ple being inter con nect ed, i.e., the inter net is an
equal iz ing inter-net where things and humans have equal ly defined access to
an equal ly shared real i ty. The con cep tu al dual i ty of coex is tent dig i tal and
phys i cal ref er ent sys tems that equal ize the descrip tion of sub ject and object
through both rep re sen ta tion sys tem (com put er gen er at ed per spec tive) and
ref er ent con nec tiv i ty sys tem (the Inter net) aims at inten tion al ambi gu i ty and
ren ders the attempt ed ambi gu i ty iron ic and the sub ject-object phys i cal ly and
dig i tal ly ref er enced rela tion ships as exist ing in par al lel rather than in a com -
pli men ta ry or equiv a lent way.
For exam ple, lest this loss of direc tion al i ty or weight in the sub ject-
object rela tion ship remains lost on archi tec ture, a pop u lar sit com cap i tal ized
on the comedic aspects of a now com mon place sit u a tion — con vers ing with
a refrig er a tor. A high ly dis cussed episode of the sit com  “Mod ern Fam i ly”
showed one of its main char ac ters, Cameron, lit er al ly singing a duet with his
smart fridge (named Brigette) — a sit u a tion fol lowed by an infu ri at ed part -
ner, Mitchell, final ly resort ing to unplug ging of the intel li gent appli ance in
a jeal ous fit of com pe ti tion with the afore men tioned device. The mem o rable
scene is an instance of the con trari ness of this rela tion ship in a build ing to
a sub ject-object rela tion ship con struct ed through the com mand ing gaze of
the human sub ject, as in the per spec tive-derived anthro pocen tric tra di tion of
archi tec ture, or in the orthog o nal ly derived jux ta po si tion and clear dif fer en ti -
a tion (but not mutu al nega tion) of the mod ernist sub ject-object relationship.
Sim i lar ly, a scene in the ani mat ed film The Mitchells against the
Machines alludes to the con cept of the inver sion of object and sub ject. The
oper at ing sys tem of what appears to be every con sumer object imag in able
has gone rogue and turned preda to ry towards humans. Toys, toast ers, laun -
dry machines, refrig er a tors, devices of any kind have come to  “life” and the
live humans are in the cen ter. While the premise of the film focus es on the
con trol and pow er of an oper at ing sys tem, the image of cen tral i ty alludes to
the repo si tion ing of the sub ject in an observed spot. The sub ject is not pro -
ject ing the gaze, the sub ject is being objec ti fied, it is being stud ied, mea -
sured, con tained. The for mer objects, on the oth er hand, are final ly orbit ing
around the stud ied humans — in a ref er ence to dig i tal mod el ing and dig i tal
twin ning, the human sub jects are dig i tal ly repo si tioned in the focus of
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5
5 Apollo Mission Simulator. Image: NASA.
13 Fer gu son,  “Apol lo 13: the first dig i tal twin.”
The con di tions for a sim u la tor to be con sid ‐
ered a dig i tal twin are list ed by Siemens (the
pro duc er of the light ing ele ments in the Apol ‐
lo 13 air craft). While unlike con tem po rary dig i ‐
tal twin which rely on IoT, the air craft was in
con stant con tact with the mis sion cen ter in
Texas through  “two-way data transfers.”
AI: Peter Pan’s Runaway Shadow, Digital Twins
and an Intelligently Artificial Architecture of Irony 205
a con trol ling omni view of objec ti fy ing data col lec tion devices and revealed
as a twin mod el to be destroyed and reconfigured. 
Final ly, the premise of the IoT rests with an idea of geo met ri cal rep re -
sen ta tion of the Things con nect ed, regard less of the para me ters report ed, as
it is the per cep tion of the Thing’s pres ence that is being man i fest ed to the
subject’s self-loca tion on the out side of the object, i.e., mea sured para me ters
are being trans mit ted to the Inter net in order to ascer tain their vis i bil i ty in
con nec tion to a human sub ject vis i ble to a shared inter net, as a sys tem of
geo met ri cal projection.
The rep re sen ta tion of a phys i cal envi ron ment, the archi tec tur al object,
becomes indis pens able for the object of architecture’s entry into a rela tion -
ship to the dig i tal sub ject. Enter the con cept of the Dig i tal Twin.
A dig i tal twin was first intend ed as an insur ance pol i cy for an object
in crisis.
Build ing phys i cal mod els of var i ous scales is not a nov el design prac -
tice. The use of such mod els is uni di rec tion al — from mod el object to real
object — and any change in a rep re sen ta tion al mod el is ini ti at ed from out -
side the object and actu at ed uni di rec tion al ly towards the even tu al real design
prod uct. The orig i nal and the copy are clear ly defined, where as the mod el,
even if his tor i cal ly pre ced ing the real, is con sid ered a repli ca. More over, the
uni di rec tion al con nec tion is main tained only for the dura tion of the design
process. A dig i tal twin is con cep tu al ized in an entire ly dif fer ent way, made
evi dent by the adopt ed term. Twins are not repli cas; one twin may be iden ti -
cal to anoth er but nei ther one is the copy, nor is either one an orig i nal. Twins
are their own selves. Con sid er ing a phys i cal and a dig i tal enti ty as twins
assumes their equivalency.
While the actu al term dig i tal twin came in use in prac tice through
a NASA report from 2010, the con cept has been deployed by astro nauts for
at least the past fifty years. The dig i tal twin’s use ful ness, how ev er, was high -
light ed dur ing the nar row avert ing of dis as ter dur ing the Apol lo 13 mis sion.
The char ac ter is tics of the sim u la tors of the air craft mod ules, which qual i fied
these par tic u lar sim u la tors as the first dig i tal twins are as fol lows: the phys i -
cal object twinned is out of reach (for exam ple in out er space, but can also
be oth er wise inac ces si ble) but also con tin u ous ly con nect ed.  Fur ther, dig i -
tal twins are adapt able and respon sive to which two char ac ter is tics are rel a -
tive ly easy to achieve in a dig i tal mod el; the lunar aircraft’s more than
a dozen mod els and sim u la tors were phys i cal ly changed and re-engi neered
mul ti ple times dur ing the three day dura tion of the crisis.
While a sequen tial record of the events is fea si ble, it was the pos si bil i ty
to main tain a con tin u ous two-way con nec tion between an aircraft’s changes
far away in space and the mul ti ple re-engi neered respons es of the for mer
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AI: Peter Pan’s Runaway Shadow, Digital Twins
and an Intelligently Artificial Architecture of Irony 207
dupli cates housed in a build ing in Texas, on Earth, that makes the dupli cates
for mat of exis tence com pa ra ble to dig i tal twin ning. The remote con nec tion
between air craft and con trol cen ter required both devices and cod ing to
make the con tin u ous re-ref er enc ing pos si ble — dig i tal twins con struct a rela -
tion ship as an enti ty in itself; fur ther, the object of the link as a per sist ing
ele ment becomes essen tial for the con tin u ous intel li gent (AI) exis tence of
both the dig i tal twin and the twinned real i ty. If indeed, it was a Coca-Cola
vend ing machine that intro duced the IoT, it is not sur pris ing then that the
pos si bil i ty to con cep tu al ize a link as an enti ty, a func tion, a ser vice such as
vend ing, out side of both sub ject and object, that would allow the IoT to
facil i tate dig i tal twinning. 
Since the con nec tion between phys i cal and dig i tal twins does not need
to be rigid ly pre de ter mined, it is a con nec tion that is based on learn ing
between the two enti ties in what would be described as arti fi cial ly intel li gent
way of obser va tion, how ev er lim it ed or expand ed the sim i lar sit u a tions
could be found. A smart build ing, like the Edge, then is per form ing sim i lar ly
to sand box online game, like Fort nite. Both the build ing and the game claim
as their main pur pose accom mo dat ing peo ple, for work or enter tain ment,
both claim inge nu ity and inno va tion based on a sim i lar dig i tal sys tem of
geo met ri cal pro jec tion as a twin ing rela tion ship and math e mat i cal posi tion -
ing. Archi tec tur al exper i men ta tion in the ear ly 2000s relied heav i ly on the
use of sen sors to pro voke spon ta neous respon sive change in build ings.
Build ing ele ments con nect ed to a par tic u lar mon i tor ing sen sor per formed
a func tion pre de ter mined by the algo rithm embed ded in that sys tem — most
often the actu at ed alter ations con cerned the actu al geom e try of the build ing
in ques tion. It was only through the use of sen sors through AI-pow ered twin -
ning that alter ations did not need to be actu at ed: an action became based on
sim i lar sit u a tions. Most impor tant ly, and most iron i cal ly, in both the build ing
and the game, func tion al i ty of the work place or the gam ing expe ri ence is
not com pro mised vast ly because of the indi vid ual com pli ance of par tic i pa -
tion — whether an employ ee opts out of track ing or a gamer takes a break —
the building/gaming place per se vere in phys i cal i ty and as dig i tal twins, and
the miss ing par tic i pants in work/game are smoothened over by the best guess
of the dig i tal intel li gent ly gen er at ed com pen sa tion. Iron i cal ly, this flex i ble
inde ter mi na cy is achieved by the fastest and most pre cise of con tem po rary
tools — the arti fi cial ly intel li gent ones.
Non-iron ic archi tec ture, on the oth er hand, is an object of deter mi na cy
and cer ti tude; it is the antithe sis of an object in cri sis — it solemn ly
acknowl edges its own heav i ness rather than hide or ques tion it. Non-iron ic
archi tec ture is mon u men tal, it echoes and reflects a sub jec tive pres ence
with out re-instan ti at ing it — instead of repli cat ing, it reaf firms. Light and
Ralitza PetitArchitecture and Irony
6
6 Vintage illustration of Peter Pan Story - Wendy
Sewing on Peter's Shadow. Image: Michelle
Bridges / Alamy Stock Photo
14 Unwin, Shad ow. The archi tec tur al pow er of
with hold ing light, Rout ledge 2020. As an
acknowl edged mas ter of shad ow, Louis Kahn
has been known to pro nounce  “Our work is
of shadow.”
AI: Peter Pan’s Runaway Shadow, Digital Twins
and an Intelligently Artificial Architecture of Irony 209
shad ow in such mon u men tal archi tec ture become the mea sure ment and val i -
da tion of pres ence and solid i ty. The human sub ject in the con text of mon u -
men tal archi tec ture, for exam ple in a Louis Kahn build ing, is ground ed; his
or her shad ow stretch ing across the sur faces and fol low ing the out lines of
heavy archi tec tur al form. Anal o gous ly to an avatar estab lish ing ref er ence
mea sure in gam ing space, rely ing on the assump tion of a player’s knowl edge
of per spec tive of one’s own dimen sions. A Kahn ian shad ow  estab lish es the
bound ary and ref er ence between human and archi tec ture through the explic it
pro jec tion of shad ows on the solid i ty of a build ing. In both cas es, the pro jec -
tive mech a nisms are used to recon firm cred i bil i ty and stability. 
Shad ows have been used to indi cate the pass ing of time, they have also
been cul ti vat ed to artic u late space through dis tance, scale and form and to
sharp en and inten si fy atmos pheres of place. There is also a par tic u lar case of
a shad ow in cri sis and the ensu ing iron ic read ing of a spa tial sub ject-object
rela tion ship as seen with the fic tion al per sona of Peter Pan, espe cial ly in the
lat ter one’s capac i ty as an antecedent of the avatar in dig i tal space. 
First intro duced in 1902 by the Scot tish nov el ist and play wright J. M.
Bar rie, Peter Pan is most famous ly endowed with eter nal youth and an abil i -
ty to fly. While per pet u al child hood has been dis cussed at length in lit er ary,
psy cho log i cal and philo soph i cal stud ies, it is the abil i ty to fly that sets Peter
Pan’s pres ence inside a house that is at odds with the house’s inhab i tants.
Build ings being ground ed, and archi tec ture con cep tu al ized through the expe -
ri ence of a sim i lar ly ground ed human sub ject, Peter’s inde pen dence from
grav i ty dur ing inter ac tions with oth er chil dren in the house dis places the sta -
bil i ty of the sub ject-object rela tion ship. The shad ow of the fly ing child is
expect ed ly dis con nect ed from his body — while in flight. It stands as a ref -
er ence to the sur round ing space and a mark er of the solid i ty of the walls and
the dis tance between the body and the envi ron ment the length between sub -
ject and object. The nat u ral ness of a body-shad ow con nec tion, how ev er, is
over turned when Peter touch es the floor, a chair or a win dowsill while his
shad ow does not con nect to his body and alludes to a dis em bod ied expe ri -
ence — a detach ment of the sub ject ref er ence mark er to the object. The con -
tin ued pres ence of a shad ow, nonethe less, attempts to estab lish this mark er
of the sub ject as an enti ty in and of itself — while the idea of a sub ject with -
out a vis i ble ref er ence to the object, a crea ture with out a shad ow is not nov el
—- Bar rie must have been well-versed in his native Celtic lore describ ing
demons as crea tures with out a shad ow, or a reflec tion for that mat ter, as an
allu sion that those non-cor po re al beings might exist only with in the mind of
the behold er. Return ing to an avatar’s reliance on per spec tive as a tool in
ascrib ing sub jec tiv i ty to the dig i tal object by sim u lat ing Borromini’s tech -
nique of immer sion, it is note wor thy that the rela tion ship between Peter Pan
14
Ralitza PetitArchitecture and Irony
15 Bar rie, Peter Pan and Wendy,
Hodder&Stoughton, UK, 1911. Bold face type is
added to high light references.
AI: Peter Pan’s Runaway Shadow, Digital Twins
and an Intelligently Artificial Architecture of Irony 211
and his shad ow only enters the realm of irony by virtue of that ref er en tial
object momen tar i ly tak ing the subject’s role and space — thus allow ing for
the shad ow to become both a mea sure of space and a cre ator of an alter na -
tive space — a dig i tal twin so to speak. Curi ous ly, the excerpt intro duc ing
the free will of Peter Pan’s shad ow reas sures of its  “nor mal i ty” as a mere
pro jec tion and simul ta ne ous ly nor mal izes the pos si bil i ty of relat ing to that
pro jec tion as a phys i cal enti ty in its own right — the shad ow can be  “fold ed”
and  “put away in a drawer”:
“…You may be sure Mrs. Darling examined the shadow carefully, but it
was quite the ordinary kind.
…She decided to roll the shadow up and put it away carefully in a
drawer.”
“If he thought at all, but I don’t believe he ever thought, it was that he
and his shadow, when brought near each other, would join like drops of
water, and when they did not he was appalled. He tried to stick it on
with soap from the bathroom, but that also failed.
…[after the shadow has been sewn to the soles of Peter Pan’s shoes]…
And he clenched his teeth and did not cry, and soon his shadow was
behaving properly, though still a little creased.”
The inde pen dent move ment of a shad ow which is both made acces si ble to
per cep tion by adher ing to build ing sur faces and inac ces si ble by defy ing the
geo met ri cal prin ci ple of light pro jec tion as well as gravity’s force on the
sub ject cast ing the shad ow. The run away state of Peter Pan’s shad ow con -
jures up alter na tive modes of inhab it ing archi tec ture, as well as alter na tive
ways of sub ject projection.
In Peter Pan’s case, the mark er of body in space appears to be only tem -
porar i ly detach able, fold able and even trap pable. The shad ow, as a pure sig -
ni fi ca tion of a rela tion ship between a sub ject and an object, is behav ing as
an enti ty which alter nates between ref er enc ing the space and ref er enc ing the
sub ject, or behav ing as a copy and behav ing as an inde pen dent run away sub -
ject. The iden ti fi ca tion of a rela tion ship between a sub ject and an object as
an enti ty allows the con struc tive use of iron ic ten sion between inten tion and
real i ty. Iden ti fy ing this rela tion ship as an enti ty out side the sub ject or the
object defines an entry into the con cept of the dig i tal twin.
While the sim u la tors at hand dur ing the Apol lo 13 cri sis can be ret ro -
spec tive ly the o rized as dig i tal twins, it was only in 2010 that the idea took
shape and was named. Dur ing a Uni ver si ty of Michi gan con fer ence, the
NASA sci en tist John Vick ers pre sent ed a  “Tech nol o gy Roadmap” that would
15
Ralitza PetitArchitecture and Irony
16 LAIIER inc,  “What is a Smart Build ing,” Sep ‐
tem ber 2022. http://blog.laiier.io/what-is-a-s
mart-building-the-edge-amsterdam
AI: Peter Pan’s Runaway Shadow, Digital Twins
and an Intelligently Artificial Architecture of Irony 213
intro duce the idea and imple men ta tion of some thing called a dig i tal twin. In
that report, Vick ers defines the con cept as  “a set of vir tu al infor ma tion con -
structs that ful ly describe a poten tial or actu al phys i cal man u fac tured prod -
uct from the micro atom ic lev el to the macro geo met ri cal lev el”. Dig i tal
mod els had exist ed for sev er al decades before 2010. What dif fers in the con -
cept of a dig i tal twin’s imple men ta tion is the third com po nent: orig i nal,
copy, and link. The link between the phys i cal and the dig i tal twins is con tin -
u ous ly main tained and, more over, it is a two-way link that per mits the dig i tal
twin to actu ate changes in the phys i cal one. Most of the time this link is cre -
at ed as an AI entity.
Return ing to the exam ple of The Edge Ams ter dam to re-exam ine the
sub ject-object rela tion ship in the con text of dig i tal twins. 
“[The Edge Amsterdam] uses machine learning algorithms [i.e. A.I.]
that are focused on optimizing not only for energy consumption and
performance but also for user comfort and productivity. The building us
es only about 30% of the energy of a conventional office building of the
same size. The network measures and manages a range of things that
affect people’s comfort in the space: lighting, temperature, C02 levels,
and humidity.
The Edge also employs an app as part of its IoT network: through
their phones, workers can find parking spaces, open desks, report issues
to facilities management, and see their own energy consumption while
within the building.”
As dis cussed, the Edge sen sors con tin u ous ly mea sure and mon i tor any para -
me ter prone to change — tem per a ture, humid i ty, occu pan cy, light, air flow,
water usage and local cli mate con di tions, func tion al i ty, paper stock in print -
ers and even the readi ness of cof fee machines and assign ments of desks
while the occu pants are free to move around and change their work day spot
with the help of a ded i cat ed tele phone app:
“The Edge has unparalleled vision into the behavior of its inhabitants
and an artificial intelligence-like ability to provide them whatever is
needed when it is needed. For instance, The Edge uses a mobile app to
track when an employee leaves their house to go to work so when they
arrive it can direct them into an open parking spot. It also sees when
fewer employees are expected in certain areas of the building so
sections can be shut down if deemed not in use, cutting lighting and
heating costs. At every location the building will adjust lighting and
temperature to an individual’s preference. For example, if someone is
16
Ralitza PetitArchitecture and Irony
17 Tra cy,  “Meet the world’s most intel li gent
smart build ing: The Edge in Ams ter dam,” RCR
Wire less News, Novem ber 10, 2016.
18 Julia,  “The Edge, Ams ter dam: show cas ing an
Exem plary IoT Build ing,” Dept of Archi tec ture,
Uni ver si ty of Cam bridge, 2018.
19 Idem.
AI: Peter Pan’s Runaway Shadow, Digital Twins
and an Intelligently Artificial Architecture of Irony 215
more sensitive to bright lighting, The Edge can dim the lights to a
predetermined point the moment they enter a new location.”
The rela tion ship between build ing and occu pants, object and sub ject, is
designed to achieve extreme pre ci sion of coor di na tion by repli cat ing phys i -
cal real i ty into a dig i tal ly defined  “iden ti cal mod el”, a Dig i tal Twin; the
impos si bil i ty of a pre cise rela tion ship or an accu rate repli ca tion becomes
clear when occu pan cy pro duces iron ic inco heren cies: to facil i tate the link
between build ing and dig i tal twin, the building’s client and main ten ant,
Deloitte Nether lands, dis trib uted smart phones with a pre-installed Mapiq
app to all employ ees. The ded i cat ed app can be used before any activ i ty is
under tak en — apart from find ing a suit able work day spot, it can also locate
col leagues, read a meeting’s loca tion from one’s online cal en dar and sug gest
the route to that loca tion, check the sched ule of trains for after the meet ing,
track progress in the on-site gym, order food and oth er wise con tin u ous ly
micro-coor di nate life in the build ing for over 2800 employ ees. Rather than
archi tec ture reveal ing and order ing the space of the human sub ject, the
move ment and the view of the lat ter are engaged and guid ed through a dig i -
tal device sys tem that ref er ences the build ing and the humans in a delib er ate -
ly non-archi tec tur al man ner. Accord ing to a case study pro duced by
researchers from the Archi tec ture Depart ment at the Uni ver si ty of Cam -
bridge,  not every thing in the build ing can func tion by sen sor com mand
alone. The clash between the intend ed effect of opti mal occu pan cy — dig i -
tal ly defined and opti mized by AI learn ing from exist ing data bas es of build -
ing usage — and the real i ty of spon ta neous humans at work can be described
in iron ic terms. For exam ple, since the exist ing num ber of desks avail able to
be assigned with in the build ing are only half of the num ber of employ ees —
pre sum ing meet ings, home-office days, vaca tions, etc. — some days, most
often Fri days, the mass of  “sur plus” employ ees arrive look ing for a desk
only to find them selves crowd ed in non-work ing areas like the cafe, gym,
and lob by. While the full con vivial cafes might enhance the expe ri ence of
the build ing, the unin tend ed dis tri b u tion is clear ly at odds with the pre cise ly
mon i tored opti mized spaces exact ly because of the pre ci sion of the intend ed
occu pa tion. More over, in anoth er prob lem in this com plex orches tra tion of
archi tec tur al expe ri ences through dig i tal devices is that the sen sors embed -
ded in the build ing can only com mu ni cate with  ‘will ing’ smart phones;  
“Deloitte’s employ ees can select, and often do, to not be tracked by their
Mapiq apps.”  Con se quent ly, the respon sive fea tures of the build ing are not
able to be accu rate ly adjust ed to the real i ty of phys i cal humans. Iron i cal ly,
the per cep tion of dig i tal mark ers that the build ing seeks would be most accu -
rate at the times when the build ing is entire ly emp ty as track ing non com plia-
17
18
19
Ralitza PetitArchitecture and Irony
20 Idem.
AI: Peter Pan’s Runaway Shadow, Digital Twins
and an Intelligently Artificial Architecture of Irony 217
nce would be the o ret i cal ly impos si ble only at those times. The phys i cal and
the dig i tal real i ties, the build ing and its dig i tal twin, bypass each oth er even
if con ceived and con cep tu al ized as identical.
Dig i tal iza tion has allowed repli ca tion process es to achieve a speed and
accu ra cy unat tain able in pre vi ous times. The change of ter mi nol o gy from
repli ca tion to twin ning,” how ev er, is not a casu al one. The dig i tal copies are
likened to iden ti cal twins inas much as these become enti ties of their own —
the phys i cal orig i nal and the dig i tal equiv a lent. Unlike iden ti cal copies of the
indus tri al age, dig i tal copies are iden ti cal only in def i n i tion and not in mate r -
i al com po si tion. The pre ci sion of repli ca tion is greater but the copies are
enti ties of their own exist ing only through math e mat ics and per ceiv able only
through geom e try. It is then nat ur al that AI meth ods would attempt to lose
the cir cle of repli ca tion and base fur ther math e mat i cal def i n i tion, i.e., fur ther
enti ty cre ation, on the basis of per cep ti ble visu al iza tion only — the AI
approach is not unlike a pro jec tive geom e try sys tem. Yet, per spec tive and
axonom e try assumed either a sin gle, mono vision con struc tion of per spec -
tives space with a sin gle point focus or the omni vision par al lel pro jec tion of
axono met ri cal space with a focus on infin i ty. AI pro jec tion foci are dis persed
and mul ti plic i tous, but definable. 
The process of cre at ing dig i tal copies of the envi ron ment, i.e. to
objects, extends to defin ing dig i tal copies of humans. Many copies. Both
sub jects and objects are twinned, dupli cat ed and inter linked through mul ti -
tudes of sen sors and algo rithms. Unlike the IoT which equal izes sub jects and
objects through attribut ing  “smart ness” by a process of access and con nec -
tion, dig i tal twin ning equal izes by attribut ing intel li gence by a process of
ref er enc ing, con trol ling, adjust ing, cor rect ing and mon i tor ing any poten tial
dif fer ence. Con tin u ous ly. The Edge Ams ter dam is tout ed as the world’s
smartest and most intel li gent build ing in part thanks to its more than twen ty-
eight thou sand sen sors con trol ling the capac i ty of rooms, tables, park ing
spots, bath room usage and clean ing staff, occu pants’ loca tion and per son al
habits down to indi vid ual humid i ty pref er ences, solar ener gy usage among
oth er con trolled val ues. Per fect twin ning of all imag in able cri te ria is the
ambi tion. The emer gent actu al dis par i ty between twins and dupli ca tion
process es, espe cial ly the dis par i ty between intent and result as in irony,
occurs when the indi vid u als sup posed to be observed and tracked in order to
enhance the occu pied build ing by lit er al ly becom ing a part of a sym bi ot ic
organ ism refuse to adhere or par tic i pate . Hence, smart build ings can open
to con struc tive ly actu at ed jux ta po si tions of the scat tered sub ject to the archi -
tec tur al envi ron ment, the iron ic rela tion ships of sim u lat ed dis creet ness or
incom plete ness of a sub ject to a sim i lar ly uneven ly defined environment.
20
Ralitza PetitArchitecture and Irony
21 The excla ma tion belongs to Cedric Price,
made dur ing a lec ture in 1966. Cedric. Tech ‐
nol o gy is the answer, but what was the ques ‐
tion?. (Lon don: Pid geon Audio Visu al, 1979).
22 “Hype cycle for gen er a tive AI,” Gart ner
Research, Sep tem ber 11, 2023. The Gart ner
hype curve for AI in 2023 shows gen er a tive AI
at the peak of what is known as inflat ed
expec ta tions, where as AI areas like  “anno ta ‐
tion” and  “com put er vision” are approach ing
the plateau of productivity.
AI: Peter Pan’s Runaway Shadow, Digital Twins
and an Intelligently Artificial Architecture of Irony 219
With the con cep tion and actu al iza tion of  “reals” as human sub jects and  
“copies” as inan i mate dig i tal sub jects in inter ac tion, suc ceed ed by things and
beings inter act ing over the IoT—which hap pens to also be the Inter net of
humans—thus ani mate and inan i mate inter net-con nectees are equal ly dig i -
tized, the equal iz ing smooth ness of AI pro lif er a tion is dif fer ent from the
scal ing of the Indus tri al Rev o lu tion, rather than being expan sive by means of
mul ti pli ca tion, the dig i tal AI rev o lu tion is den si fy ing with in cre ative bound -
aries of exist ing archi tec ture by means of proliferation.
A Pro vi sion al Con clu sion with respect to the irony in archi tects’ fear of
tech no log i cal ly anachro nis tic archi tec ture:  “Tech nol o gy is the answer but
what was the ques tion?”
If AI is used for opti miza tion in dig i tal twins, espe cial ly in large mod els
like smart build ings and smart cities, then gen er a tive AI would have to antic -
i pate rather than react and optimize.
On the back of the pre-his to ries of dig i tal twins inter con nect ed with
their orig i nals through the IoT, ambi gu i ty has befall en architecture’s form
since 2022 when Chat G PT and oth er visu al gen er a tive AI tools were intro -
duced — seem ing ly at everyone’s dis pos al. Iron i cal ly, what would nor mal ly
be data flow ing from phys i cal objects or sub jects to be used in opti miza tion
func tion al i ty test ed on dig i tal twins, has become data acces si ble  “mid -
stream” and uti lized for the free gen er a tion of not opti mized but fan ta sized
rep re sen ta tion of essen tial ly a dig i tal twin.
The avail abil i ty of eas i ly acces si ble meth ods of dig i tal visu al gen er a -
tion, even cre ation, is an avail abil i ty that has reached the top of the Gart ner
hype curve  and it appears that every aspect of life is eager to claim some
AI-ness; the speed, ease and sheer sleek ness of par tic u lar ly of AI-gen er at ed
images has been noth ing short of amaz ing. Nev er the less, it is the AI images’
two-dimen sion al nature which makes them rel e vant to archi tec ture, and it is
the arti fi cial ly or rather super fi cial ly intel li gent way of sur fac ing with
immense pre ci sion and speed, with out the help or the need of depth or even
trans la tion of any three-dimen sion al i ty defined math e mat ics as with pre vi ous
dig i tal images. AI gen er at ed images are per spec tives that are not revealed
through con struc tion, move ment that is not expressed through vec tors and
they are dis con nect ed from both sides of dig i tal twin ing from sub ject and
object to achieve ulti mate lightness.
If indeed, archi tec ture relied on the con nec tion between mind and eye
and the con cep tion of space occurred in a mechan i cal geo met ri cal man ner,
which expli cates the three-dimen sion al order onto a two-dimen sion al plane,
then com put ing is dif fer ent because dig i tal space is already three-dimen sion -
al ly rep re sent ed through coor di nates, alge braical ly rep re sent ed in matri ces.
The pos si bil i ty for a human to  “access” com pu ta tion al or alge braical ly
21
22
Ralitza PetitArchitecture and Irony
23 Tur ing,  “Com put ing Machin ery and Intel li ‐
gence,” Mind: A Quar ter ly Review of Phi los o ‐
phy, Vol ume LIX, Issue 236, pp433-460,
Oxford Uni ver si ty Press, 1950.
24 Tur ing,  'Chess (1953)', in B J Copeland (ed.),
The Essen tial Tur ing, Oxford, 2004.
AI: Peter Pan’s Runaway Shadow, Digital Twins
and an Intelligently Artificial Architecture of Irony 221
expressed space is only through a graph ic rep re sen ta tion. The appear ance of
per spec tive is, on the one hand, the men tal expec ta tion of a geo met ri cal ly
con struct ed monoc u lar per fect per spec tive and, on the oth er hand, the alge -
bra ic matrix divid ed by a z as a depth coef fi cient which pro vides a way of  
“under stand ing” and touch ing of the two conceptions.
More over, it appears that the very instan ta ne ity of tran si tion from con -
cep tu al ized respon sive archi tec ture, which con sti tut ed an archi tec tur al con -
cep tu al search for respon sive form, to a near-total aban don ment of for mal
ideation and giv ing in to the seduc tion of singing with a fridge, might have
also sus pend ed architecture’s rhetoric. Such an iron ic sus pen sion of archi tec -
ture is pre cip i tat ed and actu at ed by the dishevel ing of its subject’s integri ty
in a more pro found way than ever before — rather than a Franken stein ian
recom pos ing of the enti ty or the idea of the sub ject from parts, that sub ject
— in parts and as a whole — is simul ta ne ous ly mul ti pli cat ed and scattered. 
The sub ject is no longer observ ing but being observed while data is  
“extract ed” from the human, for mer ly act ing as a sub ject, by the object.
Each of the data extrac tions, in turn gives the pos si bil i ty of a dig i tal ly
defined sub ject — def i n i tions are mul ti plied as many times as the num ber of
data set types. The dig i tal twins of the human sub ject are mul ti pli cat ed; they
are also scat tered to respond to the tem po ral or posi tion al opti miza tions ini ti -
at ed by the dig i tal ly twinned object.
Thus, in the dig i tal era rela tion ship between sub ject and object, the
mul ti pli cat ed scat tered state of the subject(s) is being ref er enced by a mul ti -
tude of twinned objects. Such a reit er at ed sub ject-object dig i tal con tin u um is
depen dent on the opti miz ing process es of func tion al pat tern detec tion, i.e.
arti fi cial intel li gence. The equalizing—optimizing—agency of arti fi cial ly
intel li gent process es link ing twinned subject(s) and object(s) oper ate with in
a bound ary  “around” all accept able sources which are dig i tal ly ref er enced
and can be used to gen er ate new com bi na tions, AI-gen er at ed form. In the
con text of AI’s man ner of oper a tion from and with in a bound ary of pos si bil i -
ties, it is impor tant to notice here the con tri bu tion of Alan Tur ing who cre at -
ed the very con cept of arti fi cial intel li gence, or in his words, machines capa -
ble of think ing — at the time only as a the o ret i cal con jec ture. Tur ing devised
a method for ascer tain ing the intel li gence of machines, where the ulti mate
test con sist ed of the abil i ty to under stand and gen er ate human speech, the
Tur ing Test.  The test, con ceived as a play ful con ver sa tion sce nario, was
orig i nal ly called the  “imi ta tion game” in ref er ence to the com put ers’ pat tern-
based deci sion mak ing — sig nif i cant ly in the dis cus sion of a bound ary
around pos si ble data, around the same year, 1948–51, Tur ing co-pro -
grammed an exam ple of machine learn ing — Tur ochamp  which can be
con sid ered the first dig i tal game…a chess game. While the pro gram proved
23
24
Ralitza PetitArchitecture and Irony
25 A col lab with com put ing here would refer to
the embed ding of sen sor-dri ven IoT objects
are acti vat ed by AI-tooled dig i tal opti miza tion
that finds expres sion in the phys i cal i ty of the
build ing — for exam ple, by chang ing light, col ‐
or, and oth er appear ance of build ‐
ing elements.
AI: Peter Pan’s Runaway Shadow, Digital Twins
and an Intelligently Artificial Architecture of Irony 223
too com plex to be run suc cess ful ly by the com pu ta tion al devices of the time,
it is note wor thy that this ear ly form of an AI method was applied to a form
of gam ing and solu tions were sought in a finite pool of pos si ble moves,
a sand box open to inter nal pro gres sive com plex i fi ca tion.
Because the source data pos si bil i ties are finite in quan ti ty — regard less
of the vast ness of the bound aries around the avail able pool of data — an
even tu al sat u ra tion of AI derived out comes can be the o ret i cal ly reached. In
antic i pa tion of such sat u ra tion, AI process es lead to a smoothen ing of all
results and vari abil i ty being sought in  “unusu al” com bi na tions from with in.
This antic i pa to ry sat u ra tion of AI nor mal i ty appears to have been tak en up
by a cul ture of col labs — super sed ing the  “both/and” cre do of post mod -
ernism from frag ments to an amal ga ma tion of for mer ly sin gu lar enti ties —
super heroes like Bat man and Super man, Godzil la and King Kong begin to
fea ture togeth er in films, for mer fash ion adver saries like Guc ci and Balen ci -
a ga team up to rebrand in col lec tive and col lectible items. The col lab o ra tions
have even become more desir able than the  “sin gle ori gin” enti ties — accord -
ing ly, it appears that archi tec ture is steadi ly attempt ing a for mal col lab with
com put ing.
The irony of such a col lab, how ev er, is revealed as not only are the sub -
ject and object in a rela tion ship with con tin u ous ly switch ing direc tion al i ty
and ques tioned ends, but the plen ti tude of phys i cal sen sors, or AI-ready data,
which should pro duce this  “col lab” con spic u ous ly do not include any archi -
tec tur al gen er a tion sourced from intrin si cal ly archi tec tur al data and
[A]Intelligent build ings’ archi tec ture intel li gent ly con tin ues to react to the
ever sta ble  “sen sor” for grav i ty show ing 9.8m/s2 and [A]Intelligently gen er -
at ed archi tec tur al design con tin ues to be depen dent on 2D rep re sen ta tion and
geo met ri cal projection.
Final ly, the object itself, the archi tec tur al envi ron ment, which has most
recent ly been through the con se quences of rhetor i cal purifi ca tion (mod -
ernism), recom po si tion (post mod ernism), dema te ri al iza tion (para metri cism)
appears to be in a rela tion ship with a  “nat u ral ly arti fi cial” sub ject through an
AI-induced dig i tal smoothen ing. The smooth AI-gen er at ed images often
appear  “retro” and nos tal gic, as a roman tic vision of an easy life from the
past which is co-lin ear with the promised eas i ness of the present, this out -
come is a ready-for con sump tion imagery. But if irony is an act rather than
a sig nif i cance, then archi tec ture which is  “acti vat ed” through AI is about to
come into being through con struc tive irony. 
The scat tered self, mea sured and tracked, defined con tin u ous ly with
pre ci sion — not only geo met ri cal ly described but defined by mea sur able
para me ters — and the change mea sured in time is relat ed to a frag ment ed
and lay ered envi ron ment. The intel li gence of learn ing from obser va tion, as
25
Ralitza PetitArchitecture and Irony
26 In ref er ence to Plato’s alle go ry of the cave,
described in his Repub lic. Eyer,  “Trans la tion
from Plato’s Republic.”
AI: Peter Pan’s Runaway Shadow, Digital Twins
and an Intelligently Artificial Architecture of Irony 225
opposed to expe ri ence, is only as thor ough as the view, hence the visu al
nature of arti fi cial intel li gence as well. All the infor ma tion or thoughts that
fall out side the view are out side of con sid er a tion, all gen er at ed  “arti fi cial”
knowl edge” is added to the pile of examples.
AI gen er a tive tools — cre at ing some thing new in tex tu al, graph i cal,
spa tial form — rely on the super-fast exam i na tion of super vast data bas es of
past exam ples (to  “learn” from) but the mul ti ple dupli ca tion, repli ca tion,
mul ti pli ca tion, re-equal iza tion and twin ning already described is cre at ing
a pool of exam ples that are already quite sim i lar to each oth er. In this rel a -
tive homo gene ity, archi tec ture is left with the iron ic task of find ing order by
search ing for hier ar chies and pro por tions in the same ness. Enact ments of
arti fi cial intel li gence rely on a mim ic ry of a process rather than prod uct —
i.e. AI tools  “let the data do the pro gram ming” ; and while irony stems from
a dis par i ty of inten tion and effect in the process of dupli ca tion, it is the mix -
ing of the dif fer ent kinds of dupli cates dur ing in the dig i tal twin ning, and
their sub se quent acces si bil i ty through the IoT that allows a  “smooth ing
over” and the legit imiza tion of instances of new ness as prod ucts of gen er a -
tive AI that are non-trace able sim u la tions. Is it pos si ble that an AI cave can -
not be exit ed?
The par al lel exis tence of tech nol o gy and build ings, as in the intel li gent
build ing approach, has pre clud ed a mean ing ful co-rela tion of the AI opti -
mized envi ron ment of a build ing and its struc ture and image. For exam ple,
the mechan i cal sys tems in any con tem po rary build ing that can be, and are,
con trolled by sen sors to make that build ing intel li gent and can be con tin u -
ous ly opti mized and adjust ed through arti fi cial ly intel li gent solu tions are not
nec es sar i ly a part of that same intel li gent building’s archi tec ture. The cre -
ation of dig i tal dou bles has pro duced an entire ly new lay er of devices asso ci -
at ed with a build ing — quite inde pen dent of the form, style or archi tec ture
of said build ing. In such case, archi tec ture might not have to ques tion its
own con cep tion and order in response to the AI world but rather con scious ly
dis as so ci ate from all the IoT mea sur ing equip ment and rethink itself?
In the case of intel li gent build ings, arti fi cial intel li gence glides past the
object of archi tec ture, con cern ing itself with con cur rent opti miza tion of
expe ri ence that may not be archi tec tur al. The object of archi tec ture and (arti -
fi cial) intel li gence are side step ping each oth er through the cre ation of a dig i -
tal twin. The cre ation of the  “arti fi cial” archi tec ture of the dig i tal twin,
defined by tracked val ues, arguably removes phys i cal archi tec ture, in body
and con cept, by the track ing process.
Con verse ly, but no less iron i cal, in the case of archi tec tur al design
through intel li gent ly gen er a tive  “arti fi cial” space, which is acces si ble in rep -
re sen ta tion only, the nec es sary step of 2  pro jec tive geom e try such as pers-
26
d
Ralitza PetitArchitecture and Irony
AI: Peter Pan’s Runaway Shadow, Digital Twins
and an Intelligently Artificial Architecture of Irony 227
pec tive for the re-instan ti a tion of a dig i tal-space-depen dent avatar sub ject,
arguably removes the human sub ject out side of the time depen dent trac ing
process of dig i tal sub ject-to-sub ject rela tion ships. In both cas es, the AI-ntel -
li gent imple men ta tions in build ings and AI-gen er at ed archi tec tur al design,
the dialec tic of irony in archi tec ture is expressed in that the sophis ti ca tion of
the dig i tal twin and the capa bil i ty of arti fi cial intel li gence appear to be
focused in a direc tion that does not direct ly alter archi tec tur al con cep tion or
per cep tion — yet.
Ralitza PetitArchitecture and Irony
AI: Peter Pan’s Runaway Shadow, Digital Twins
and an Intelligently Artificial Architecture of Irony 229
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231
Ariane Lourie Harrison
Feral Surfaces
A More-Than-Human
Perspective on New York’s Wild
Side
Ariane Lourie HarrisonArchitecture and Irony
1 Richard J. Weller, Claire Hoch, and Chieh
Huang, Atlas for the End of the World, 2017.
2 “Map of Life,” Sep tem ber 1 2024.
3 Richard Deakin, Flo ra of the Colos se um of
Rome, (Lon don: Groom bridge and Sons, 1855).
4 Matthew Gandy, Natu ra Urbana (Cam bridge
MA: MIT Press, 2022), 51.
5 Mar tin Puch n er, Lit er a ture for a Chang ing
Plan et, (Prince ton NJ: Prince ton Uni ver si ty
Press, 2022), 28.
Feral Surfaces 233
It could be iron ic that for mer ly apoc a lyp tic visions—flooding and fire—
describe a new nor mal for many Amer i can cities. Just as New York City
floods, so too do its burnt orange skies broad cast the simul ta ne ous ly near
and far pres ence of the March 2023 Cana di an wild fires. The end of the
world has been a real i ty for non-humans for some time now. The Atlas for
the End of the World maps the apoc a lyp tic col lapse of species bio di ver si ty in
the wake of human urban iza tion and indus tri al iza tion of agri cul ture.  So
does the Map of Life, doc u ment ing the impact of urban land expan sion pro -
ject ed to 2050 and the con comi tant loss of oth er species.  These data visu al -
iza tions point to the seem ing inevitable increase of urban ter ri to ry, and the
con comi tant need that wilderness—habitat for oth er species—be designed
and built into cities. 
And archi tects have dreamed this for cen turies: Piranesi’s over grown
ruins of Paes tum from the 1770s depict the mar gins of a city inhab it ed by
ani mals and out casts; that in the demise of human build ings, emerges liv ing
space for species seen as for eign to the city. Some hun dred years lat er, the
ruins of clas si cal archi tec ture pro vid ed nov el ecosys tems metic u lous ly not ed
by the nat u ral ist Richard Deakin in his 1855 The Flo ra of the Colos se um. He
cat a logued and illus trat ed 420 dif fer ent species of plants grow ing spon ta -
neous ly on and in the Roman Colos se um.  In Urbana Natu ra, urban geo g ra -
ph er Matthew Gandy describes mul ti ple exam ples of ruin fos ter ing new life:
for exam ple, fire weed appeared in many of London’s ruins in 1944.  This
arti cle argues that rather than the demo li tion of the city, it is the rethink ing
of build ing sur faces that can dra mat i cal ly expand non-human’s poten tial
habi tats. New York offers a site for sev er al projects that indi cate a  “non-
human turn” in architecture. 
Urban wildlife
The city as a his tor i cal form has a con flict ed rela tion ship with bio di ver si ty
pre serve. The glob al lit er a ture schol ar, Mar tin Puch n er, sug gests that the ear -
li est urban precincts, such as the city of Uruk described in the Epic of Gil -
gamesh, cel e brat ed its suc cess ful sep a ra tion of human and non-human
realms: the city of Uruk as a walled enclo sure that sep a rat ed humans from
the wilder ness.  Yet when dis as ter strikes the city, bio di ver si ty is secured
with in walled enclo sures, from Noah’s Ark in the Hebrew Old Tes ta ment to
Utnapishtim’s giant boat safe guard ing fau na in the Epic of Gil gamesh. Both
arcs were built express ly for the focus of safe guard ing human exis tence in
the wake of dis as ter, as it was understood—even then—that human exis tence
depends on biodiversity.
1
2
3
4
5
Ariane Lourie HarrisonArchitecture and Irony
6 Oliv er Hil lel,  “The UN in the Urban Anthro ‐
pocene,” Sep tem ber 1 2024; Unit ed Nations,  
“68% of the world pop u la tion pro ject ed to live
in urban areas by 2050, says UN,” Octo ber
1, 2024.
7 World Wildlife Fed er a tion,  “What is the sixth
mass extinc tion and what can we do about it ,”
Octo ber 1, 2024.
8 Cather ine Finn, Flo ren cia Grat taro la, Daniel
Pincheira-Donoso,  “More losers than win ners:
inves ti gat ing Anthro pocene defau na tion
through the diver si ty of pop u la tion trends,”
Bio log i cal Reviews 98, no. 5 (2023): 1732–1748.
9 Unit ed Nations Envi ron men tal Pro gramme,  “A
City in a Gar den,” July 30 2018.
Feral Surfaces 235
Today, the con flict between bio di ver si ty and urban iza tion reach es new
extremes. Mas sive urban devel op ment char ac ter izes the cur rent Anthro -
pocene peri od to the degree that the UN has pro posed the  “Urban Anthro -
pocene” as a more descrip tive way to char ac ter ize human activ i ty on the
plan et, while the UN Pop u la tion Divi sion esti mates that sev en in ten peo ple
will live in urban areas by 2050.  For non-humans, this peri od rep re sents the
sixth mass extinc tion of glob al species.  Recent reports on plan e tary bio di -
ver si ty indi cate the alarm ing extent of the glob al decline of ani mal bio di ver -
si ty:  “glob al bio di ver si ty is enter ing a mass extinc tion, with ecosys tem het -
ero gene ity and func tion ing, bio di ver si ty per sis tence, and human well-being
under increas ing threat.”
The bio di ver si ty cri sis, which impli cates human sur vival from food
sup ply to clean air and water, has turned to view cities as a new oppor tu ni ty
for rel a tive ly new coex is tence among plan e tary species. Sin ga pore sets
a glob al stan dard, from the design of its  “Gar dens by the Bay” nature pre -
serve / pub lic park to the work of its Nation al Bio di ver si ty Cen tre in devel -
op ing media allow ing a broad pub lic to par tic i pate in geo t ag ging the city’s
bio di ver si ty. New York fol lows suit in a more dis persed for mat. In 2019,
NYC Local Law 92/94 man dat ed green and/or solar roofs on all new con -
struc tion or sig nif i cant alter ation, des ig nat ing rooftops as a poten tial har bor
for bio di ver si ty. Oth er projects seek to secure urban ground against ris ing
sea lev el. SCAPE’s Liv ing Break wa ter, a project that had its incep tion in the
MOMA Ris ing Cur rents exhi bi tion (2010), has been real ized off of the south
shore of Stat en Island as an arti fi cial reef that sup ports aquat ic fau na while
pro tect ing the Long Island shore from storm surges. SCAPE’s project is
note wor thy for its sen si tive address of aqua cul ture, kayak ing and marine
edu ca tion in com mu ni cat ing the val ue of coastal bio di ver si ty. The East side
Resilience project pro pos es a series of habi tats and wildlife pock ets, com mu -
ni cat ing the val ue of bio di ver si ty as it relates defen sive ly to pro tect ing Man -
hat tan from ris ing waters; and the Man hat tan Water front Green way as
a whole demon strates the cur ren cy of a more bio di verse approach to the
city.  These projects sug gest that cer tain of the less devel opable hor i zon tal
surfaces—waterways, floodzones—can some what prag mat i cal ly be allo cat ed
to bio di ver si ty sup port. That a lim it ed foot print be allo cat ed to bio di ver si ty,
seems to repli cate the lim i ta tions of Noah’s and Utnapishtim’s arcs, or the
sliv ers of bio di ver si ty cor ri dors that emerge in West Coast cities. Yet the city
har bors far more poten tial for bio di ver si ty sup port in its ver ti cal surfaces.
6
7
8
9
Ariane Lourie HarrisonArchitecture and Irony
10 The NYC Bird Alliance (for mer ly Audubon)
esti mates that 90,000−230,000 migra to ry
birds are killed each year in New York City by
crash ing into glaz ing. On a sin gle day, Sep ‐
tem ber 14 2021, Audubon vol un teers count ed
261 dead birds around One World Trade Cen ‐
ter and its neigh bor ing struc tures. Mad die
Ben der,  “Why did hun dreds of birds die at the
World Trade Cen ter in one morn ing,” Sep tem ‐
ber 16, 2021.
11 “COOKFOX and Buro Hap pold Design Bird
and Bee Friend ly Façade for Archi tec tur al
Ceram ics Assem blies Work shop, June 23,
2022. Also dis cus sions with Spencer Lapp in
Harrison’s Fer al Sur faces sem i nar at Yale
School of Archi tec ture, Spring 2023.
12 Lydia Kallipolit ti, His to ries of Eco log i cal
Design, an unfin ished cyclo pe dia (New York:
Actar, 2024), 206–214.
Feral Surfaces 237
Feral Surfaces
New York City build ings com prise about one hun dred square miles of
facades, many of which sig ni fy daz zling wealth with glazed sur faces that can
fry side walks as well as kill birds.  Devel op ments such as Hud son Yards
reach new heights while extolling their prox im i ty to the High Line; BIG’s
recent Spi ral promis es in graph ics writ large on its façade to extend  “From
the High Line to the sky line,” some how gloss ing the fact that the com bi na -
tion of exten sive glaz ing and green ery presents a cer tain death to migrat ing
birds. Hud son Yards par tic i pates in the pro lif er a tion of glazed tow ers that
com pound urban heat and dec i mate avian bio di ver si ty. If even a small por -
tion of these walls –for exam ple adding to facades whose ori en ta tions to the
sun are pre ferred by native pol li na tors— could be adapt ed and dot ted with
nich es and nest ing spaces, the city would become more of a liv ing fab ric
with eco log i cal ben e fits for many species. 
The notion that a build ing sur face could host oth er forms of life seems
to lie deep in the archi tec tur al imag i nary: if one views the bee-fram ing
roundels of Borromini’s St Ivo alla Sapien za in Rome more lit er al ly, one
sees an adver tise ment for cav i ty-dwelling bees. Like wise, the ver mic u lat ed
stone of cer tain city-buildings—the Porte Saint Mar tin, the Lou vre in Paris,
the for mer Van der bilt res i dence at 647 Fifth in New York—relate to this
idea. Ver mic u lat ed, pecked, hon ey combed, such treat ments of stone sur faces
refer the marks, bur rows, holes that reg is ter ani mal habi ta tion, as if archi -
tects of the 18  and 19  cen tu ry desired a ves tige of the non-human pres -
ence to remain inscribed across the city’s build ings. This rais es the ques tion
for con tem po rary archi tec ture, which offers a check ered sce nario: archi tec -
ture schools teem with mul ti-species stu dio projects; clus ters of design ers
have pro duced mul ti-species instal la tions, yet the larg er inte gra tion of more-
than-human habi tats as new build ing prod ucts and com po nents remains min -
i mal. CookeFox’s ter ra-cot ta mul ti-species screen ing may present one of the
sole exam ples of a façade-prod uct address ing non-humans, yet it has yet to
be deployed on an actu al build ing façade.
As Lydia Kallipoli ti notes in her recent His to ries of Eco log i cal Design,
an unfin ished cyclo pe dia, prac tices such as Ants of the Prairie, Ter reform
One and Har ri son Ate lier rep re sent a  “non-human” turn in archi tec ture.
Each prac tice has cre at ed small scale struc tures and instal la tions fea tur ing
the cre ation of arti fi cial habi tat that effec tive ly sig nals and anchors non-
human species with in the fab ric of the city. Shared among these prac tices is
a com mit ment to mag ni fy ing the prob lem of bio di ver si ty col lapse and build -
ing arti fi cial habi tat. Yet the modes by which to man i fest the phys i cal pres -
ence of oth er species dif fers. With  “For Our neigh bors” at the Brook lyn
10
th th
11
12
Ariane Lourie HarrisonArchitecture and Irony
13 Anna L. Tsing, Jen nifer Deger, Alder Kele man
Sax e na and Feifei Zhou, Fer al Atlas, Fer al
Atlas, Sep tem ber 1 2024.
14 Ibid.
Feral Surfaces 239
Botan i cal Gar den, Ants of the Prairie has cre at ed stun ning exam ples of
instal la tions prompt ing coex is tence among humans and birds, draw ing on
the new prox im i ties between humans and the less charis mat ic  “mid dle
species” for whom Joyce Hwang has addressed her research and design over
two decades. The Brook lyn Navy Yard host ed a mod u lar crick et farm
designed and built by Ter reform ONE, a strik ing struc ture that mag ni fied the
chirps of its crick et inhab i tants while demon strat ing the com pelling log ics
and aes thet ics of insect sourced pro tein. Ter reform ONE has under scored
design that rais es aware ness for endan gered species, elo quent ly sum ma riz ing
this mes sage as  “Design against extinc tion” in their 2019 book, Design With
Life.
The idea that the city har bor sur faces that are  “fer al” draws on the stun -
ning research of Anna L. Tsing, Jen nifer Deger, Alder Kele man Sax e na and
Feifei Zhou in artic u lat ing a more-than-human cityscape as the Fer al
Atlas.  The project descrip tion invokes  “fer al” ecolo gies as those  “that have
been encour aged by human-built infra struc tures, but which have devel oped
and spread beyond human con trol.”  In the exquis ite draw ings of the Fer al
Atlas, we find that the detri tus of human activ i ty can cre ate now habi tats for
oppor tunis tic species such as mari bou storks nest ing in dumped sty ro foam
moun tains. Zhou described the draw ings as a way to test the non-designed
con se quences of human infra struc ture. The debris of human design forms
a feed stock for instal la tions such as Ter reform ONE’s Bio-Infor mat ic
Digester, that prompts meal worms to feast upon Sty ro foam pack ag ing, cre at -
ing a com postable mulch as a ben e fi cial byprod uct. The fer al qual i ty of these
projects alludes as much to the wild ness of the non-human species as it does
to the untam able amounts of waste mate r i al pro duced by human activ i ty. Yet
the term fer al har bors anoth er mean ing which is impor tant to invoke in mul -
ti-species work: it derives from the Latin fer alis, mean ing funer ary, or
belong ing to the dead. The term fer al is use ful in its poten tial con fla tion of
meanings—that the wild things are dying. How design can begin to inscribe
the real i ty of bio di ver si ty loss into a series of design pro pos als, forms the
start ing point for our own firm Har ri son Atelier’s approach to design ing arti -
fi cial habi tats that seek to stem yet acknowl edge the loss of biodiversity. 
The aesthetics of number
The immen si ty of plan e tary bio di ver si ty, as well as its high rate of loss,
makes it dif fi cult to com pre hend alarm ing rates of extinc tion against the
back ground rate. To be ful ly fer al, then, sug gests that the dying dimen sion of
wild things be giv en some if not equal foot ing. Design ing fer al sur faces
13
14
Ariane Lourie HarrisonArchitecture and Irony
15 Julia Jan ic ki, Glo ria Dick ie, Simon Scarr and
Jitesh Chowd hury, Illus tra tions by Cather ine
Tai,  “The Col lapse of Insects,” Decem ber
6, 2022.
16 Kelsey Kopec and Lori Ann Burd,  “Pol li na tors
in Per il,” Cen ter for Bio log i cal Diver si ty Report,
4, 2017, 1–14.
17 Elaine Scar ry,  “Speech Acts in Crim i nal Cas ‐
es,” in Law’s Sto ries: Nar ra tive and Rhetoric in
the Law, ed. Peter Brooks & Paul Gewirtz
(New Haven: Yale Uni ver si ty Press, 1998), 166,
ref er enced in Ari ane Lourie Har ri son,  “Fer al
Archi tec ture,” Aes thet ics Equals Pol i tics (Cam ‐
bridge MA: The MIT Press, 2019), 259.
Feral Surfaces 241
would address this rep re sen ta tion al chal lenge as an aes thet ics of enu mer a -
tion capa ble of address ing the large num bers of bio di ver si ty loss. 
For exam ple, insect pop u la tions, which rep re sent about 80% of ani mal
life on the plan et, are col laps ing so rapid ly that sci en tists term our peri od
one of  “glob al Insect Apoc a lypse” and haz ard a 75% decline of insect pop u -
la tions over the last 50 years.  The loss of insect life can only be esti mat ed,
because it forms a rel a tive ly large knowl edge gap: only 1% of the esti mat ed
1 mil lion known insect species (of an esti mat ed pos si bil i ty of 5.5 mil lion
species) has been assessed. For native bees, the knowl edge gap is equal ly
sig nif i cant. Many are famil iar with the charis mat ic Euro pean hon ey bee, suc -
cess ful ly domes ti cat ed glob al ly for agri cul tur al pol li na tion for sev er al cen -
turies. Yet of the approx i mate ly 20,000+ species of bees on the plan et, only
about 10 of these are hon ey bees; the rest are native bees, respon si ble for
pol li nat ing about 80% of flow er ing plants across the plan et. Native bees do
not pro duce hon ey, nor do they live in hives, yet these crit i cal spe cial ist and
gen er al ist pol li na tors anchor a base of the food web. North Amer i ca hosts
some 4,000 species of native bees, for which the Cen ter for Bio log i cal
Diver si ty Report assessed that there was data on only 7% of these, of which
over half were endan gered.  This sequence of fig ures is like ly quite bor ing
to the design-moti vat ed read er, and here in lies the design chal lenge: how to
ren der these numbers—that address the dying of wild things—compelling,
acces si ble, and urgent? 
In wrestling with the aes thet ics of num ber, I return to Elaine Scarry’s
dis tinc tion of  “nar ra tive com pas sion” (that felt by one human iden ti fy ing
with the trau ma of anoth er, indi vid ual) and  “sta tis ti cal com pas sion” (that
capac i ty to iden ti fy with peo ple that one nev er expe ri ences as indi vid u als
and knows only through numer ic data).  She sug gests that sta tis tics often
fail to inspire inter est or com pas sion. The num bers some how close down an
empa thet ic response. Yet many exam ples of design demon strate how num -
bers can rep re sent a dif fi cult sto ry: from the 58,281 names of Maya Lin’s
Viet nam Memo r i al, to Höweler+Yoon Architecture’s Memo r i al to Enslaved
Labor ers at the Uni ver si ty of Vir ginia, inscribed with 577 names of enslaved
men and women who labored on the UVA Grounds, along with 4,000 more
stone marks esti mat ing the num ber of the site’s enslaved labor ers who
remain unknown. The visu al iza tion of the esti mat ed loss—as a scale that
iden ti fies indi vid ual and col lec tive loss— seems sig nif i cant as a way to
evoke sta tis ti cal com pas sion. Per haps then we have some mod els for invok -
ing this elu sive type of  “sta tis ti cal com pas sion” as a design that rec og nizes
the dual valences of the term fer al as an accounting.
15
16
17
Ariane Lourie HarrisonArchitecture and Irony
1
2
3
1 Harrison Atelier, 2024 Feral Surface, Barcelona,
Reusing Rooftops, Honorable Mention © Harrison
Atelier.
2 Harrison Atelier, Feral Surfaces Installation,
Barcelona Architecture Festival, 2023 © MODEL /
City of Barcelona.
3 Harrison Atelier, Pollinators Arch, The Bee
Conservancy, Governors Island, 2024 © Harrison
Atelier.
18 Toke T. Høyea, Johan na Ärjea, Kim Bjerged,
Oskar L. P. Hanse na, Alexan dros Iosi fidish,
Flo ri an Lee sei, Hjalte M. R. Manna,b, Kris t ian
Meiss nerj, Claus Mel vad, and Jen ni Raito har ‐
juj,  “Deep learn ing and com put er vision will
trans form ento mol o gy.” Pro ceed ings of the
Nation al Acad e my of Sci ences, 118, No. 2
(2021).
Feral Surfaces 243
How design can count
The recent work of our firm, Har ri son Ate lier, demon strate how design can
build habi tat and  “count” species, and in doing so, can cre ate design that
con tributes to a plan e tary account ing of bio di ver si ty. One dimen sion that dif -
fer en ti ates our work is its enu mer a tive qual i ty and focus on mon i tor ing sys -
tems; anoth er is the focus on native bees as our  “insect clients,” for whom
we seek even tu al ly to claim urban ver ti cal sur faces as new habi tat. Design
can count there fore in its con tri bu tion to urban con di tions (atten u at ing heat,
increas ing air qual i ty and absorb ing water) as well as adding to rec on cil i a -
tion ecol o gy and sci en tif ic efforts to mon i tor biodiversity.
The account ing is lit er al in our design: 363 con crete pan els each con -
tain ing a max i mum of 50 nest ing tubes for the Pol li na tors Pavil ion in Hud -
son NY, 2350 myceli um pan els each con tain ing a sin gle nest ing hole for the
Fer al Sur faces instal la tion in Barcelona, and 63 hempcrete blocks each con -
tain ing 80 nest ing tubes for the Pol li na tors Arch on Gov er nors Island, NY—
allocate space for native bee nests as well as for the cam eras and micro -
proces sors that do the count ing. Cam eras and sen sors can record in a non-
inva sive and con tin u ous fash ion, as any build ing sur veil lance sys tem can
demon strate. We shift ed the cam era away from the human and towards the
non-human native bee, cre at ing build ing cladding that can accom mo date
both mon i tor ing sys tems and habi tat. The  “count ing” occurs out side of the
build ing as we use AI tech nol o gy to read and iden ti fy bees record ed by out
mon i tor ing sys tem.
Har ri son Atelier’s Fer al Sur faces, com mis sioned for the 2023
Barcelona Archi tec ture Fes ti val under the artis tic direc tion of Eva Franch
i Gilabert, trans formed an imper vi ous urban sur face into a bill board for
native bees by intro duc ing a con struct ed land scape of native bee-friend ly
plants and 2,350 dia mond-shaped myceli um pan els. The Fer al Sur face instal -
la tion sought to enu mer ate, visu al ize and count these pol li na tors as denizens
of the urban space by fram ing each habi tat: each pan el was about 6 cm thick
with a 10 cm diag o nal tubu lar cav i ty drilled into it as a poten tial habi tat for
a cav i ty-dwelling soli tary bee. Each pan el has a sin gle hole about 1 cm in
diam e ter as the entrance to the habi tat. The hole offers a body count, a visu -
al ly tal ly of non-human pres ence. As an aper ture, the hole func tions to give
some sense of the size of the inhab i tant with in, recall ing Auguste Perret’s
equa tion of the por trait win dow with the human fig ure. Each pan el served as
a frame work pro tect ing the poten tial habi tat of one bee. Cam eras and mon i -
tors embed ded in the land scape sur veilled the instal la tion sur face. Fram ing
the hole, enu mer at ing poten tial habi tats: this tem po rary instal la tion sought to
18
Ariane Lourie HarrisonArchitecture and Irony
4
4 Harrison Atelier, Pollinators arch, front and back of
hempcrete block, 2024 © Harrison Atelier.
19 Har ri son Atelier ’s mod els for assess ing bee
fam i ly have been sup port ed by Microsoft ’s AI
for Earth pro gram, see https://microsoft.githu
b.io/AIforEarth-Grantees/.
20 Jen nifer Gabrys and Helen Pritchard,  “Just
Good Enough Data and Envi ron men tal Sens ‐
ing: Mov ing beyond Reg u la to ry Bench marks
toward Cit i zen Action,” Inter na tion al Jour nal of
Spa tial Data Infra struc tures Research, Vol.13,
(2018) 4–14, 6.
Feral Surfaces 245
bring vis i bil i ty to the habi tat loss of native bees, while propos ing that the
city could pro vide a pro duc tive space for biodiversity.
Mov ing clos er to the ver ti cal dimen sion of urban build ing, Har ri son
Ate lier was invit ed to devel op an entry way for The Bee Con ser van cy at the
Urban Farm with in frame work of Gov er nors Island’s Cli mate Cam pus. The
arch is com prised of a grid ed struc ture that is tem po rary and trans portable,
the scaf fold for hempcrete habi tat blocks which con tain nest ing tubes for
native bees, mon i tor ing sys tems and pock ets for veg e ta tion / rain wa ter cap -
ture. A large, ear-like lobe shield ing the nest ing tubes from rain while  “fram -
ing” these habi tats, ampli fy ing the exam ple pro vid ed by Sant Ivo’s roundel
for mat. How does this design count? Of the 63 hempcrete blocks, half of
these hold nest ing tubes (approx i mate ly 2,400 tubes in the entire struc ture).
Endo scop ic cam eras are trained on the nest ing tubes and oper ate for 3 hours
a day tak ing real-time video that can be mon i tored remote ly and pro vides
a col lec tion of images that help train our AI mod el to iden ti fy native bees at
a fam i ly lev el.  Fam i ly gives us a low res o lu tion por trait of native bees, yet
fol low ing the arti cle,  “Just Good Enough Data,” we are aligned in sug gest -
ing that low er tech mon i tor ing or  “cit i zen sens ing” meth ods can con tribute
new perspectives—broader but fuzzier—rather than being dis missed as non-
com pli ant data sets.
The Pol li na tors Arch is a tem po rary pro to type that par tic i pates in
a much larg er vision for New York Har bor, one that envis ages Gov er nors
Island as a Cli mate Cam pus, that tri an gu lates with the Brook lyn Navy Yard
and Brook lyn Army Ter mi nal as cen ters for inno va tion in Cli mate Tech.
Each site envi sions a trans for ma tion of the build ing indus try and with that,
hope ful ly, the sur faces with which build ings are clad. Fab ri cat ing and test ing
mon i tored species habi tat as cladding could return some urban sur faces to
the tex tur al rich ness of ver mic u lat ed stone while gen er at ing eco log i cal ser -
vices for the city.
Conclusion: the floating pig
The pig floats between the chim neys of London’s Bat tersea Pow er Sta tion
dur ing the film ing of Pink Floyd's music video in Decem ber 1976. In this
con text, the pig is fun ny. It sym bol izes the unlike ly. When pigs fly so to
speak. And yet, a more lit er al read ing could ask why does the urban pres ence
of the non-human seem so implau si ble? Pro to types that enu mer ate, rep re sent
and sup port bio di ver si ty in our urban fab ric sug gest we no longer view the
jux ta po si tion of ani mal and city as an impos si bil i ty. The French philoso pher,
Jacques Ranciere's The Pol i tics of Aes thet ics: the Dis tri b u tion of the Sen si -
ble offers the insight that the polit i cal appears when those who are not offic-
19
20
Ariane Lourie HarrisonArchitecture and Irony
21 Jacques Ranciere, The Pol i tics of Aes thet ics:
The Dis tri b u tion of the Sen si ble, (Lon don:
Blooms bury, 2004).
Feral Surfaces 247
ial ly count ed make them selves heard and seen.  Pol i tics involves becom ing
seen and becom ing count ed among plan e tary enti ties. Con sid er the 2000+
nest ing tubes and mon i tor ing sys tems in each of these instal la tions a pro pos -
al for archi tec tur al sur faces that count every soli tary bees among urban
denizens and brings them into our eth i cal regard, extend ing polit i cal sta tus to
enti ties that for mer ly had no place in a sin gu lar (anthro pocen tric) worldview.
21
Ariane Lourie HarrisonArchitecture and Irony
Feral Surfaces 249
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251
Katerina Zacharopoulou
Humorous Irony in Guild
House and BEST Products
Stores
How an Architecture of
Communication Can Fail to
Communicate
Katerina ZacharopoulouArchitecture and Irony
1
2
1 Robert Ven turi, Com plex i ty and Con tra dic tion
in Archi tec ture (New York: The Muse um of
Mod ern Art, 2019), 114–17. This arti cle refers to
the fac sim i le of the manifesto’s first edi tion,
pub lished in 2019 to cel e brate its 50
anniver sary, along with a sec ond vol ume fea ‐
tur ing new rel e vant schol ar ship. Despite its
offi cial pub li ca tion date stat ed as 1966, the
book became avail able in 1967. See Mar ti no
Stier li,  “Robert Ven turi and MoMA: Insti tu tion ‐
al ist and Out sider,” in Com plex i ty and Con tra ‐
dic tion at Fifty: On Robert Venturi’s  ‘Gen tle
Man i festo’, eds. Mar ti no Stier li and David B.
Brown lee (New York: The Muse um of Mod ern
Art, 2019), 12–19.
th
2 sttaffy [anonymised user],  “I Live in Philly
And…” (com ment), Red dit, August 23, 2016.
The thread r/ArchitecturePorn is ded i cat ed to  
“inter est ing archi tec ture and indi vid ual
images of buildings.”
3 This arti cle refers to the abridged, revised edi ‐
tion of Learn ing from Las Vegas, which was
first pub lished in 1977 with the added sub ti tle
The For got ten Sym bol ism of Archi tec tur al
Form and aimed to clar i fy the argu ment and
stay con sis tent with the authors’ cri tique of
mod ern design. See Denise Scott Brown,  
“Pref ace to the Revised Edi tion,” in Learn ing
from Las Vegas: The For got ten Sym bol ism of
Archi tec tur al Form (Cam bridge, Mass.: MIT
Press, 1977), xv–xvii.
4 The quo ta tions for the fol low ing com par i son
were tak en from Ven turi, Com plex i ty and Con ‐
tra dic tion in Archi tec ture, 114–17; Robert Ven ‐
turi et al., Learn ing from Las Vegas, 87–
103, 130.
Humorous Irony in Guild House and BEST Products Stores 253
Communication Breakdown
In 1966, Guild House, a res i dence for the elder ly which had recent ly been
com plet ed by Ven turi and Rauch, Copp and Lip pin cott in Philadel phia, was
fea tured in Robert Venturi’s Com plex i ty and Con tra dic tion in Archi tec ture,
as part of the projects list con clud ing the architect’s man i festo.
In 2016, the 50  anniver sary of the book, a pho to graph of Guild House
was post ed on the Red dit thread r/ArchitecturePorn, under the title  “The
many win dows of Venturi's com plex and con tra dic to ry Guild House in
Philadel phia, one of the most influ en tial build ings in the last six ty years.”
A Red di tor commented:
I live in Philly and dri ve past this thing all the time. I have no clue why
peo ple think it is aes thet i cal ly pleas ing. Lit tle details always bugged me —
the dinky anten na (which I think is gone now) [ 1 ], the white line through the
fifth sto ry that stops at the facade [ 2 ], how the arched win dow  'sits on' the
small er win dows on the floor below it, the crap py bal cony rail ings, the stu -
pid-ass let ter ing on the front [ 3 ], the chode col umn, the white first sto ry in
front [ 4 ], the weak lit tle win dows at the first sto ry of the wings, the ugly
shades, and the total ly lame cor nice. One of the only things I ever liked
about it is the shad ow cast into the entry way. It also is this ugly lump squat -
ting on Spring Gar den street, afford ing love ly views of the blank Red Cross
build ing across the street. Check out google maps street view to look at this
build ing in context.
It might have some kind of his tor i cal sig nif i cance, but it is not attrac -
tive, and I don't get how it is some sort of cel e brat ed landmark.
I'm a fan of archi tec ture that looks good. I am sad that pre vi ous forms
were reject ed for this type of bauhaus-y cir cle jerk stuff. Philly has some
great build ings — Most row hous es I see look bet ter than this build ing.
Notwith stand ing its infor mal lan guage, the com ment could qual i fy as
archi tec tur al crit i cism, con sid er ing both its struc ture and lev el of detail.
Mov ing down wards from the anten na on the roof to the entrance, the com -
men ta tor gives a metic u lous descrip tion of the main ele ments of the façade,
before con sid er ing the build ing in its imme di ate and aes thet ic context. 
On close read ing, par al lels can even be found between the com ment
and the way Guild House is described in Com plex i ty and Con tra dic tion, and
even more so in Learn ing from Las Vegas, co-writ ten by Ven turi, Denise
Scott Brown, and Steven Izenour in 1972.  For almost every detail in the
Red dit com ment, there is a cor re spond ing state ment by the archi tects. This
cor re spon dence is in fact so great that one begins to won der whether the
comment’s author was not writ ing from a lay per spec tive but was famil iar
with the con tent of the two archi tec tur al trea tis es.
1
th
2
3
4
Katerina ZacharopoulouArchitecture and Irony
3
4
5 “[infor mal] dis ap point ing ly small, insignif i ‐
cant” (Google dictionary)
6 The anten na is par al leled to the bronze deer
and hunt ing dogs on the top of the por tal of
Anet, a 16  cen tu ry château in north ern
France designed by Philib ert de l'Orme, and
to Lip pold sculptures.
th
7 “[vul gar slang] of extreme ly poor qual i ty”
(Google dictionary)
8 “[vul gar slang] a penis, espe cial ly one char ac ‐
ter ized as being short and thick; a stu pid or
con temptible man” (Google dictionary)
9 Ven turi, Com plex i ty and Con tra dic tion in
Archi tec ture, 116.
10 Ven turi et al., Learn ing from Las Vegas, 93.
11 Ibid., 93–100.
Humorous Irony in Guild House and BEST Products Stores 255
Specif i cal ly, the archi tects see the  “dinky”  anten na as a banal, func tion al
object that might, how ev er, when gold and uncon nect ed, evoke a mon u men -
tal i ty akin to rep re sen ta tion al or abstract sculp tures, cel e brat ing the elderly’s
obses sion with TV.  The white, glazed-brick line inter cept ing the win dows
of the fifth floor works togeth er with the dis pro por tion ate ly large arched
win dow and the  “white first sto ry” to divide the facade into three uneven
sec tions. The grand scale of this  “giant order” or  “clas sic juke box front” is
sup pos ed ly rem i nis cent of a Renais sance palace, and is meant to con trast the
small er scale of the six actu al, equal in height floors, sug gest ed in the com -
po si tion of the win dows. The  “crap py”  bal cony rail ings are inten tion al ly
con ven tion al per fo rat ed steel pat terns, just on a blown-up scale, while the  
“stu pid-ass” let ter ing is  “par tic u lar ly ugly and ordi nary in its explic it com -
mer cial asso ci a tions.” The black gran ite col umn,  “chode”  in the Red dit
com ment,  “excep tion al and fat” in Learn ing from Las Vegas, both enhances
and under mines the mon u men tal i ty of the entrance, by plac ing focus on it
while simul ta ne ous ly imped ing entry. The  “weak” win dows, fea tured in
a close-up pho to graph in Learn ing from Las Vegas, are yet anoth er uncon -
ven tion al manip u la tion of a famil iar form, in this case the dou ble-hung win -
dow, through changes in shape, scale, and context.
The com men ta tor con cludes that Guild House is an  “ugly lump” which
resem bles, but does not equal in beau ty, Philadel phia row hous es. But it is
exact ly their con ven tion al brown brick walls and dou ble-hung win dows that
the archi tects of Guild House used as inspi ra tion.  Once again, the Red dit
com ment does not rad i cal ly dif fer from the way Ven turi, Scott Brown, and
Izenour describe the build ing.  “Crap py and Total ly Lame,” after all, might as
well stand for a crud er alter na tive of  “Ugly and Ordinary”:
The tech no log i cal ly unad vanced brick, the old-fash ioned, dou ble-hung
win dows, the pret ty mate ri als around the entrance, and the ugly anten na not
hid den behind the para pet in the accept ed fash ion, all are dis tinct ly con ven -
tion al in image as well as sub stance or, rather, ugly and ordi nary.
How ev er, while both the Red di tor and the archi tects name Guild House
ugly and ordi nary, the lat ter don’t real ly mean it. Guild House may fea ture
con ven tion al, tra di tion al, and ver nac u lar ele ments, but it simul ta ne ous ly
alludes to what the authors call  “Hero ic and Orig i nal” archi tec ture. Through
its clas si cal, tri par tite, and sym met ri cal com po si tion, along with the orna -
men tal sculp ture at its top, the building’s façade becomes  “iron i cal.”
Guild House is not pure ly ugly and ordi nary. Through sub tle twists in
con ven tions and expec ta tions, it inten tion al ly sub verts the lan guage of hero -
ic and orig i nal archi tec ture, acknowl edg ing its nec es sary con tra dic tions.
Ugly and ordi nary ele ments are used, but not whole heart ed ly; the inten tion is
still to cre ate beau ti ful and excep tion al architecture.
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Katerina ZacharopoulouArchitecture and Irony
5
12 Suzanne Lou d er milk,  “Tilt ed Best to Tum ble in
Tow son Archi tec ture,” The Bal ti more Sun, May
14, 1996; Suzanne Lou d er milk,  “Best Store
Tilt ed Wall Tum bles down Tow son Land mark
Goes in Cen ter Ren o va tion,” The Bal ti more
Sun, April 19, 1997.
13 James Wines, De-Archi tec ture (New York: Riz ‐
zoli, 1987), 143.
14 Lou d er milk,  “Best Store Tilt ed Wall Tum ‐
bles down.”
15 Wines, De-Archi tec ture, 133.
Humorous Irony in Guild House and BEST Products Stores 257
And yet, the Red dit com ment does not seem to get the irony. If asked  “Is
bor ing archi tec ture inter est ing?” its author would prob a bly reply,  “No; bor -
ing archi tec ture is bor ing.” What the com ment even tu al ly high lights is a fail -
ure of communication. 
Not much more than one-and-a-half-hour dri ve away from Guild
House, but more than 20 years ear li er, a sim i lar com mu ni ca tion break down
occurred. In 1996, The Bal ti more Sun report ed the deci sion to demol ish Tilt
Show room in Tow son, Mary land, fol low ing up with the cov er age of the
event next year.  The retail store had been com plet ed in 1976 by the archi -
tec tur al office SITE (Sculp ture In The Envi ron ment), found ed by Ali son Sky
and James Wines in the begin ning of the decade. Tilt Build ing was part of
a com mis sion of nine retail stores by cat a logue mer chant Best Prod ucts
Com pa ny, a col lab o ra tion which last ed from the mid-1970s to the mid-
1980s. The own ers of the com pa ny, Frances and Syd ney Lewis, were art col -
lec tors inter est ed in merg ing com mer cial archi tec ture with pub lic art, offer -
ing a twist to the banal and oper a tional  “big-box” store type of the US road -
side.
As sug gest ed by its name, the Tilt Building’s entrance façade appeared
lift ed at one side, with only one cor ner touch ing the ground. As a result, the
open ings which nor mal ly sig ni fy and func tion as entry points were sus pend -
ed in mid-air. Below them, a gap ing hole was formed, seem ing ly allow ing
free access to the inte ri or space. [ 5 ]
The arti cles in The Bal ti more Sun includ ed com ments by local res i -
dents, com pa ny employ ees, and demo li tion onlook ers. Apart from enthu si as -
tic endorse ments and appre ci a tion for the building’s humour, there were dis -
ap prov ing remarks too, rang ing from rea son able to ridicu lous. A res i dent
found it  “hideous,” because it looked  “like an unfin ished build ing.” The
store man ag er recalled,  “with a laugh,” peo ple ask ing if the façade was an
acci dent, and recount ed the fol low ing, seem ing ly improb a ble interaction:
“A lot of old er peo ple wouldn’t go into the build ing,” she said.  “They
were afraid it was going to fall.”
As with Guild House, one of Tilt Building’s design ers, James Wines,
wrote a book to explain and jus ti fy SITE’s work. De-Archi tec ture, pub lished
in 1987, cul mi nat ed in an extend ed descrip tion of SITE’s projects, includ ing
Best Prod ucts Show rooms, as an appli ca tion of the con cept of  “de-archi tec -
ture.” Wines defined de-archi tec ture as a design process meant to ques tion
the archi tec tur al sta tus-quo, by  “dis sect ing, shat ter ing, dis solv ing, invert ing,
and trans form ing” its assump tions and rules. De-archi tec ture would
metaphor i cal ly break archi tec ture apart and make some thing new out of its
ruins.
12
13
14
15
Katerina ZacharopoulouArchitecture and Irony
16 Ibid., 147.
17 Lin da Hutcheon, Irony’s Edge: The The o ry and
Pol i tics of Irony (Lon don: Rout ledge, 1994),
35–41.18 See part I of Lin da Hutcheon, A Poet ics of
Post mod ernism: His to ry, The o ry, Fic tion (New
York and Lon don: Rout ledge, 1988), for an
overview of architecture’s role in the the o ri sa ‐
tion and insti tu tion al i sa tion of post mod ‐
ernism, and the intro duc tion to Emmanuel
Petit, Irony, or, the Self-Crit i cal Opac i ty of
Post mod ern Archi tec ture (New Haven: Yale
Uni ver si ty Press, 2013), on the ori gins and
devel op ment of an inter est in irony in post ‐
mod ern archi tec tur al discourse.
19 On post mod ernism, see Hutcheon, A Poet ics
of Post mod ernism, ix–xiii, 3–21; on irony, see
Hutcheon, Irony’s Edge, 43–53, in an attempt
to cat e gorise dif fer ent the o ret i cal approach es
on irony, based on their affec tive charge and
on whether they are cel e bra to ry or crit i cal of
the concept.
Humorous Irony in Guild House and BEST Products Stores 259
Tilt Build ing shows that SITE’s mode of ques tion ing was not mere ly a fig u -
ra tive attack on archi tec ture, but also a lit er al employ ment of images of
incom plete ness and destruc tion to chal lenge the expec ta tions that archi tec -
ture should appear sta ble and func tion al. Rather than express ing its inter nal
organ i sa tion and struc ture sym bol i cal ly on its façade, the store reveals its
inte ri or through lift ing the bar ri er sep a rat ing it from the out side, ridi cul ing
the idea of  “form fol lows func tion.”
Since de-archi tec ture is pre oc cu pied with themes of destruc tion and
imped ing func tion, Wines would agree that SITE’s build ing looks unfin ished
and acci den tal. How ev er, in the firm’s case, unlike the building’s com men ta -
tors, this is per ceived as inten tion al. And obvi ous ly, the build ing only
appeared destroyed and dys func tion al; to prop er ly oper ate as a store, a sec -
ond, glass façade behind the tilt ed one sep a rat ed inte ri or from exte ri or space.
In this case too, part of the audi ence did not get the irony.
Double Standards
For lit er ary the o rist Lin da Hutcheon, it is exact ly this poten tial of irony to
fail that is dis tinc tive about it–even more so than its com mon ly agreed
seman tic inter pre ta tion as  “say ing some thing oth er than what is meant.” She
empha sis es the impor tance of this affec tive qual i ty, which she names  
“irony’s edge,” by using it for the title of her book on irony as a polit i cal dis -
cur sive practice.
Con trary to irony’s per cep tion as intel lec tu al detach ment, Hutcheon
argues that as a social inter ac tion, it is nec es sar i ly involved in rela tion ships
of pow er and evokes affec tive respons es. Exclu sion is its unde ni able part.
There are the o ries, Hutcheon points out, that argue irony nec es sar i ly requires
an audi ence that does not under stand it; irony might even require the per cep -
tion of such an audi ence as  “oth er” by those who under stand it. When one
fails to get irony, neg a tive emo tions can ensue, rang ing from dis com fort to
deri sion. With its  “attri bu tion of an eval u a tive, even judg men tal atti tude,”
irony can then be seen as involv ing  “per pe tra tors,”  “tar gets,” and a  “com -
plic i tous audi ence.”
And yet, the way irony is usu al ly talked about con cerns what hap pens
when it suc ceeds. This is cer tain ly the case for the crit i cal dis course on post -
mod ernism, which archi tec ture has played a major role in shap ing, with
irony con sid ered one of its con sti tu tive ele ments.
Hutcheon argues that there is a ten den cy to view both post mod ernism
and irony com pre hen sive ly, either in a cel e bra to ry or crit i cal way.  Her
obser va tion applies to the polarised debate over the rev o lu tion ary or reac -
tionary poten tial of the ver sion of iron ic post mod ernism pro mot ed by the
16
17
18
19
Katerina ZacharopoulouArchitecture and Irony
20 To Gia mare los, the dom i nance of Stern’s ideas
under mined the poten tial the Bien nale ini tial ly
had for pre sent ing a diverse array of crit i cal
respons es to a grow ing dis trust in mod ernism
at the time. Stylianos Gia mare los, Resist ing
Post mod ern Archi tec ture: Crit i cal Region al ism
Before Glob al i sa tion (Lon don: UCL Press,
2022), 31–58.
21 Ven turi, Scott Brown, and Wines, how ev er, do
not always define them selves as
postmodernists.
22 Gia mare los, Resist ing Post mod ern Archi tec ‐
ture, 50–53. 23 On the role Jencks and AD edi tor Andreas
Papadakis played in the post mod erni sa tion of
archi tec tur al cul ture, see Stephen Par nell,  
“Architecture’s Expand ing Field: AD Mag a zine
and the Post-Mod erni sa tion of Archi tec ture,”
Archi tec tur al Research Quar ter ly 22, no. 1
(2018): 55–68.
24 Charles Jencks, The Sto ry of Post-Mod ernism:
Five Decades of the Iron ic, Icon ic and Crit i cal
in Archi tec ture (Chich ester: Wiley, 2011), 13–
14. On the same year, a spe cial issue of AD
was pub lished, guest edit ed by FAT and
Jencks, as part of yet anoth er argu ment for
a renewed inter est in post mod ernism. See
Charles Jencks and FAT, eds.,  “Rad i cal Post-
Mod ernism,” Archi tec tur al Design 81, no. 5
(2011).
25 Jencks, The Sto ry of Post-Mod ernism, 21.
26 Gia mare los, Resist ing Post mod ern Archi tec ‐
ture, 33, 54.
27 Ken neth Framp ton,  “Prospects for a Crit i cal
Region al ism,” Per spec ta 20 (1983): 149.
28 Hutcheon, Irony’s Edge, 10.
29 Ibid., 4–6.
30 Ibid., 13.
Humorous Irony in Guild House and BEST Products Stores 261
1980 Archi tec ture Bien nale in Venice,  “The Pres ence of the Past.” In his
recent account of the exhi bi tion, Stylianos Gia mare los uncov ers the neglect -
ed, defin ing role of Robert Stern in estab lish ing the canon i cal, nar row con -
cep tion of post mod ernism as a style, focused on com mu nica tive archi tec ture
and pop u lar sym bol ism with con sumerist and his tori cist ref er ences.  It is
with in this con cep tion of post mod ernism that Guild House and Best Prod -
ucts Stores are usu al ly locat ed.
Charles Jencks, who was invit ed to join the Biennale’s prepara to ry
com mit tee of crit ics by cura tor Pao lo Por togh e si, even tu al ly embraced
Stern’s approach, as an oppor tu ni ty to con tin ue his project of con cep tu al is -
ing post mod ernism as a move ment.  Look ing back at his work as a self-
pro claimed  “par tic i pant, par ti san and some time crit ic of PM archi tec ture”
in the 2011 book The Sto ry of Post-Mod ernism: Five Decades of the Iron ic,
Icon ic and Crit i cal in Archi tec ture, Jencks iden ti fies irony as a recur rent
theme of his year long the o ri sa tions.  Nam ing  “Post-Mod ern Clas si cism”
the  “iron ic inter na tion al style,” Jencks sees irony as a his tor i cal and orna -
men tal com mu nica tive tool–postmodernism’s  “nec es sary men tal set”. He
empha sis es that this kind of irony is a pos i tive one–a way to revis it the past
with enjoy ment.
Ken neth Framp ton, how ev er, who was also invit ed to Portoghesi’s
prepara to ry team, was sus pi cious of irony. Not sat is fied with the turn the
exhi bi tion took, he with drew from the com mit tee. He opposed the Biennale’s
total is ing, styl is tic, and his tori cist mes sage, and instead devel oped a diver -
gent approach focused on how archi tec ture could respond to spe cif ic
locales.  Frampton’s stance on irony is explic it in his 1983 Per spec ta arti -
cle on  “Prospects for a Crit i cal Region al ism,” where he clear ly sep a rates his
approach from iron ic quo ta tions of place whose main pur pose is to func tion
as com mu nica tive signs.  This post mod ern embrace of pop u lar cul ture ulti -
mate ly func tions, for him, as adver tis ing, and is there fore polit i cal ly and
social ly com plic it in per pet u at ing the very cul ture it attacks.
Lin da Hutcheon reminds us, though, that there is no inher ent rela tion -
ship between irony and spe cif ic polit i cal or ide o log i cal posi tions. Irony is
not rad i cal or con ser v a tive in essence. Rather, it can func tion as either,
depend ing on the con text of its use.  This is what Hutcheon calls the  “tran -
sid e o log i cal pol i tics” of irony. 
She uses the verb  “hap pen,” rather than  “get,” to describe how irony
oper ates, as it only occurs when interpreted–either by its design er or its audi -
ence.  It is not a fixed device, but a result of a com plex process of com mu -
ni ca tion, where inten tion and inter pre ta tion can be in ten sion.
It is impor tant, then, to look at how irony oper ates in indi vid ual cas es,
not only in terms of how it is intend ed to achieve com mu ni ca tion but also in
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
Katerina ZacharopoulouArchitecture and Irony
31 Ibid., 10–11.
32 Ibid., 4.
33 The authors occa sion al ly praise the same
exam ples for their com plex i ty and com mu ‐
nica tive poten tial, such as Piaz za San Mar co
and Vil la Savoye. Wines cites Venturi’s and
Scott Brown’s work as inspi ra tion for de-
archi tec ture, and includes Guild House and
oth er projects in the main text and in the de-
archi tec ture  “project port fo lio” at the end of
the book. Wines, De-Archi tec ture, 33, 167–87.
Besides the metahis tor i cal approach in select ‐
ing exam ples, the books are also sim i lar in
lay out, in how they jux ta pose image and text.
34 Ven turi, Com plex i ty and Con tra dic tion in
Archi tec ture, 18.
35 James Wines in Patri cia Leigh Brown,  “Cur ‐
rents: What Exact ly Is  ‘De-Archi tec ture?’” The
New York Times, 3 Decem ber 1987.
Humorous Irony in Guild House and BEST Products Stores 263
how it fails to do so.
When archi tects use irony inten tion al ly, which exact ly is the audi ence
they aim to address and who do they want to leave out? Who final ly gets the
irony? And most impor tant ly, what hap pens with those who don’t?
A Common Tool
To Hutcheon, irony is more than a phe nom e non observed in every day
speech; it is a  “dis cur sive strat e gy” which can also oper ate in the for mal lev -
el of text, music, and image. While recog nis ing that iro nist and audi ence
can not be sep a rat ed in the study of irony, Hutcheon uses the per spec tive of
the iro nist to define the prac tice as  “the inten tion al trans mis sion of both
infor ma tion and eval u a tive atti tude oth er than what is explic it ly pre sent -
ed.”
Guild House and Best Prod ucts Stores add anoth er lev el at which irony
can oper ate to Hutcheon’s list; archi tec tur al form. With them, irony  “hap -
pens,” at least from the per spec tive of the iro nists, in this case, the archi -
tects. Com plex i ty and Con tra dic tion, Learn ing from Las Vegas, and De-
Archi tec ture describe the build ings as exam ples of archi tec ture that can suc -
cess ful ly com mu ni cate, employ ing irony as an inten tion al, strate gic design
tool. The texts defend this kind of irony in a very sim i lar way and offer
a chance to look at irony as Hutcheon does,  “from exam ples,”  “in use,” in its
unequiv o cal ly polit i cal and social con text, and beyond grand, gen er al
claims.
Although De-Archi tec ture was writ ten 20 years after Com plex i ty and
Con tra dic tion, both texts detect the prob lem of archi tec ture in lack of com -
mu ni ca tion with its audi ence. The solu tion the authors pro pose, after pre -
sent ing their inspi ra tions from var i ous his tor i cal exam ples in the mat ic rather
than chrono log i cal order,  is to employ mass media and con sumerist
iconog ra phy over mod ernist for mal abstrac tion, as a more appro pri ate archi -
tec tur al lan guage, more eas i ly under stood by the pub lic. Ven turi does not shy
away from the oper a tive char ac ter of his criticism:
This book is both an attempt at archi tec tur al crit i cism and an apolo gia
-an expla na tion, indi rect ly, of my work. Because I am a prac tic ing archi tect,
my ideas on archi tec ture are inevitably a by-prod uct of the crit i cism which
accom pa nies work ing.
Wines, in an inter view on his book, echoes this idea by con cep tu al is ing
SITE’s build ings as mate ri alised manifestoes:
One regret table char ac ter is tic of many archi tec tur al the o ries and
philoso phies has been their func tion as jus ti fi ca tion for the author’s own
archi tec tur al oeu vre. […] This book is no excep tion.
31
32
33
34
35
Katerina ZacharopoulouArchitecture and Irony
36 On the dis tinc tion between irony as a prac tice
and oth er approach es, see Hutcheon, Irony’s
Edge, 2–3. For a detailed, his tor i cal analy sis of
approach es to irony, see Claire Cole brook,
Irony (Lon don: Rout ledge, 2004).
37 Ven turi, Com plex i ty and Con tra dic tion in
Archi tec ture, 22–23.
38 Wines, De-Archi tec ture, 20.
39 Ven turi, Com plex i ty and Con tra dic tion in
Archi tec ture, 51–52.
40 Wines, De-Archi tec ture, 46.
41 Cole brook, Irony, 6–7.
42 Hutcheon, Irony’s Edge, 2.
43 See Petit, Irony, 49–55.
Humorous Irony in Guild House and BEST Products Stores 265
Before con sid er ing how the texts view irony as a spe cif ic, applied prac tice, it
is worth not ing that irony per vades them in oth er ways too, for exam ple as
a rhetor i cal trope.  While crit i cis ing mod ernism for sim plis tic uni ver sal i ty
and impos si ble utopi an solu tions, both Ven turi and Wines use the par a digm
of the man i festo to prop a gate their ideas. The title of Com plex i ty and Con -
tra dic tion ’s first chap ter describes the work as a  “gen tle man i festo,” defend -
ing a  “non straight for ward archi tec ture”  and pre fig ur ing the use of irony as
both a writ ing and design prac tice. A man i festo is not sup posed to be gen tle,
and archi tec ture that is not straight for ward must mean more than what it
appears to mean. Sim i lar ly, De-Archi tec ture argues that the 20  cen tu ry  
“man i festo mania” shift ed archi tec tur al writ ing from estab lish ing sets of aes -
thet ic rules to pre sent ing archi tec ture as a means for polit i cal or social rev o -
lu tion. Even though Wines crit i cis es these approach es as too strict, absolute,
and uncom mu nica tive, he presents his own work as just anoth er man i festo,
a con tri bu tion to a con tin u ing tra di tion.  The authors are not com plete ly
sin cere in their use of neg a tive, deroga to ry terms like  “bor ing,”  “ugly and
ordi nary,” or  “de-archi tec ture” either. 
The authors’ response to utopi an mod ernism becomes a more detached,
less seri ous approach to archi tec ture. Their pro posed solu tions, although
new, are not there to save the world, but to make a com ment about it. Ven -
turi, in Com plex i ty and Con tra dic tion, explic it ly con nects irony with the
accep tance of a decreased capac i ty for archi tects to bring about change:
Iron ic con ven tion is rel e vant both for the indi vid ual build ing and the
town scape. It rec og nizes the real con di tion of our archi tec ture and its sta tus
in our cul ture. […] Archi tects should accept their mod est role [the lack of
finan cial invest ments in them] rather than dis guise it […].
Wines detects a decrease in archi tects’ pow er dur ing his time too and
sim i lar ly sug gests accep tance as a solution:
The cri sis of com mu ni ca tion in archi tec ture is a cri sis of sources. Archi -
tects have become inca pable of fil ter ing out, com pre hend ing, and uti liz ing
new sources in the design of build ings […] It is also time to rec og nize that
archi tec ture can not real ly solve any long-range prob lems. Like any art form,
it can only com ment on their exis tence and bring them into sharp er focus.
This move from solv ing social prob lems to high light ing them brings to
mind the roman tic con cep tion of irony as a dis tanced approach to life,
marked by indif fer ence, intel lec tu al detach ment, and a con tin u ous ly ques -
tion ing atti tude to any estab lished world views.
The roman tic con cep tion of irony also acknowl edges a nec es sary oppo -
si tion between real i ty and appear ances, an idea that influ enced the mid-20
cen tu ry Amer i can New Crit ics,  who in turn pro vid ed an inspi ra tion for
Com plex i ty and Con tra dic tion.  In its third chap ter,  “Ambi gu i ty,” Ven turi
36
37
th
38
39
40
41
th
42
43
Katerina ZacharopoulouArchitecture and Irony
44 Ven turi, Com plex i ty and Con tra dic tion in
Archi tec ture, 27. Petit argues that the fail ure
of mod ernism to change soci ety through
archi tec ture led post mod ernists to accept the
clash between ideas and forms as inevitable.
The result was the trans for ma tion of the unin ‐
tend ed irony of mod ernism to a con scious
archi tec tur al tool. Petit, Irony, 7.
45 On the con nec tion of this idea to Venturi’s
cham pi on Vin cent Scul ly and his view on both
Ven turi and Le Cor busier as iro nists, see Petit,
Irony, 37–44. 46 Ven turi, Com plex i ty and Con tra dic tion in
Archi tec ture, 72.
47 Ibid., 88–89.
48 Ven turi et al., Learn ing from Las Vegas, 87. The
com par i son between Guild House and Paul
Rudolph’s Craw ford Manor, rep re sent ing a  
“duck,” reveals that Rudolph’s build ing fea ‐
tures iron ic con tra dic tions between its
appear ance and struc tur al or func tion al
organ i sa tion too. What the authors crit i cise is
that these ironies go unac knowl edged. See
note 44. 49 Ibid., 91–92. As Hutcheon high lights, irony
here is not a mere oppo site of what is  ‘said.’
Guild House both defies and includes expres ‐
sive tech niques asso ci at ed with mod ernism;
the inte ri or is still revealed through the com ‐
mon room win dow, and the design of the side
wings is still dic tat ed by pro gramme, light ing,
and view.
Humorous Irony in Guild House and BEST Products Stores 267
explains that one way of see ing com plex i ty and con tra dic tion is as
a response to the para dox i cal rela tion ship, in life and art, between an image’s
essence and its appear ance.
The nec es sary split between things and images, real i ty and per cep tion,
is trans lat ed by Ven turi in archi tec tur al terms as the nec es sary split between
the inte ri or and exte ri or of a build ing.  In the ninth chap ter of Com plex i ty
and Con tra dic tion,  “The Inside and the Out side,” Ven turi argues that this is
a chief way in which con tra dic tion is man i fest ed in archi tec ture.
This forms part of a direct cri tique on what Ven turi thought that mod ern
archi tec ture required: that the out side needs to result from or to express the
inside. In the chap ter, he offers a series of his tor i cal exam ples which sym -
bol i cal ly dif fer en ti ate inside and out side, rang ing from Roman to mod ern
archi tec ture, and util is ing dif fer ences between top and bot tom or front and
back, resid ual spaces, and enclo sures with in enclo sures. It is here that it
starts to become evi dent how irony can oper ate as a design prac tice. The
point of ten sion where it plays out, is even tu al ly the façade:
Design ing from the out side in, as well as the inside out, cre ates nec es -
sary ten sions, which help make archi tec ture. Since the inside is dif fer ent
from the out side, the wall–the point of change–becomes an archi tec tur al
event […] the spa tial record of this res o lu tion and its dra ma.
Irony then becomes a con tra dic tion between the expec ta tions cre at ed by
the shell of a build ing (equiv a lent to an utter ance) and the expe ri ence evoked
by its inte ri or organ i sa tion, func tion, or struc ture (equiv a lent to mean ing).
This approach becomes explic it in Learn ing from Las Vegas, which moves
from the com plex i ty and con tra dic tion of his tor i cal exam ples to the pop u lar
sym bol ism of Las Vegas as a start ing point for a new, com mu nica tive archi -
tec ture. In the sec ond part of the book, Guild House acts as the par a digm for
the iron ic cat e go ry of the  “dec o rat ed shed,” which fea tures applied orna ment
on a con ven tion al fit-to-pur pose struc ture, against the seem ing ly hon est  
“duck,” which sym bol i cal ly unites and sub sumes spa tial, struc tur al, and pro -
gram mat ic sys tems.
As shown in the begin ning, Guild House is inten tion al ly com posed with
an aim to make its exte ri or imply some thing  “oth er than” its actu al struc ture
and pro gramme. The pri or i ty for its façade design is the cre ation of a uni fied
com po si tion, rather than an expres sion of func tion. The front ele va tion is
appar ent ly divid ed in three parts, instead of the actu al six, and a high er first
floor is implied by the orna men tal white glazed bricks. The façade includes
ele ments that are not struc tural ly required, such as the arched win dow, and
con ven tion al ele ments, such as dou ble-hung win dows, which, through their
dif fer ent shape and size, are not expect ed to fit this type of build ing.
44
45
46
47
48
49
Katerina ZacharopoulouArchitecture and Irony
50 Wines, De-Archi tec ture, 118.
51 Ibid., 120.
52 Ibid., 133.
53 The ninth build ing com mis sioned by Best
Prod ucts to SITE, Anti sign (Ash land, Vir ginia,
1978) was not a store but a dis tri b u tion cen tre.
It did not employ the tech nique of false rev e ‐
la tion but the appli ca tion of mul ti ple, over lap ‐
ping ver sions of the word  “best” across the
height and length of its façade.
54 Com pare with how  “the purest dec o rat ed
shed” is described in Ven turi et al., Learn ing
from Las Vegas, 100. Sim i lar ly to these
authors, Wines thinks that the irony of de-
archi tec ture is strange ly hon est, in  “doing
noth ing more than expos ing what the aver age
archi tect would go to great lengths to cov er
up.” See Wines, De-Archi tec ture, 150, and
notes 44, 48.
55 Wines, De-Archi tec ture, 119.
56 Fredric Jame son, Post mod ernism, or, the Cul ‐
tur al Log ic of Late Cap i tal ism (Durham: Duke
Uni ver si ty Press, 1991), 2–16. See also
Jameson’s  “Robert Ven turi: 1925–2018,” Art fo ‐
rum 57, no. 5 (2019): 39–40.
Humorous Irony in Guild House and BEST Products Stores 269
Sim i lar ly, when defin ing de-archi tec ture, Wines talks about archi tec ture as
a com ment on the human con di tion through con tra dic tion to expec ta tions.
Just like Ven turi and Scott Brown, he locates the most pow er ful estab lished
archi tec tur al con ven tions in the split between exte ri or and inte ri or, and finds
the façade the ide al point of ten sion where these can be con tra dict ed. His
empha sis is also on communication–where Ven turi talks about dra ma, Wines
men tions narrative:
Archi tec ture can, and should, become an exten sion of the public/private
dichoto my so preva lent in con tem po rary psy chol o gy. The walls can tell this
sto ry.
His tech nique called  “inver sion,” in its sub ver sion of con ven tion al
mean ing attached to form, space, and func tion, is very sim i lar to the irony of
the  “dec o rat ed shed”.
Eight of the nine stores by SITE for Best Prod ucts Com pa ny, includ ing
Tilt Build ing, con sti tute appli ca tions of this tech nique.  The façade of the
Peel ing Project (Rich mond, Vir ginia, 1972) looked as if it was peel ing away,
the Inde ter mi nate Façade (Hous ton, Texas, 1975) appeared crum bling and
roof less, and the Notch Build ing (Sacra men to, Cal i for nia, 1979) fea tured no
appar ent open ings apart from a retractable cor ner. The Rain for est Build ing
(Hialeah, Flori da, 1979) cre at ed the impres sion it incor po rat ed local veg e ta -
tion in its inte ri or, and the For est Build ing (Rich mond, Vir ginia, 1980)
appeared cut in half to let a local for est pass through it. The façade of Cut ler
Ridge Show room (Cut ler Ridge, 1980) looked vio lent ly torn from the
building’s main vol ume and fur ther decon struct ed into two more parts, the
entrance canopy and the doors, scat tered across the way to the park ing lot.
Final ly, two facades of the Inside/Outside Build ing (Mil wau kee, Wis con sin,
1984) appeared part ly torn away, to reveal the store’s inte ri or space, includ -
ing false ceil ings, electro mechan i cal equip ment, and even merchandise.
All facades seem ing ly break, tilt, or split to reveal part of the build ings’
inte ri or, while in real i ty a glass façade behind them oper ates as a sec ond,
func tion al exte ri or. The stores there fore use irony like a  “pure” dec o rat ed
shed and attack the idea of express ing func tion in form by essen tial ly util is -
ing false-fronts as applied dec o ra tion to con ven tion al big-box sheds.  The
advanced, labo ri ous tech nolo gies used to achieve the effects of each orna -
men tal façade is anoth er iron ic attack to what Wines sees as the sym bol ic
cel e bra tion of tech nol o gy by mod ern archi tec ture.
The con cep tion of irony as a strate gic tool in Guild House and Best
Prod ucts Stores reflects Fredric Jameson’s view of post mod ernism as a prod -
uct of its era, a cul tur al expres sion of late, or con sumer, cap i tal ism, char ac -
terised by depth less ness and aes thet ic pop ulism.  The archi tects of both
projects view irony’s poten tial to func tion as a com ment on their con tem por-
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
Katerina ZacharopoulouArchitecture and Irony
57 Fredric Jame son,  “Post mod ernism and Con ‐
sumer Soci ety," in The Anti-Aes thet ic: Essays
on Post mod ern Cul ture, ed. Hal Fos ter (Seat ‐
tle, Wash ing ton: Bay Press, 1993), 125.
58 Vin cent Scul ly,  “Intro duc tion,” in Com plex i ty
and Con tra dic tion in Archi tec ture (New York:
The Muse um of Mod ern Art, 2019), 15.
59 Leigh Brown,  “Cur rents: What Exact ly Is  ‘De-
Archi tec ture?’”
60 Wines, De-Archi tec ture, 14.
61 See Ellen Pos ner,  “Books: De-Archi tec ture,”
Archi tec tur al Record 176, no. 7 (1988): 77; Bri ‐
an Carter,  “Bot tling Vin tage Wines: De-Archi ‐
tec ture,” Build ing Design, no. 889 (1988): 30–
31; Michael McDo nough,  “Books: De-Archi tec ‐
ture,” ID: The Inter na tion al Design Mag a zine
35, no. 6 (1988): 74–75, all slight ly scep ti cal, to
dif fer ing degrees, about Wines’s ideas.
62 Stan ley Moss,  “James Wines,” BOMB Mag a ‐
zine, April 1, 1991.
Humorous Irony in Guild House and BEST Products Stores 271
ary cul ture as large ly con fined to the visu al realm and con cen trat ed on their
build ings’ sur face. Their iron ic semi-false fronts deny depth fig u ra tive ly and
lit er al ly, towards a con cep tu al and visu al flat ness.  “Read ing” irony on these
sur faces is enabled by a dis so lu tion of the bound ary between high and low
cul ture, as the build ings embrace the lan guage of con sumerism, instead of
resist ing it.
Jame son argues that any posi tion on post mod ern cul ture is nec es sar i ly
a polit i cal posi tion on late cap i tal ism. How ev er, he leaves the ques tion of
whether post mod ern archi tec ture can pro duce rad i cal pol i tics instead of
align ing with con sumer val ues open.  In the case of Guild House and Best
Prod ucts Stores, Ven turi, Scott Brown, and Wines argue, like Jencks, that
sur face, through irony, can pro duce mean ing ful engage ment and sub ver sive
social critique.
Degrees of Communication
Despite shar ing a com mon con cep tion of irony and an aim to engage and
bring togeth er com mu ni ties, the two projects, along with the texts defend ing
them, had diver gent, even con trast ing com mu nica tive effects, suc ceed ing
and fail ing in var i ous ways. 
Irony’s edge becomes evi dent in how Vin cent Scul ly, in the intro duc -
tion of Com plex i ty and Con tra dic tion, accus es ortho dox mod ernists who
react ed to Venturi’s ideas of an  “utter lack of irony.”  Nev er the less, the
book, along with Learn ing from Las Vegas, quick ly became part of the
canon i cal dis course of the dis ci pline, and can be found in most uni ver si ty
course read ing lists on West ern archi tec tur al historiography.
“I’m not sure my moth er will read it,” Wines jok ing ly admit ted in an
inter view on De-Archi tec ture.  Still, he had high hopes for the book’s com -
mu nica tive poten tial, wish ing that it could reach out to audi ences beyond the
dis ci pline of archi tec ture.
The book did not go unno ticed at the time,  but despite the sim i lar i ty
of approach, for mat, and mes sage with Com plex i ty and Con tra dic tion and
Learn ing from Las Vegas, and its sim pler lan guage, it does not enjoy the
same sta tus. Unlike these books’ con tin u ous reprint ing, De-Archi tec ture is
dif fi cult to find, most of its avail able copies now sold second-hand. 
Wines claims that SITE’s build ings, espe cial ly at the start, were not
exact ly wel comed with enthu si asm from the archi tec tur al pro fes sion al and
aca d e m ic world. Their first build ing was, to him, what made the firm
famous, but also destruc tive for their rep u ta tion with in the field.  The most
canon i cal inclu sion of SITE’s work in the archi tec tur al dis course of its time
was indeed hos tile. The cat a logue of the 1988 exhi bi tion Decon struc tivist
57
58
59
60
61
62
Katerina ZacharopoulouArchitecture and Irony
63 Philip John son and Mark Wigley, eds., Decon ‐
struc tivist Archi tec ture (New York: The Muse ‐
um of Mod ern Art, 1988), 11.
64 “Let ters,” The Archi tec tur al Review 158, no.
944 (1975): 192. Wines expressed his dis sat is ‐
fac tion with the cap tion, and the jour nal made
amends with a review of SITE’s ideas and
projects in Lance Wright, “Through the Look ‐
ing Glass,” The Archi tec tur al Review 163, no.
973 (1978): 132–35, includ ing a response
by Wines.
65 “SITE | MoMA,” The Muse um of Mod ern Art.
SITE have a con tin u ous rela tion ship with
MoMA, their work fea tured in 12 exhi bi tions so
far, relat ed to themes rang ing from pol i tics
and cit i zen ship to col lage, land scape,
and ecology.
66 Best Prod ucts Stores are includ ed, for exam ‐
ple, in Jencks’s famous evo lu tion ary dia gram,
the cat a logue of the 2011 V&A exhi bi tion on
post mod ern archi tec ture  “Style and Sub ver ‐
sion”, and Petit ’s study on archi tec tur al irony.
67 Addi son Philadel phia His tor i cal Com mis sion,  
“Philadel phia Reg is ter of His toric Places
(OPA-Com pli ant Address es),” City of Philadel ‐
phia, June 26, 2024. 68 For an account of the stores’ fate, see Mar ‐
garet McCormick,  “The Iron ic Loss of the
Post mod ern BEST Store Facades,” Failed
Archi tec ture, July 22, 2014.
69 See  “Best Prod ucts, SITE, and the Nature of
Nos tal gia,” Cul tur al Ghosts (blog), March 7,
2013; Claire Sewell, “’Darn d est Thing You Ever
Saw!’: BEST Prod ucts and Houston’s Inde ter ‐
mi nate Facade,” We Are the Mutants (blog),
Sep tem ber 17, 2018; Vio let LeV oit,  “Best’s  ‘Tilt ’
Show room, 1978–1997,” Bal ti more Or Less
(blog), May 29, 2012. 70 James McCown,  “Best Thing Going,” Metrop o ‐
lis, April 1, 2003.
Humorous Irony in Guild House and BEST Products Stores 273
Archi tec ture at New York’s Muse um of Mod ern Art used an image of the
Notch Build ing to dis miss it, along with sim i lar works that appeared bro ken
apart, as mere sim u la tions of decon struc tion and  “some of the most for mi da -
ble projects of recent years.”  Like wise, a cap tion under an image of Inde -
ter mi nate Façade in a 1975 issue of The Archi tec tur al Review, not con vinced
by the irony of the build ing, makes it and its archi tects the tar get of
irony instead:
Are you find ing it hard to design new build ings, to add some mean ing
to the lan guage of mod ern archi tec ture? This show room in Hous ton, Texas,
[…] has the answer. […] The  ‘artist’ involved, James Wines, […] sees his
work as  ‘a dia logue between con struc tive and reduc tive process es’ and  ‘a
ten ta tive and pre car i ous imagery’… pre car i ous is the word.
This is not to say that the reac tion to Best Prod ucts Stores was pure
rejec tion. The build ings did appear in the press, Wines gave inter views and
lec tures inter na tion al ly, and SITE fea tured at art and archi tec ture exhi bi tions
such as the 1980  “Build ings for Best Prod ucts” at MoMA.  Even tu al ly, the
stores became part of the dis ci pli nary canon, but maybe slight ly lat er than
need ed for them to be pre served.  Unlike Guild House, which was added to
the Philadel phia Reg is ter of His toric Places in 2004,  after the liq ui da tion
of Best Prod ucts in 1997, most of the build ings were changed or demol ished,
and none sur vives in its orig i nal state.
They do sur vive, though, as images, not as much in archi tec tur al books
and aca d e m ic arti cles than in mul ti ple blogs and forums online, usu al ly cre -
at ed by local fans not nec es sar i ly famil iar with archi tec tur al his to ry.  Their
com ments, express ing love and nos tal gia for the now lost build ings, betray
a suc cess in com mu ni cat ing with a gen er al pub lic, an opin ion that Wines
shares. In an inter view on Tilt Build ing, he appears to val ue the thoughts the
store pro voked to mul ti ple vis i tors and passer by much more than get ting
approval from archi tects.  Guild House, how ev er, can not be said to enjoy
the same lev el of pop u lar fascination.
Sim i lar ly to the archi tects who designed the two projects, the exam ples
of crit i cism pre sent ed above focus most ly on the irony of facades, rather
than on space use, acces si bil i ty, com fort, or per for mance. Whether orig i nat -
ing from the archi tec tur al dis ci pline or from a wider pub lic, these pos i tive or
neg a tive eval u a tions of the works revolve around the ques tion of whether
irony suc ceeds, on whether its mes sage can pass, as intend ed, from the archi -
tects to their audi ence. The ten sion between these var i ous inter pre ta tions
points to the insta bil i ty of archi tec tur al mean ing, and to the pos si bil i ty of
mis com mu ni ca tion always under ly ing inten tions of communication.
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
Katerina ZacharopoulouArchitecture and Irony
71 Ven turi, Com plex i ty and Con tra dic tion in
Archi tec ture, 48. 72 Wines, De-Archi tec ture, 91.
73 Ven turi, Com plex i ty and Con tra dic tion in
Archi tec ture, 70.
74 Wines, De-Archi tec ture, 143.
Humorous Irony in Guild House and BEST Products Stores 275
Degrees of Expectation
On a the o ret i cal lev el, Com plex i ty and Con tra dic tion, Learn ing from Las
Vegas, and De-Archi tec ture favour com plex i ty over sim plic i ty and enjoy
break ing rules by using irony to sub vert archi tec tur al expec ta tions. Ven turi
calls this the use of  “con ven tion uncon ven tion al ly,”  and Wines the use of  
“the famil iar as the basis for explor ing the unfa mil iar.”
But since the process of trans lat ing irony from a fig ure of speech into
archi tec tur al form involves nec es sary gaps, when it comes to spe cif ic build -
ings, con tra dic tion to expec ta tions is not always achieved in the same way.
A clos er look at the com po si tion of Guild House and Best Prod ucts Stores
reveals an under ly ing dif fer ence in how each project mate ri alis es archi tec -
tur al irony, implied by their diverg ing com mu nica tive effects: in the type of
expec ta tions that are to be contradicted.
As the quote below reveals, the archi tec ture of Ven turi, Scott Brown,
and Izenour attacks the expec ta tions that the archi tects thought mod ernism
cre at ed regard ing forms: 
Con trast between the inside and the out side can be a major man i fes ta -
tion of con tra dic tion in archi tec ture. How ev er, one of the pow er ful twen ti eth
cen tu ry ortho dox ies has been the neces si ty for con ti nu ity between them: the
inside should be expressed on the out side.
SITE’s build ings, on the oth er hand, deal with more gen er al con ven -
tions regard ing the process es of the cre ation and decay of structures:
What con ven tions do exist in SITE’s build ings have usu al ly derived
more from the log ic of con struc tion (or demo li tion) prac tices than from any
con scious cre ation of forms or orches tra tion of space.
Ven turi and Scott Brown attack mod ern archi tec ture; SITE attack archi -
tec ture itself. 
If irony is a mat ter of inter pre ta tion, as Hutcheon argues, and if it is
nec es sar i ly based on the sys tem it attempts to defy, then an under stand ing of
that sys tem is required for its suc cess ful inter pre ta tion when intend ed. Tak -
ing this back to archi tec ture, an under stand ing of the lan guage of mod ernism
is required for the inter pre ta tion of post mod ern forms as its iron ic critique.
The ironies of Guild House, such as the con ti nu ity of its façade’s sur -
face despite a change in mate r i al, or the rev e la tion of its cur tain wall by
hints at the struc tur al columns through the win dows, can be eas i ly missed
even by those well-versed in the lan guage of mod ern architecture.
The archi tec ture that Best Prod ucts Show rooms sub vert, the sub ur ban
big-box store type, is, on the con trary, much more embed ded in the col lec -
tive uncon scious. On top of that, the lan guage of destruc tion used for this
sub ver sion, also has to do with more com mon ly shared assump tions, regardi-
71
72
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74
Katerina ZacharopoulouArchitecture and Irony
75 On Best Prod ucts Stores sub vert ing the
roman tic con cep tion of the ruin, turn ing it
from sub lime to com ic, see Jes si ca Robey,  
“Appetite for Destruc tion: Pub lic Iconog ra phy
and the Arti fi cial Ruins of Site, Inc.,” InVis i ble
Cul ture 6 (2003).
76 Hutcheon, Irony’s Edge, 17.
77 Rein hold Mar tin, Utopia’s Ghost: Archi tec ture
and Post mod ernism, Again (Min neapo lis: Uni ‐
ver si ty of Min neso ta Press, 2010), xix , 70–73.
78 Wines, De-Archi tec ture, 146.
Humorous Irony in Guild House and BEST Products Stores 277
ng func tion, mate r i al, or con struc tion. Almost any one expects an inte ri or
space to be pro tect ed from the out side, or a build ing to have a roof. This
inter est in lit er al ly attack ing archi tec ture is evi dent in the inspi ra tion SITE
drew from art work that ren ders struc tures unin hab it able or dys func tion al,
like Gor don Matta-Clark’s dis sect ed or pierced build ings, Gian ni Pettena’s
hous es cov ered with ice or clay, and Duchamp’s sin gle door serv ing two
rooms simul ta ne ous ly. In their adap ta tion of high art to every day, insignif i -
cant struc tures, SITE trans lat ed insta bil i ty and unus abil i ty to a plain image,
meant to sig ni fy the decay of con sumer cul ture and uncer tain ty of con tem po -
rary life.
Accord ing to Lin da Hutcheon, irony does not result in the for ma tion of
new groups that share a con text, but rather is allowed to hap pen because of
pre-exist ing ones, which she calls  “dis cur sive com mu ni ties.”  The two
archi tec tur al approach es, in a way, are say ing the same thing; that build ings
should not nec es sar i ly look strong or func tion al, that their form need not
express the capa bil i ty of per form ing their pur pose. SITE, how ev er, seem to
include more peo ple in their intend ed dis cur sive communities.
The lack of a uni ver sal accep tance of archi tec tur al rules and con ven -
tions points to an addi tion al prob lem for cri tiques of post mod ern irony–one
that extends beyond its abil i ty to com mu ni cate to the extent of its suc cess ful
com mu ni ca tion. This prob lem can be rein stat ed, in Jameson’s terms, as
a prob lem of depth. Refer ring to the pop ulism of Venturi’s and Scott
Brown’s work, Rein hold Mar tin argues that post mod ernism might have
replaced modernism’s eso teric lan guage with one of its own, clas si cis ing the
pop u lar instead of pop u lar is ing the clas si cal.  In this way, mod ern asso ci a -
tions with depth can be retained with in post mod ern dis course. SITE’s irony,
instead, is often seen as too super fi cial and too steeped in pop u lar cul ture,
too com mu nica tive. There is, in oth er words, a point beyond which post mod -
ern depth less ness and aes thet ic pop ulism cease to be appro pri ate. Maybe one
of the rea sons why the firm’s build ings received such strong neg a tive reac -
tions in acad e mia was that the pub lic liked them too much.
Funny Business
Part of what made Best Prod ucts Stores pop u lar was cer tain ly their humour.
In De-Archi tec ture, Wines men tions a series of crit i cisms Inde ter mi nate
Façade received by archi tects, aca d e mics, and pub lish ers, includ ing:  “SITE’s
work is some kind of joke,”  “it’s not real archi tec ture,”  “humor of this kind
has no place in archi tec ture,”  “noth ing but a one-lin er.”
A clos er look at these com ments reveals that behind the rejec tion of the
build ings as jokes lie impli ca tions of offen sive ness, fak e ness, and inap prop-
75
76
77
78
Katerina ZacharopoulouArchitecture and Irony
79 John Mor re all,  “The Rejec tion of Humor in
West ern Thought,” Phi los o phy East & West 39,
3 (1989): 255.
80 Hutcheon, Irony’s Edge, 25.
81 Mor re all,  “The Rejec tion of Humor in West ern
Thought,” 257.
82 Ven turi et al., Learn ing from Las Vegas, 161.
83 Wines, De-Archi tec ture, 26.
84 Wright,  “Through the Look ing Glass,” 135.
Humorous Irony in Guild House and BEST Products Stores 279
ri ate ness, the same rea sons which, accord ing to humour the o rist John Mor re -
all, caused a rejec tion of humour in West ern philo soph i cal thought. A neg a -
tive per cep tion of laugh ter, orig i nat ing in antiq ui ty, and gain ing strength
with Chris tian i ty, led to the per cep tion of humour as immoral and irre spon si -
ble, for its use at the expense of oth ers and its prac tice sole ly for plea sure.
Along these lines, humour against the integri ty and sta bil i ty of archi tec ture
might not be eas i ly welcomed.
While Hutcheon recog nis es that not all irony is humor ous, she
acknowl edges the com mon ground between the o ries of irony and humour in
their affec tive aspect and their depen dence on incon gruity and dis cur sive
com mu ni ties. Still, she admits avoid ing to con sid er humour in her study, in
order to pre vent an auto mat ic rejec tion of irony as triv ial just because of
a poten tial asso ci a tion with amuse ment.
Maybe not all irony is humor ous, but the irony of Guild House and Best
Prod ucts Stores is. Their design strat e gy, beyond con tra dict ing expec ta tions,
is also meant to pro voke amuse ment. As Mor re all argues, mir ror ing the way
the archi tects of both build ings describe their design tool,  “the best humor
gets us to see famil iar things in unfa mil iar ways.”
The authors of Learn ing from Las Vegas use the terms irony and
humour with out a clear dis tinc tion and in the same con text, while still ensur -
ing their audi ence that being humor ous does not pre clude being serious: 
Help ing this [archi tec ture as the peo ple want it] to hap pen is a not-rep -
re hen si ble part of the role of the high-design archi tect; it pro vides, togeth er
with moral sub ver sion through irony and the use of a joke to get to seri ous -
ness, the weapons of artists of nonau thor i tar i an tem pera ment in social sit u a -
tions that do not agree with them. The archi tect becomes a jester.
Wines also argues that archi tec ture needs humor, irony, and fan ta sy.
In a response to a review of SITE’s work, he clar i fies that this humour is
meant to be  “a kind of black humour more than a casu al gig gle” or  “the  'ha,
ha, falling bricks' cat e go ry of analy sis.” Down play ing the ele ment of amuse -
ment is here part of an attempt to make sure that SITE’s irony is seen as seri -
ous enough, that it is not dis missed as frivolous:
Obvi ous ly the humour is not just an effort to be amus ing. It is about
cer tain issues–architectural, psy cho log i cal, sociological–which can not be
sim ply dis missed as  'fun ny'.
These clear ly stat ed humor ous inten tions did not nec es sar i ly mat ter for
crit ics. They might instead have aggra vat ed crit i cisms and con tributed to the
build ings’ per cep tion as super fi cial, with irony reject ed for none oth er rea son
than being amusing.
When defend ing an archi tec tur al work, empha sis tends to be placed on
the way humour ren ders irony uncrit i cal ly reject ed. Humour, how ev er, can
79
80
81
82
83
84
Katerina ZacharopoulouArchitecture and Irony
85 It is not sur pris ing that the Archi tec tur al
Record issue Wines drew the crit i cisms at the
start of this sec tion from, also includ ed praise
of the stores for their humour alone.  “Let ters
to the Edi tor,” Archi tec tur al Record 161, no. 5
(1977): 4.
86 Hutcheon, Irony’s Edge, 34. 87 On the ques tion able sub ver sive atti tude of
Venturi’s and Scott Brown’s work when jux ta ‐
posed with the social and polit i cal move ments
of their times, see Dianne Har ris,  “Com plex i ty
and Com pla cen cy in Archi tec ture,” in Com ‐
plex i ty and Con tra dic tion at Fifty, 130–41.
88 Thomas C. Veatch,  “A The o ry of Humor,”
Humor: Inter na tion al Jour nal of Humor
Research 11, no. 2 (1998): 161–216.
89 Vladimir Bel o golovsky,  “Inter view with James
Wines:  ‘The Point Is to Attack Archi tec ture!’”
Arch Dai ly, March 9, 2016.
90 Mark Fish er, Cap i tal ist Real ism: Is There No
Alter na tive? (Rop ley: O Books, 2009), 13.
Humorous Irony in Guild House and BEST Products Stores 281
also ren der irony uncrit i cal ly accept ed.
The irony of Guild House and Best Prod ucts Stores is pre sent ed by the
build ings’ archi tects as sub ver sive, a self-crit i cal approach attack ing hier ar -
chies and dom i nant per cep tions of the world. The fact that irony uses the
lan guage of the sys tem it attacks is here pos i tive, mak ing it pos si ble for the
mes sage to be under stood and show ing the insta bil i ty of a sup pos ed ly sta ble
sys tem. But accord ing to Hutcheon’s tran sid e o log i cal pol i tics, although
irony is usu al ly pre sent ed as tak ing only one side of an argu ment, it actu al ly
oper ates as both doubt ing a sys tem by expos ing its con ven tions and sup port -
ing a sys tem by empha sis ing its con ven tions. Irony can be  “both polit i cal
and apo lit i cal, both con ser v a tive and rad i cal, both repres sive and democ ra -
tiz ing.”  This qual i ty cre ates a sus pi cion of irony as an oppo si tion al tool.
Humour the o ry, often inter pret ing amuse ment as the result of per ceiv -
ing incon gruity, sim i lar ly casts doubts on the degree of humour’s sub ver sive -
ness. Benign Vio la tion The o ry, specif i cal ly, holds that to per ceive some thing
as humor ous, one needs to over come the con cern over a vio la tion of a norm,
but also to val ue that norm to an extent.  Not only the break ing of the rule,
then, needs to be seen as non-threat en ing, but also the rule itself. 
Even when humor ous irony suc ceeds, Guild House both attacks and
rein forces the lan guage of mod ernism. The work of Ven turi and Scott
Brown, not sur pris ing ly, is often inter pret ed as a con tin u a tion, rather than
a rup ture, with that tra di tion. Equal ly, Best Prod uct Stores both attack and
rein force the lan guage of con sumerism. The more pop u lar and under stand -
able the lan guage that SITE used was, the more atten tion it would attract,
which is exact ly what hap pened. Wines, for exam ple, nar rates how cus -
tomers of For est Build ing, the most prof itable Best Prod ucts store, would
typ i cal ly return inside to buy more things while hav ing pic nics in the gar den
which appeared to divide the build ing.
Behind the view of post mod ern irony as overt ly super fi cial, as
expressed by crit ics like Framp ton, lies this com plic i ty with con sumerist val -
ues. It is exact ly the sur face-lev el appli ca tion of irony in Best Prod ucts
Stores that allows, and even rein forces, the unin hib it ed con tin u a tion of con -
sumerism with in oth er wise con ven tion al store interiors. 
To Mark Fish er, even suc cess ful con cep tu al sub ver sion of cap i tal ism is
sub sumed under cap i tal ist real ism, the per va sive belief that no alter na tive
polit i cal and eco nom ic sys tem is pos si ble. Fish er expos es how the com mu -
nica tive poten tial and out reach of post mod ern irony becomes a prob lem by
quot ing Slavoj Žižek’s point that  “even if we do not take things seri ous ly,
even if we keep an iron i cal dis tance, we are still doing them.”  The irony of
Best Prod ucts Stores fails to fight the sys tem it pur ports to sub vert because it
alle vi ates the guilt of par tic i pa tion in cap i tal ist exchange by sug gest ing that
85
86 87
88
89
90
Katerina ZacharopoulouArchitecture and Irony
6
7
91 Galia Hirsch,  “Irony, Humor or Both?: The
Mod el Revis it ed,” in The Dis course of Indi rect ‐
ness: Cues, Voic es and Func tions, eds. Zohar
Liv nat et al. (Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John
Ben jamins Pub lish ing Com pa ny, 2020), 19–38;
Joana Gar men dia,  “The Clash: Humor and
Crit i cal Atti tude in Ver bal Irony,” Humor: Inter ‐
na tion al Jour nal of Humor Research 27, no. 4
(2014): 641–59.
92 See online sources cit ed in note 67, for more
puz zled reac tions towards Best Prod ucts
show rooms’ seem ing precariousness.
Humorous Irony in Guild House and BEST Products Stores 283
mere dis ap proval is suf fi cient. Irony, in this case, suc ceeds in pass ing a mes -
sage, but fails in action.
Crit ics’ sus pi cion of SITE’s humour could be jus ti fied con sid er ing
Fisher’s con cerns. Stud ies of the inter sec tions between humour and irony
have found that irony is usu al ly seen as more crit i cal, its affec tive and eval u -
a tive atti tude rid den with more neg a tive con no ta tions.  Humour, con sid ered
light-heart ed, less con fronta tion al, even triv ial, can make irony more benign.
It can allow bypass ing irony’s sub ver sive side and tar gets, more eas i ly
accept ing its com plic i ty. In oth er words, humour can soft en irony’s edge.
Communication Breakdown, Again
Archi tects and crit ics who believe in the sub ver sive poten tial of super fi cial
irony rely on its suc cess ful com mu ni ca tion. Those who oppose irony, on the
con trary, are scep ti cal pre cise ly because it com mu ni cates suc cess ful ly.
Irony’s sup port ers think its strength is its oper a tion in the realm of thought–
irony’s crit ics view this as the prob lem. But when putting empha sis on
humor ous irony as a means of com mu ni ca tion, these archi tects and crit ics
over look that irony might be defined not only by its suc cess, but also by its
inher ent poten tial for failure. 
In the respons es to build ings that began this arti cle, the dan ger of irony,
its exclu sion ary poten tial, is at work. The irony there does not  “hap pen”: the
iron ic details of Guild House and the destruc tive sym bol ism of Tilt Build ing
are tak en at face value.
While the archi tects-iro nists leave the pos si bil i ty of such inter pre ta tions
open by embrac ing the insta bil i ty of irony, their autho r i al inten tion recedes
into the back ground. If archi tec tur al com mu ni ca tion is under stood as the
trans fer of a mes sage from an archi tect to an audi ence through a build ing,
then mis in ter pre ta tion is seen as fail ure. But if com mu ni ca tion becomes the
inter ac tion between a build ing and its audi ence, inter pre ta tion still takes
place – mean ing is still transmitted. 
When irony fails, and it might do so because of lack of knowl edge or
prox im i ty, it is very pos si ble that an observ er of Guild House will see yet
anoth er ugly and ordi nary, mod ern,  “bauhaus-y” building–one that fol lows
the very prin ci ples that Ven turi and Scott Brown meant to attack [ 6 ]. But in
the case of Best Prod ucts Stores, dur ing the time they were still up and run -
ning, a speed ing dri ver or an inat ten tive pass er-by might, for a moment, see
what they would now, after the company’s demise; dan ger ous, crum bling,
and decay ing build ings [ 7 ].  In such cas es, how ev er rare and improb a ble
they might seem, an archi tec ture of con sumerism might end up fail ing to
con vince its tar get audi ence to enter it. 
91
92
Katerina ZacharopoulouArchitecture and Irony
93 Fish er, Cap i tal ist Real ism, 16–20.
Humorous Irony in Guild House and BEST Products Stores 285
This com mu ni ca tion break down ulti mate ly con tests the posi tion that post -
mod ern, sur face-lev el irony is nec es sar i ly unable to pro duce acts of resis -
tance. The mis align ment between the intend ed impact of visu al cri tique and
the expec ta tions of an audi ence might fail to com mu ni cate sub ver sive
thought, but nev er the less suc ceeds in sub ver sive action. Mis com mu ni ca tion
and depth less ness then work togeth er to high light what Fish er calls for, an
unex pect ed incon sis ten cy, a pos si ble break in the per va sive ness of cap i tal ist
real ism, a hint at a fail ure, how ev er tiny, for its  “real i ty” to remain as all-
encom pass ing as it presents itself to be.
Coun ter in tu itive ly, it is this poten tial for fail ure that is most rad i cal
about Best Prod ucts Stores.
93
Katerina ZacharopoulouArchitecture and Irony
Humorous Irony in Guild House and BEST Products Stores 287
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291
Nika Grabar
Cold War Architectures
Global Discourses, Slovenian
Practices, and Ideological
Fractures
Nika GrabarArchitecture and Irony
Cold War Architectures 293
Introduction
The post-WWII peri od was marked by recon struc tions and the advance ment
of the wel fare state in the West and the social ist state in the East. Despite
numer ous col lab o ra tions between archi tects from both sides of the Iron Cur -
tain, many dilem mas con cern ing archi tec ture and its role in devel op ment
projects remained unre solved. The arti cle analy ses how, after the WWII, the
inter-bloc col lab o ra tion of archi tects in the con text of the UIA (Inter na tion al
Union of Archi tects) allowed for a fruit ful exchange of ideas while at the
same time its pro tag o nists pro duced a dis course that made the inter twine -
ment between archi tec ture and ide ol o gy an untouch able sub ject. A sim i lar
sit u a tion can be dis cerned in the pro ceed ings of the AYP (Amer i can-
Yugoslav Project), a 1960s bilat er al project for devel op ing Cold War plan -
ning method olo gies. The Sloven ian archi tects worked with in both con flict -
ing con di tions in Yugoslavia and abroad giv en the urgency for recon struc tion
and mod ern iza tion. The social ist project col lapsed by the 1990s, but its
archi tec tur al achieve ments stayed, includ ing the ones in Yugoslavia. How ev -
er, the tran si tion from social ism to cap i tal ism changed the sym bol ic frame -
work of their mean ing. Since they were built to rep re sent val ues anti thet i cal
to the ones of cap i tal ism, their per cep tion was accom pa nied by an embed ded
sense of irony. The same sen ti ment, how ev er, can be traced back pre cise ly to
the frac tures of the dis cours es and the fail ures of Cold War plan ning. The
arti cle there fore focus es on elu ci dat ing them through exam in ing spe cif ic his -
tor i cal moments in Sloven ian archi tec tur al his to ry, which at the same time
show how ide ol o gy co-shaped socio-polit i cal rela tions with archi tec ture,
both local ly and glob al ly. The first part is devot ed to the ques tion of begin -
ning of the activ i ties of the UIA imme di ate ly after WWII and to a reflec tion
on the involve ment of Sloven ian archi tects in it. The cir cum stances hin dered
a thor ough reflec tion on the fun da men tal rela tion ship between archi tec ture
and ide ol o gy, there by sep a rat ing the dis cus sion of archi tec tur al form from its
pur pose and var i ous social real i ties. This became par tic u lar ly evi dent dur ing
the UIA's activ i ties in Moroc co in 1951, which are explored in the sec ond
part of the paper. The third part of the arti cle focus es on the ques tion of spa -
tial plan ning strate gies dur ing the Cold War, which were con di tioned pre -
cise ly by eco nom ic inter est of the East ern and West ern blocs. The evolv ing
dynam ics of spa tial plan ning, marked by larg er-scale projects and orga nized
inter na tion al net work ing, often led to iron ic sit u a tions due to con flict ing ide -
o log i cal posi tions of those involved. This irony high light ed the dual nature
of archi tec ture, which both antic i pat ed and co-shaped the tran si tions of the
1990s. The shift ing mean ings evi dent in these his tor i cal accounts added to
the irony of con tem po rary perceptions.
Nika GrabarArchitecture and Irony
Cold War Architectures 295
Changing Perceptions
It is axiomat ic that archi tec ture can be simul ta ne ous ly per ceived as a phys i -
cal and sym bol ic object. When a sit u a tion aris es in which an archi tec tur al
form is seen as a vehi cle for val ues anti thet i cal to those ren dered at the time
of its con struc tion, irony can not be dis missed as mere amuse ment. The fact
that the same build ing can influ ence dif fer ent modes of per cep tion over time
rais es the ques tion of its con tent and pur pose with in a wider spa tial con text
that is direct ly linked to visions of progress and thus to con stant tech no log i -
cal and social trans for ma tions. There's a cer tain irony in the numer ous
(re)constructions that no longer inspire con fi dence in a fair and hope ful
future. Con tem po rary spa tial effects are accel er at ed or decel er at ed by the
vora cious ness of a com mod i fied fragmental—image-biased—media. Often
over looked is the evo lu tion of dig i tal tech nolo gies relat ed to archi tec tur al
design and its two par al lel tra jec to ries, both of which were shaped after the
WWII. One is relat ed to archi tec tur al form, the oth er, how ev er, con cerns
less vis i ble but no less impor tant spa tial plan ning method olo gies.
The process of orga niz ing the exhi bi tion on the archi tec ture of
Yugoslavia for the occa sion of the sec ond UIA Con gress in Sep tem ber 1951
pro vides an illus tra tive exam ple con cern ing the role of mod ernist ideas of
Sloven ian archi tects in a spe cif ic geo-polit i cal sit u a tion. Despite the ini tial
UIA ambi tions to build a new, more col lab o ra tive world with archi tec ture,
the dis course in the UIA's inter na tion al are na sug gests that these goals were
not eas i ly achiev able. As the pro tag o nists of the UIA tried to avoid polit i cal
ques tions focus ing on for mal issues, a dis cur sive gap was pro duced hin der -
ing a mean ing ful and sup port ive inter-bloc col lab o ra tion. The sit u a tion made
it dif fi cult to reflect on the fun da men tal inter play between archi tec ture and
ide ol o gy, which con se quent ly dis tanced the ques tion of archi tec tur al form
from pur pose and dif fer ent social real i ties. When UIA’s activ i ties took place
in Moroc co in 1951, there Sloven ian archi tects orga nized an exhi bi tion on
Yugoslav archi tec ture pre sent ing archi tec tur al influ ences of the east and
west, show ing spaces of social inclu sion, urban iza tion, folk lore, media, etc.;
none of which con cerned eco nom ic issues. 
When advanced method olo gies of region al plan ning began to take hold
in the mid-1960s, Amer i can and Sloven ian archi tects adapt ed them for soci -
etal plan ning of Yugoslav social ism in the con text of the AYP. By this time,
plan ning method olo gies had become a cross-dis ci pli nary field, whose imple -
men ta tions grad u al ly includ ed the use of com put er tech nol o gy. As a col lab o -
ra tive project, the AYP had an impact on sev er al fronts–in Yugoslavia it
influ enced the role of archi tects in the design of devel op ment projects, in
Amer i ca the lessons learned from the AYP were incor po rat ed in the
Nika GrabarArchitecture and Irony
1 Part of the arti cle deal ing with the back ‐
ground of the UIA's activ i ty and exhi bi tions
was pro duced in the con text of the research
project Art and Archi tec tur al Exhibit ing
Between Art and Ide o log i cal Con cepts. The
Case of Slove nia, 1947–1979 (J6-3137), fund ed
by the Sloven ian Research and Inno va tion
Agency (ARIS).
Cold War Architectures 297
for mu la tion of plan ning the o ry; it fur ther evolved in the con text of John
Hop kins’ Uni ver si ty plan ning pro grams, and at the same time the find ings of
the AYP were amongst sev er al that co-shaped the UN's glob al devel op ment
guide lines, which con tributed to the expan sion of the Amer i can sphere of
influ ence beyond the Iron Curtain. 
The AYP is thus a symp tom of the times, from which it is pos si ble to
dis cern how the con di tions of soci etal plan ning in Yugoslavia trans formed
and reformed the role of archi tects in the pro duc tion of space. In Ljubl jana
this was a peri od of intense mod ern iza tion under social ism, with the con di -
tions of spa tial plan ning being rede fined through pro fes sion al activ i ties (cen -
tered on rethink ing the ques tion of form in the new social con text) and the
effects of the eco nom ic forces of the Cold War (shap ing plan ning method -
olo gies to become more sci en tif ic, lead ing to the pro duc tion of space becom -
ing increas ing ly opaque and dri ven by top-down processes). 
The evolv ing dynam ics of spa tial plan ning were close ly inter twined
with architecture
cul ture. Projects expand ed in scale, and inter na tion al net work ing
became increas ing ly orga nized through numer ous pro fes sion al meet ings and
exhi bi tions. How ev er, the dif fer ing ide o log i cal posi tions of the par tic i pants
often led to iron ic sit u a tions. In this con text, design expe ri ences, approach es,
and archi tec tur al achieve ments were framed dif fer ent ly, and their per cep tion
altered and influ enced a trans fer of their mean ings. This irony con se quent ly
reflects the dual nature of archi tec ture, which not only antic i pat ed but also
laid the ground work for the tran si tions of the 1990s. As a result, the mean -
ings of these build ings shift ed, and irony per me at ed every day life. 
UIA – A Democratic Organization of Workers in Architecture?
The pio neer ing spir it of the archi tects of the post-war peri od, nav i gat ing
between the inter ests of the Cold War, inevitably col lid ed with the bar ri ers of
dif fer ent ide olo gies in the con text of East-West col lab o ra tions. One of such
occa sions was UIA. Since there was no easy answer to these ques tions, they
were often avoid ed at pro fes sion al meet ings. Were the archi tects’ opin ions
val ued equal ly in such sit u a tions? Could their exchange of exper tise pro vide
mutu al sup port for their prac tices despite ide o log i cal dif fer ences? Inter na -
tion al engage ment impact ed the archi tects' stand ing in their respec tive coun -
tries by facil i tat ing the shar ing of knowl edge on a rapid ly advanc ing tech no -
log i cal foun da tion. This influ enced new ways of design ing archi tec tur al
form. How ev er, despite rapid social changes, polit i cal top ics were sel dom
addressed. Through many intense debates the view pre vailed that only by
1
Nika GrabarArchitecture and Irony
2 UIA,  “World Con gress of Archi tects,” April
9 2023.
3 Kather ine Zubovich,  “Debat ing  'Democ ra cy':
The Inter na tion al Union of Archi tects and the
Cold War Pol i tics of Exper tise,” Room One
Thou sand, no. 4 – Archi tec tur al Exper ‐
tise, 2016.
4 Zubovich,  “Debat ing  'Democ ra cy.”
Cold War Architectures 299
avoid ing polit i cal top ics, the UIA could facil i tate tru ly  ‘pro fes sion al
discussions.’
The UIA con gress was found ed in June 1948 in Lau sanne, Switzer land.
With its head quar ters in Paris, it aimed to bring archi tects togeth er around
the issue of post-war recon struc tion on a glob al scale, regard less of nation al -
i ty, ide ol o gy or archi tec tur al doc trine. After Lau sanne, con gress es were held
first in Rabat, Moroc co in 1951, in Lis bon, Por tu gal in 1953, in the Hague,
the Nether lands in 1955, in Moscow, USSR in 1958, and so on, all over the
world. The orga ni za tion is still active today and is the only asso ci a tion of
archi tects offi cial ly rec og nized by the Unit ed Nations. Archi tec tur al exhi bi -
tions have reg u lar ly accom pa nied all their con gress es.  The dri ving force
behind the orga ni za tion was Pierre Vago. Vago’s efforts to enable all archi -
tects, with out excep tion, to be involved, were marked by per son al expe ri -
ence. He was born in Budapest in 1910 and lat er stud ied at the École Spé cial
e d'Architecture (ESA) in Paris, where he col lab o rat ed with Auguste Per ret
and worked for the mag a zine L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui. Dur ing this time
he main tained links with East ern Europe, seek ing oppor tu ni ties for Sovi et
archi tects to join the UIA. The Bul gar i an archi tect Luben Tonev and Hele na
Syrkus from Poland, one of CIAM’s pro tag o nists, helped him in the
process.
This proved to be more chal leng ing than antic i pat ed. While the UIA
sought to func tion as a bridge-build ing insti tu tion, it encoun tered ide o log i cal
and polit i cal ques tions from the out set. A par tic u lar ly con tentious issue dur -
ing the draft ing of its statutes was the con cept of demo c ra t ic gov er nance,
with mem bers express ing diverse views on its def i n i tion and sig nif i cance.
The divide was espe cial ly clear in dis cus sions sur round ing this top ic, as the
USSR and East ern Euro pean del e ga tions advo cat ed for demo c ra t ic prin ci -
ples, where as del e gates from France, Switzer land, Italy, and Bel gium adopt -
ed an anti-demo c ra t ic stance, as will be explored in more detail in the fol -
low ing sec tions. The argu ment for a demo c ra t ic orga ni za tion was empha -
sized by the USSR’s Karo Alabin's desire for the UIA to become an inter na -
tion al bul wark for the author i ty of the archi tec tur al pro fes sion. This was
accom pa nied by his obser va tion – often made also in Yugoslavia – that
archi tects in cap i tal ist coun tries do not have the oppor tu ni ty to devel op their
social goals through cre ative enter prise. Alabi an, one of the first Sovi et
archi tects work ing with in the UIA, and chief archi tect of the recon struc tion
of Stal in grad, appealed to the lead er ship to make the UIA  "an asso ci a tion of
pro gres sive demo c ra t ic orga ni za tions of work ers in archi tec ture who are
fight ing for last ing peace, the estab lish ment of democ ra cies and the devel op -
ment of cul ture." He envi sioned the UIA's role as an impor tant agent in pro -
mot ing these val ues.
2
3
4
Nika GrabarArchitecture and Irony
5 Zubovich,  “Debat ing  'Democ ra cy.”
6 Zubovich,  “Debat ing  'Democ ra cy.” 7 Many Yugoslav organ i sa tions in this peri od
tried to estab lish con nec tions with the West.
For exam ple in 1949, the Asso ci a tion of Engi ‐
neers and Tech ni cians of Yugoslavia, which
includ ed many archi tects, estab lished a Com ‐
mis sion for Inter na tion al Liaisons, which
linked up with a num ber of West ern asso ci a ‐
tions: the Inter na tion al Asso ci a tion of Struc ‐
tur al Engi neers in Zurich, the Inter na tion al
Asso ci a tion of Archi tects in Paris, the Inter na ‐
tion al Com mis sion for High Rise Defences in
Paris, the Inter na tion al Com mis sion for Large
Elec tric Net works in Paris, the World Ener gy
Con fer ence in Lon don, the Soci ety of Soil
Mechan ics and Foun da tion Engi neer ing in
Cam bridge, USA. Zapis nik zasedan ja Sekre ‐
tari a ta za Med nar o dne povezave Zveze društev
inženir jev in tehnikov Jugoslav i je [Min utes of
the Meet ing of the Sec re tari at for Inter na tion al
Liai son of the Fed er a tion of Asso ci a tions of
Engi neers and Tech ni cians of Yugoslavia], 24
Nov 1949, Komisi ja za među nar o dne veze
[Com mis sion for Inter na tion al Rela tions],
1949–1973, Savez inžen jera i tehničara
Jugoslav i je, Archive of Yugoslavia, no. 50.
8 Marcela Hanáčková,  “CIAM and the Cold War
– Hele na Syrkus between Mod ernism and
Social ist Real ism,” (doc tor al dis ser ta tion, ETH
Zurich, 2019), 228–229, 450. 9 Tama ra Bjažić Klar in in Marcela Hanáčková,  
“Net work ing into the Inter na tion al Union of
Archi tects (UIA)-Poland vs. Yugoslavia,” in
Transna tion al Net work ing Prac tices of Cen tral
and South east Euro pean Avant-Garde, ed. Lil ‐
jana Kolešnik, (Zagreb: Insti tut za povi jest
umjet nos ti, 2014), 26–28.
Cold War Architectures 301
His appeal was, how ev er, reject ed by a sec tion of West ern archi tects, notably
Paul Vishcer and Ralph Walk er, who argued that the UIA should not have
polit i cal aims, as these might pre vent the free exchange of opin ions and
ideas.  Cul ture, after all, had a dif fer ent role in post-war social ism and cap i -
tal ism. Open ing debates on democ ra cy and plan ning strate gies along with
the relat ed financ ing of spa tial devel op ment and infra struc ture could lead to
direct polit i cal engage ment and ide o log i cal con fronta tions. The final UIA
res o lu tion of the Lau sanne Con gress under went sev er al heat ed debates and
mod i fi ca tions. For exam ple, Luben Tonev argued that the recon struc tion of
Europe required archi tects work ing hand in hand with tech ni cians, engi -
neers, spe cial ists, and at the same time with econ o mists, soci ol o gists and
politi cians. And yet, the final text of the UIA res o lu tion was word ed dif fer -
ent ly. Archi tects were to work with engi neers, econ o mists, soci ol o gists,
lawyers and oth ers;  pol i tics and ide ol o gy were clear ly top ics to
be avoided.
Some Socialist Architecture in Colonial Morocco
Yugoslavia joined the UIA in 1948 after it had been expelled from the Com -
in form and start ed to reori ent its pol i tics, which made UIA’s frac tures even
more notable.  When orga niz ing the Sec ond Con gress, orig i nal ly planned
for 1949 in War saw, the Pol ish mem bers halt ed prepa ra tions, part ly because
they opposed Yugoslavia's entry. The move was to some extent black mail in
light of the crit i cism of the UIA lead er ship when it refused to sign the Peace
Dec la ra tion.  The main crit i cism was, how ev er, direct ed at the orga ni za tion
and con tent of the sec ond con gress by Hele na Syrkus, who opposed
Yugoslavia's par tic i pa tion in the UIA as well.  The sit u a tion was resolved in
1951when the loca tion for the venue was relo cat ed in Rabat, Moroc co, rather
than War saw. Under the title  "How Does the Archi tect Per form His New
Tasks?", archi tec tur al pro duc tion results were show cased in an exhi bi tion by
rep re sen ta tives from Brazil, Greece, Eng land, the Nether lands, Italy, Moroc -
co, Mex i co, and Yugoslavia.
Rabat seemed a more appro pri ate venue for the UIA Con gress. Moroc -
co was at the time declar a tive ly nei ther social ist nor cap i tal ist, but nonethe -
less under go ing rapid polit i cal trans for ma tions regard ing its striv ing for
inde pen dence from French colo nial rule. The exhi bi tion, which became
a stan dard accom pa ny ing pro gram of the UIA con gress es, did not show any
projects from behind the Iron Cur tain. Yugoslavia was the only social ist
coun try to present its projects. After the fed er a tion start ed open ing for col -
lab o ra tions with the west, archi tec tur al accom plish ments and devel op ment
projects in Yugoslavia were not the appro pri ate mate r i al for exhi bi tions and
5
6
7
8
9
Nika GrabarArchitecture and Irony
10 UIA, RPF Yugoslavie – expo si tion inter na ‐
tionale d'architecture de l'union inte na tionale
des archi tectes / Rabat Maroc 1951 (Ljubl jana:
Asso ci a tions des Archi tectes Yougoslaves,
1951).
11 Ravnikar was not present at the open ing, but
the exhi bi tion cat a logue (pre vi ous foot note)
includ ed the text of his wel come address at
the open ing of the exhi bi tion. Giv en that the
dic tion and con tent is con gru ent to the intro ‐
duc tion of the cat a logue, it may be assumed
that the author of this text is also Ravnikar,
although the text is not signed.
12 Edvard Ravnikar,  “Ob razs tavi arhitek ture
FLRJ v Mod erni galer i ji,” Novi svet, no. 6, 1949,
604–608.
Cold War Architectures 303
con gress es in the East ern bloc, but appar ent ly con ve nient for the colo nial
con text. Rabat was a less elec tri fy ing venue, as ide o log i cal issues were more
eas i ly over looked in the face of imme di ate local problems. 
The  “Archi tec ture of Yugoslavia” exhi bi tion was orga nized by the
Archi tec ture Sec tion of the Yugoslav Soci ety of Engi neers and Tech ni cians.
While many archi tects from all the republics of the fed er a tion par tic i pat ed in
the prepa ra tion, the final edit ing was done by the Slovene archi tect Edvard
Ravnikar, who was also the exhi bi tion cura tor and author of the intro duc to ry
text to the cat a logue. The mate r i al cov ered the pre sen ta tion of build ings, but
also the orga ni za tion of the state with the empha sis on mod ern iza tion, ver -
nac u lar archi tec ture (inter pret ed as influ enced by the east and west), the
land scape, folk cus toms, etc. In short, archi tec ture was the con text in which
mod ern tech nol o gy and folk lore, east and west, inter twined.
Ravnikar, con ceived of archi tec ture as the foun da tion for cul ture and
space as an artis tic cat e go ry, inter pret ed spa tial com po si tions and struc tures
as orig i nat ing their mod ern form entwined with local crafts man ship, mate ri -
als and forms. The exhi bi tion pre sent ed sev er al ren o va tion projects and
broad er urban con cepts that indi cat ed social inclu sion, while at the same
time reveal ing the archi tects' sen si tiv i ty and atten tion for spe cif ic
local conditions.
Yugoslavia was at the time a non-aligned coun try, whose con di tions of
polit i cal engage ment relied on soci etal own er ship of land and a self-man -
aged econ o my after much prop er ty had been nation al ized. This kind of infor -
ma tion was, of course, not pre sent ed in the exhi bi tion, which is why
Ravnikar's com men tary, not print ed in the cat a logue, is sig nif i cant. He pre -
sent ed the cul tur al her itage devel oped under the influ ence of the West and
East as those which archi tects had adapt ed, trans formed and sup ple ment ed in
accor dance with the new con di tions and as the basis of work for the future.
He linked the achieve ments in the field of pro duc tion of space to the efforts
made to improve people's con di tions, which expressed the progress made
owing to the rev o lu tion in soci ety, the econ o my and cul tur al life, empha siz -
ing his regret that he had not been able to present the results of the econ o my
at the venue as a basis for the gen er al devel op ment of social ism.
The endeav ors of Sloven ian archi tects with in the UIA were bound with
orga niz ing their autonomous activ i ties in Yugoslavia and the estab lish ment
of the Asso ci a tion of Archi tects of Slove nia. In the first post-war years,
archi tec ture was under stood as a basic con struc tion activ i ty. Ravnikar, how -
ev er, argued that archi tec ture was not just about build ing func tion al vol -
umes, but the artis tic engage ment with space, which was intrin si cal ly linked
to cul ture and social real i ty.  With out such an accom pa ny ing text on archi -
tec ture, soci ety, econ o my, and tech nol o gy, the exhi bi tion had a much dif fere-
10
11
12
Nika GrabarArchitecture and Irony
13 Letizia Capan ni ni,  “Habi tat col lec tif méditer ‐
ranéen et dynamique des espaces ouverts.
Cas d’étude en Europe et en Afrique du Nord
(1945−1970),” Abha too, 3. 4. 2024.
14 Ser hat Karakay ali, Mar i on von Osten,  “This
was Tomor row; The  ‘colo nial Mod ern’ and it ’s
blind spots,” Post colo nial Dis plays, Tim Sharp
(trans.), June 2008.
15 Karakay ali and von Osten,  “This
was Tomorrow.”
Cold War Architectures 305
nt impact on the audi ence. Archi tec tur al form was, iron i cal ly, exclud ed from
its rela tion ship to the con text it co-shaped and became attached to oth er
themes that pre vailed in the con gress, such as Mediter ranean space, urban
mor phol o gy, hor i zon tal den si ty, the adap ta tion of archi tec ture to dif fer ent
cli mate con di tions and address ing the need for iden ti ty and social inclu sion.
This was inter est ing for many oth er archi tects who were involved in the
archi tec tur al design of Euro pean cities, includ ing sev er al CIAM mem bers.
Among them Alber to Lib era, who was at that time work ing on the recon -
struc tions of the Tus colano area in Rome.
Anoth er notable archi tect and the offi cial reporter at the 1951 UIA con -
gress, was Michel Ecochard. Ever since the 1930s archi tects in Moroc co
were con front ed with the prob lem of the mass migra tion of peo ple from rur al
areas to indus tri al ized cities, which led to the con struc tion of impro vised set -
tle ments (Bidonvilles). Ecochard, who head ed the Ser vice de l'Urbanisme
(Urban Plan ning Ser vice) at the time, worked to restruc ture the areas and
hous ing estates build ings by using new tech nolo gies. The devel op ment
strate gies were incom plete at the time and did not address the press ing social
issues ade quate ly. For the French author i ties, the Moroc can pop u la tion after
the war became, above all, a new, cheap labor force with which to mod ern ize
the coun try, pre cise ly because of inter nal migra tion and simul ta ne ous ly
because of the unsta ble eco nom ic sit u a tion in Europe.
Ecochard nonethe less adapt ed the design of build ings to the spe cif ic
ways of life of local cul tures, thus con tribut ing to the devel op ment of dif fer -
ent archi tec tur al typolo gies for dif fer ent pop u la tions; yet, these same typolo -
gies were, again iron i cal ly, based on exist ing def i n i tions of cul tur al and
racial dif fer ences and con se quent ly the pro duc tion of space embod ied them.
The lat ter led to the spa tial orga ni za tion of hous ing and urban plans in the
1950s, which divid ed the Moroc can pop u la tion accord ing to reli gion (Jews
and Mus lims) and Euro peans as a sin gle cat e go ry accord ing to dif fer ent
class es. Fac to ry work ers were, for exam ple, sep a rat ed from the  ‘upper-class’
pop u la tion.
The vary ing roles of archi tects in the post-war con text, where the
urgency for recon struc tion and tech no log i cal advance ment dic tat ed a ram -
pant pace of build ing, enabled diverse forms of engage ment with social
issues through archi tec tur al design. Inter na tion al net works were noth ing
new, but the onset of the Cold War pro vid ed a com plete ly new con text for
archi tec tur al projects and gave way for new dis cur sive fram ings of archi tec -
ture. For archi tects in social ist coun tries cre ativ i ty meant striv ing for social
goals with archi tec tur al form. They were the ones who want ed a demo c ra t ic
inter na tion al asso ci a tion for cul tur al work ers, since the real i ty in their coun -
tries allowed them to act with in the tight con straints of the five-year-plan.
13
14
15
Nika GrabarArchitecture and Irony
Cold War Architectures 307
The UIA could have pro vid ed them greater recog ni tion, as archi tects aspired
for the advance ment of archi tec ture cul ture. For West ern archi tects, the posi -
tion of cul tur al work ers as such was incom pre hen si ble and they were not
inter est ed in rais ing the issue with politi cians about their role. Their auton o -
my meant, above all, the auton o my to act as pro fes sion als in col lab o ra tion
with oth er pro fes sion als, with in the para me ters of the cap i tal ist (wel fare)
state. For mal issues and tech nol o gy offered for them more than enough room
for pro fes sion al debates with in UIA. 
UIA was not the con text to devel op crit i cism of either sys tem or ide ol o -
gy that depend ed on large scale invest ments and pro vid ed the archi tects with
the oppor tu ni ty to build. When focus ing their argu ments pre dom i nate ly on
for mal issues, the archi tects, iron i cal ly, reit er at ed old pat terns of social divi -
sions in space. The con di tions under which soci eties mod ern ized were dif fer -
ent. Since the social con di tions that con sid er ably deter mined the archi tec tur -
al out come were not pre sent ed at the con gress, the sit u a tion in Moroc co
illus trat ed well, how social ist projects amongst many oth er could become
just anoth er set of for mal ideas.
As the ques tion of ide ol o gy remained unre solved, the pre sen ta tion of
social ist projects in Moroc co and lat er in West ern Europe car ried an iron ic
under tone. The sit u a tion reveals how post-war dis course evolved through
numer ous pro fes sion al meet ings and exhi bi tions, cre at ing a frame work that
ren dered social ist archi tec tur al achieve ments intrigu ing with in a cap i tal ist
con text. This, in turn, estab lished a par al lel inter pre ta tion of architecture's
sym bol ic mean ing with in pro fes sion al cir cles, one that was com plete ly
detached from the con di tions in which the build ings were orig i nal -
ly conceived.
Reconsidering Democracies
Expert net works were just one of many fac tors influ enc ing devel op ment
projects in Europe; invest ment poli cies also played a cru cial role. Fol low ing
World War II, U.S. sup port was instru men tal in direct ing finan cial invest -
ments toward the swift recon struc tion and urban iza tion of the con ti nent. This
ini tia tive was pri mar i ly aimed at rebuild ing war-torn infra struc ture and mod -
ern iz ing the Euro pean econ o my, reflect ing America's strate gic inter ests in
fos ter ing sta bil i ty and pre vent ing the spread of com mu nism. Through sub -
stan tial fund ing and resources, the U.S. sought to trans form the continent's
urban land scapes, lay ing the ground work for a new eco nom ic order that
empha sized mod ern iza tion and growth in the post-war era. For archi tects,
design ing under such con di tions was a first-time, unpar al leled chal lenge.
When the US announced the pro gram for aid for the recov ery, recon struc tion
Nika GrabarArchitecture and Irony
16 The Tru man Doc trine was a pol i cy announced
by U.S. Pres i dent Har ry S. Tru man in 1947,
which com mit ted the Unit ed States to pro vid ‐
ing eco nom ic and mil i tary aid to coun tries
threat ened by com mu nism, specif i cal ly
Greece and Turkey. It aimed to counter Sovi et
expan sion in the Mediter ranean and pro tect
democ ra cy, mark ing a sig nif i cant shift in U.S.
for eign pol i cy dur ing the Cold War.  “Tru man
Doc trine,” Bri tan ni ca, accessed Octo ber
1, 2024.
17 “A Look Back at the Mar shall Plan,” June
2 1987, HU OSA 300−8−3−16441, Records of
Radio Free Europe/Radio Lib er ty Research
Insti tute: Pub li ca tions Depart ment: Back ‐
ground Reports; Open Soci ety Archives at
Cen tral Euro pean Uni ver si ty, Budapest.
18 Geof frey Roberts, “Moscow and the Mar shall
Plan: Pol i tics, Ide ol o gy and the Onset of the
Cold War, 1947,” in Europe-Asia Stud ies, vol.
34, no. 8, 1994, 1376.
19 Tan ja Zim mer mann,  “Novi kon ti nent –
Jugoslav i ja: poli tič na geografi ja  ' tret je poti',”
Zbornik za umet nos t no zgodovi no, vol. 46,
2010, 170.
20 Zim mer mann,  “Novi kon ti nent – Jugoslavija.”
Cold War Architectures 309
and sta bi liza tion of the Euro pean econ o my known as the Mar shall Plan, it
ini tial ly did not exclude the USSR or oth er social ist coun tries. How ev er, it
soon became clear that, in line with the Tru man Doc trine,  the US did not
intend to sup port com mu nism.
In June 1947 nego ti a tions between Eng land, France and the USSR on
the US pro pos al in Paris end ed abrupt ly with harsh crit i cism of Molo tov.
After wards Moscow telegraphed its East Euro pean embassies with instruc -
tions that the people's democ ra cies should ensure their own par tic i pa tion in
the forth com ing Mar shall Plan dis cus sions, which they did and, in the end,
reject ed their involve ment.  Yugoslavia nev er took part in these pro ceed -
ings despite Stalin’s insis tence.
Iron i cal ly, with in this con text, the ques tion of democ ra cy emerged from
the Sovi et side. Molo tov denounced the US aid sys tem as unde mo c ra t ic and
as direct ed against pop u lar democ ra cies and pre vent ed sov er eign states from
decid ing on their own devel op ment prospects. US invest ment was direct ed
towards the devel op ment of Euro pean regions (not coun tries) accord ing to
the needs of the US side: 
“The imple men ta tion of the Mar shall Plan will mean plac ing Euro pean
coun tries under the eco nom ic and polit i cal con trol of the Unit ed States and
direct inter fer ence in the inter nal affairs of those coun tries … this plan is an
attempt to split Europe into two camps … to com plete the for ma tion of
a bloc of sev er al Euro pean coun tries hos tile to the inter ests of the demo c ra t ic
coun tries of East ern Europe and most par tic u lar ly to the inter ests of the
Sovi et Union.”
Yugoslavia did not join the Mar shall Plan, nor did it par tic i pate in the
Molo tov Plan, which was orga nized by the Sovi et Union in response to the
Amer i can ini tia tive lat er that year. 
As with the UIA, Slovene archi tects did not iden ti fy entire ly with one
side or the oth er. How ev er, giv en Yugoslavia's non-aligned stance, its coop -
er a tion with the US inten si fied after 1948. What did it mean for Yugoslavia
that it refused to be a part of either plan, and how can the traces of Cold War
be dis cerned in spa tial plan ning? Weren’t both sides argu ing for peace and
democ ra cy? Where was the bat tle ground? Democ ra cies of the east, or the
people’s democ ra cies, as they called them selves, mean ing people’s regimes
in which means of pro duc tion were pub licly owned, were polit i cal ly orga -
nized in the con text of the Com mu nist Par ty. The econ o my revolved around
the ques tion of their five-year plans. In democ ra cies of the west means of
pro duc tion were most ly pri vate ly owned and peo ples’ will man i fest ed
through elec tions by hav ing the pos si bil i ty to vote for dif fer ent par ties orga -
nized around free mar ket econ o my. There was no soci etal plan ning in the
US. Spa tial plan ning was con di tioned by free mar ket economy. 
16
17
18
19
20
Nika GrabarArchitecture and Irony
21 Nika Grabar,  “Plan ning and Ide ol o gy: Amer i ‐
can-Yugoslav Project,” Rock e feller Archive
Cen ter Research Reports, July 20 2024.
22 The Ford Foun da tion is a non prof it orga ni za ‐
tion estab lished in 1936 by Edsel Ford and
Hen ry Ford, based in New York City. It was
one of the largest phil an thropic orga ni za tions
invest ing in research on spa tial plan ning, par ‐
tic u lar ly dur ing the 1960s and pro vid ed sig nif ‐
i cant fund ing for urban plan ning, hous ing, and
com mu ni ty devel op ment projects. The foun ‐
da tion aimed to address issues relat ed to
urban iza tion, mak ing it a key play er in the
field of spa tial plan ning and urban stud ies
dur ing that time. Its con tri bu tions co-shaped
poli cies and prac tices relat ed to urban devel ‐
op ment in the Unit ed States and globally.
23 Tra cy Neu mann,  “Over promis ing
Technocracy’s Poten tial: The Amer i can-
Yugoslav Project, Urban Plan ning, and Cold
War Cul tur al Diplo ma cy,” Jour nal of Plan ning
His to ry, 22(1), 2023, 3–25. For fur ther read ing
about inter na tion al entan gle ments relat ed to
the AYP see also Vladimir Kulić,  “Ford’s Net ‐
work: The Amer i can-Yugoslav Project and the
Cir cu la tion of Urban Plan ning Exper tise in the
Cold War,” Plan ning Per spec tives 37 (5)
(2022): 1001–27.
Cold War Architectures 311
The bat tle ground was real ly about the imag i nary space on future devel op -
ment deter mined in the Cold War con text and was co-shaped by archi tects
when rein vent ing the pro duc tion of space on large scale with plan ning
method olo gies for urban iza tion. The posi tion of the Iron Cur tain was,
through these process es, deter mined by the deci sion of Euro pean coun tries
to coop er ate eco nom i cal ly either with the US or USSR. The engage ment of
Slovene archi tects in this sit u a tion is par tic u lar ly telling since Yugoslavia,
again, main tained its between-the-blocs posi tion. Their activ i ties reveal the
dif fer ences when try ing to over come them in the process of appro pri at ing
west ern plan ning tech niques and striv ing to main tain the pre con di tions for
a soci etal plan at the same time as will be dis cussed in the fol low -
ing paragraphs. 
Adaptations
Of par tic u lar impor tance con cern ing the activ i ties of Slovene archi tects was
the East Euro pean exchange pro gram, a fel low ship pro gram admin is tered by
the Ford Foun da tion ini ti at ed in 1951. The fel low ship allowed Vladimir Bra -
co Mušič of the UPI (Urban Plan ning Insti tute) to trav el to the USA in 1964
to estab lish con nec tions with Amer i can aca d e mics; in par tic u lar John W.
Dyk man, who lat er col lab o rat ed on the Amer i can-Yugoslav Project (AYP).
By 1966, the Ford Foun da tion sup port ed a bilat er al project between the US
and Yugoslav gov ern ments, the AYP. The project was launched as a region al
plan ning ini tia tive, a Cold War  ‘democ ra cy-build ing’ enter prise that aimed at
trans fer ring Amer i can plan ning method olo gies to East ern Europe. It pro vid -
ed a 2-year grant to Cor nell Uni ver si ty fac ul ty to work with the Ljubl jana
UPI on the ques tion of region al plan ning. The pro tag o nists of the project
were Vladimir Bra co Mušič (UPI) on the Yugoslav side, Dyk man (Berkley)
on the US side in the first year and Jack Fish er lat er (Cor nell and Wayne
State Uni ver si ty).
The Ford Foun da tion  saw the project as an oppor tu ni ty to expand
their influ ence in social ist countries—the so-called Iron Curtain—something
they long desired. The AYP was intend ed to be a short-term invest ment in
a polit i cal ly neu tral tech nol o gy trans fer that would show case the supe ri or i ty
of West ern sci ence and pro vide a mod el for export ing Amer i can urban plan -
ning knowl edge around the world. How ev er, it became the Ford
Foundation’s largest project in East ern Europe before the fall of the Berlin
Wall and showed that plan ning was indeed a very polit i cal process.
How ide ol o gy and spa tial plan ning inter twined in the Cold War are na
was per haps best illus trat ed with a com ment by Louis Win nick, the econ o -
mist, who played a major role in Ford Foundation’s investments:
21
22
23
Nika GrabarArchitecture and Irony
24 Louis Win nick,  “The Amer i can-Yugoslav
project,” Louis Winnick ’s trav el notes, itin er ‐
aries and cor re spon dence, Con fer ences, 1957–
1969, Fold er 4, Box 2, FA 601, Unit ed States
Inter na tion al Affairs Pro gram, Ford Foun da ‐
tion records, 7.
25 Sec re tary to Keast, June 13 1968, Reel 2871,
Grants U‐Z 06800493, FA 7321, Ford Foun da ‐
tion records, Rock e feller Archive Center.
Cold War Architectures 313
“All things con sid ered, Amer i can-Yugoslav col lab o ra tion pre sent ed Ford
with an excep tion al oppor tu ni ty ‘to open doors and minds’ with in Marx ist
Europe, a basic Foun da tion goal since the incep tion of its East Euro pean
pro grams. Look ing back, one could also adduce a cer tain irony in the notion
that a Com mu nist domain, where sys tem ized plan ning approached a sec u lar
reli gion, was will ing to con cede a deficit in a crit i cal dimension–spatial
arrange ments at the region al lev el. The irony height ened by the fact that
Yugoslavia sought assis tance not from the social ist or labor par ty regimes of
West Europe, Scan di navia or Great Britain, or even from dirigiste France,
but from what was, arguably, the West ern world’s most free-wheel ing and
least planned soci ety.”
A deep irony was thus present already amid Cold War. The spa tial plan -
ners in Yugoslavia sought col lab o ra tion with West ern experts due to their
advanced method olo gies. How ev er, the sit u a tion reveals a more com plex
dynam ic. While Yugoslav plan ners were adapt ing and refin ing their
approach es to devel op social ist spaces, the knowl edge exchange simul ta ne -
ous ly pro vid ed West ern investors with a deep er under stand ing of how social -
ist soci eties were orga nized. Iron i cal ly, this allowed West ern investors to
adjust their method olo gies in ways that appealed to coun tries beyond the
Iron Cur tain. The dis cur sive frame work of the AYP thus trans formed the
mean ing of devel op ment projects, mak ing them attrac tive to both West ern
investors and East ern Euro pean plan ners. This cre at ed an imag ined pro fes -
sion al real i ty, where, despite unre solved ide o log i cal dif fer ences, social ist
con texts increas ing ly adopt ed West ern-style devel op ment mod els. Today,
after the col lapse of social ism, this irony per sists, illus trat ing that the forces
shap ing archi tec ture were dri ven not only by pro fes sion al meet ings and
debates but also by invest ments deeply inter twined with polit i cal agendas. 
How did the project evolve and what were the prob lems? The orig i nal
project was orga nized in the sum mer of 1966 to devel op a region al plan ning
research and train ing cen ter in Ljubl jana and bring Amer i can know-how in
region al plan ning to Yugoslavia. In the years 1966–67 the goal of the project
was to  ‘con tribute to the devel op ment of spa tial plan ning in Yugoslavia by
con fronting the prob lems of the Yugoslav experts to the expe ri ence of the
con cepts of the Amer i can acad e my in the field.’  In more prac ti cal terms,
the idea was to devel op thor ough ly pro fes sion al plans with the empha sis on
the quan tifi ca tion of eco nom ic and social fac tors for the Ljubl jana region as
a case study. At the time Ford aimed at estab lish ing an inter dis ci pli nary
train ing and research pro gram for young pro fes sion al plan ners extend ing to
East ern Europe. The UPI of Ljubl jana served as the admin is ter ing agency,
but it was also the Asso ci a tion of Yugoslav Plan ning Insti tutes, known as
24
25
Nika GrabarArchitecture and Irony
26 Win nick,  “The American–Yugoslav Project,” 19.
27 Win nick,  “The American–Yugoslav Project,” 19.
Cold War Architectures 315
Zajed ni ca, that pro vid ed Fed er al spon sor ship and orga nized a Yugoslav  
“nation al” advi so ry com mit tee for the project.
One of the scopes of the project was estab lish ing an Inter na tion al Cen -
tre for Region al Plan ning Stud ies char tered as a Yugoslav legal enti ty. Its
char ter would pro vide for a board of direc tors com posed of rep re sen ta tives
of Yugoslav plan ning insti tu tions as well as non-Yugoslav pro fes sion als,
region al plan ners and researchers to enable research activ i ties on region al
plan ning prob lems: train ing of pro fes sion al plan ners, region al sci en tists,
econ o mists, geo g ra phers, demog ra phers, soci ol o gists, archi tects, and admin -
is tra tive experts. This autonomous think-tank was to pro vide a sci en tif ic
base for region al devel op ment. It was about lay ing the foun da tions for
a region al plan ning insti tu tion that would coop er ate inter na tion al ly, con nect -
ing urban plan ners in the region with the Amer i can experts in the field. 
Prob lems arose almost imme di ate ly, and they showed the basic dif fer -
ences in the approach to plan ning of social ist and cap i tal ist con texts, whose
futures would sup pos ed ly mate ri al ize dif fer ent ly in space. At the begin ning
the spe cial ist were fac ing a seem ing ly unre solv able sit u a tion. Urban land
was, accord ing to the Amer i can plan ners, to derive its site val ue from the
incre men tal gains of its loca tion and was envi sioned to be allo cat ed to the
most pro duc tive users accord ing to the prin ci ple of  ‘high est and best use.’
This was dis missed as com plete ly irrel e vant in Yugoslavia, where urban land
was pub licly owned and admin is tra tive ly dis trib uted. In such cir cum stances
the attri bu tion of any val ue and price to land was an alien idea and caused
a sig nif i cant prob lem when start ing the AYP since both par ties were unable
to com mu ni cate the basic start ing point for plan ning.
This was not the only predica ment. To the US con tin gent un-priced land
pro vid ed no clues to the ratio nal spa tial arrange ment of eco nom ic activ i ties.
Like wise, hous ing, which in a mar ket sys tem is an eco nom ic good rationed
by price and rent, was treat ed by social ist plan ners as a pub lic good pro vid ed
at a nom i nal charge, slat ed in the future to be a free com mod i ty. Rent-
income rations of 25% typ i cal for the US con text seemed like exploita tion to
the Yugoslavs by land lords and renters. Con verse ly, to the Amer i cans,
Yugoslavia’s close ly packed three-gen er a tion house holds and the 10-year
queue for a dwelling was evi dence of under in vest ment in hous ing, which, in
a cap i tal-short state, could be reme died by high er con sumer out lays.
The described dif fi cul ties were con nect ed to the ques tion of prop er ty
and prof it, and it was there fore nec es sary to estab lish a new com mon ground
through method olo gies in which it would be pos si ble to over lap the inter est
of both the West ern investors as well as social ist gov ern ments expand ing the
log ic of the Mar shall Plan, which was in the long run an eco nom ic suc cess
for the Amer i cans. Yugoslavia need ed the econ o my to recov er, it need ed
26
27
Nika GrabarArchitecture and Irony
28 In 1964 Lowry had advanced a com put er mod ‐
el for the spa tial orga ni za tion of human activ i ‐
ties with in a met ro pol i tan area for the RAND
(research and devel op ment) cor po ra tion. Ira
S. Lowry,  “A Mod el of Metrop o lis,” RAND, July
20, 2024.
29 For a more detailed expla na tion of the
process see Nika Grabar and Jel i ca Jovanović,
 “Pros torne poli tike i pro raču ni Hladnog rata:
Amerčko-jugosloven s ki pro jekat,” Usponi in
padovi, domaša ji i pro maša ji i nono što smo
zab o rav ili, eds. Jele na Vesić, Ana Slado je vić,
Ana Mil janić (Beograd: Cen tar CZKD, 2021),
44–65. Or Nika Grabar,  “Rethink ing the Amer i ‐
can-Jugoslav Project,” filmed by CZKD Octo ‐
ber 14 2020.
Cold War Architectures 317
invest ments but could not engage a free mar ket econ o my with social ism.
How could it mod ern ize and instill a soci etal plan at the same time?
Research in region al plan ning pro ce dure in the AYP relied on the analy -
sis of the region through sev er al para me ters. One set of para me ters (drawn
as top-down in a dia gram) was described as: econ o my, pop u la tion, phys i cal
con di tions and oth er fac tors. These fac tors were then recon sid ered via alter -
na tive sets of data and eval u at ed via anoth er set (drawn as bot tom-up in the
dia gram). These para me ters includ ed: hous ing, work, trans porta tion, agri cul -
ture, ser vices and infra struc ture. It is pos si ble to inter pret the two sets of
para me ters cor re spond ing one to the US and the oth er to the Yugoslav analy -
sis of the sit u a tion. In short, the Yugoslav plan ners rec og nized the imme di ate
social chal lenges in devel op ing space vis-à-vis the econ o my, which both
sides accept ed as a pre con di tion for plan ning. The process was to be con -
stant ly con sid ered, recon sid ered and stud ied fur ther via prob lems, objec -
tives, indi ca tors and mea sures (hor i zon tal para me ters). These were the key
ele ments for the plan ning process and gen er at ing data based on applic a ble
devel op ment fac tors recon sid ered for the region of Ljubl jana. In this phase
they used the Lowry mod el adopt ed for the AYP devel oped by Ira S. Lowry,
which quan ti fied eco nom ic and social fac tors.
Look ing close ly at the Lowry mod el, the com pu ta tion al link between
the two views, it too quan ti fied the analy ses of the regions through its own
set of para me ters. These includ ed addi tion al aspects of devel op ment: trav el
time; pop u la tion, employ ment, land use, attrac tive ness fac tors for pop u la tion
and pop u la tion serv ing employ ment; work, shop ping, spe cial shop ping,
social recre ation. Though the plan ners test ed out dif fer ent spa tial pat terns
(cor ri dors, lin ear, poly cen tric) when study ing sup pos ed ly all pos si ble fac tors
that influ enced urban growth, the Lowry mod el seemed to them as most effi -
cient. In this process com put ing helped sort ing out dif fer ent sets of infor ma -
tion. The inputs includ ed details about the future trans porta tion net works,
loca tion of future non-pop u la tion serv ing employ ment (indus try), and pro -
ject ed pop u la tion esti mates for the region. Out puts includ ed dis tri b u tion of
pop u la tion, pop u la tion serv ing employ ment (ser vices) and the amount of
land con sumed by var i ous urban activ i ties.
The results of the Lowry analy sis were pre sent ed as region al maps in
which the pro gram defined urban, sub ur ban and rur al areas in sev er al stages.
In the case of AYP region al devel op ment meant imag in ing urban iza tion for
a wider Ljubl jana met ro pol i tan region. The bound aries of the com put er ized
schemes did not in any case cor re spond to the bound aries of zones, munic i -
pal i ties, repub lic or the state in which peo ple could poten tial ly polit i cal ly
orga nize and state their opin ion about dif fer ent types of devel op ment trans -
form ing their imme di ate sur round ings. Instead, this plan ning strat e gy envis-
28
29
Nika GrabarArchitecture and Irony
30 Select ed Expe ri ences in Region al devel op ‐
ment, Doc u men ta toin & Infor ma tion Ser vice
on Region al Devel op ment, Social Devel op ‐
ment Divi sion (New York: Unit ed
Nations, 1970).
31 John Math i a son, Invis i ble Gov er nance, Inter na ‐
tion al Sec re tari ats in Glob al Pol i tics (Bloom ‐
field: Kumar i an Press, 2007).
32 “Cen ter for Met ro pol i tan Plan ning and
Research records,” Spe cial Col lec tions, The
Johns Hop kins Uni ver si ty, July 10 2024.
Cold War Architectures 319
ioned a region in which intense urban iza tion was man aged by experts whose
deci sions relied on pre-deter mined fac tors. Region al plan ning as such had
noth ing to do with people’s democ ra cy nor with the notion of west ern
democ ra cy. It did, how ev er, appear sci en tif ic, pro gres sive, and appealing. 
Aftermath
The AYP offi cial ly end ed in 1970, when Ford with drew its fund ing. But the
ideas lived on. The AYP was the basis for the estab lish ment of the Region al
Plan ning Cen tre in Bel grade and Ljubl jana under the aus pices of the UN
Eco nom ic and Social Coun cil, con ceived in the light of the 1086 C (XXXIX)
res o lu tion for devel op ing research and train ing pro gram in region al devel op -
ment. It envi sioned assist ing coun tries that were fac ing migra tion from rur al
areas to cities and to mod ern ize their economies through indus tri al iza tion
and agri cul tur al improve ment pro grams.  The Yugoslav expe ri ence is one
of many in this field, the aim of which was to devel op com pat i ble region al
plan ning meth ods for around the world to unrav el under UN spon sor ship.
The region al plan ning net work cre at ed an infra struc ture for plan ning, which
includ ed estab lish ing UN Sec re tari ats that from the 1970s onwards became
a major play er in inter na tion al rela tions. They have had a sig nif i cant influ -
ence on nation al poli cies but have been almost invis i ble since they have not
been part of nation al gov ern ments. Their role in the con tem po rary region al
plan ning as well as their influ ence on glob al gov er nance is yet to be exam -
ined.
Addi tion al ly, the AYP was sig nif i cant in co-shap ing the Johns Hop kins
Uni ver si ty pro grams at the Cen tre for Met ro pol i tan Plan ning and Research
by ini ti at ing a last ing engage ment with East ern Europe. When Fish er moved
to Hop kins in 1972, he brought the AYP with him. (The Cen tre also engaged
in plan ning the Bel grade Trans porta tion Project dur ing this peri od.) This not
only enhanced Hop kins' aca d e m ic and research port fo lio but also solid i fied
its rep u ta tion as a leader in urban stud ies with a unique inter na tion al per -
spec tive on plan ning meth ods in a com mu nist con text. The col lab o ra tion led
to a sus tained rela tion ship with East ern Europe, embed ding this inter na tion al
dimen sion into the university's strate gic ini tia tives and aca d e m ic activ i -
ties.
The work of archi tects with in the UIA and AYP was symp to matic of its
time and was defined by con tra dic tions devel oped in a tense polit i cal cli -
mate. The nature of war is not to resolve con tra dic tions, but rather for one
side to impose its will upon the oth er. Thus, the pro fes sion al activ i ty of
archi tects with in the UIA left aside the ques tion of ide ol o gy and archi tec ture,
allow ing the dis course to focus pronom i nal ly on for mal issues with out serio-
30
31
32
Nika GrabarArchitecture and Irony
Cold War Architectures 321
us ly con sid er ing the eco nom ic effects on soci ety. The sit u a tion around the
AYP, how ev er, was not so clear-cut. Par al lel to try ing to devel op dif fer ent
mod els and strate gies to even start work ing on the AYP there was also a con -
stant nego ti a tion about how and why deci sions were being made and who
was allowed to make them. We can see this in the pro ce dure of plan ning
already in the first stage of the project, in 1967–68, when both sides pro -
posed two dif fer ent stages of the ide al plan ning procedure. 
For the Amer i can plan ners this includ ed a macro, sec tor and project
stage of plan ning process after which came direct ly plan ning of phys i cal
space. For the Yugoslav plan ners, how ev er, after the spa tial plan ning phase
the stage was set for estab lish ing a soci etal plan and a feed back loop to
rethink the macro plan. This was in fact the back ground idea for com plex
dia grams devel oped in the final stage of AYP. The Lowry pro gram lat er
ratio nal ized how these eval u a tions unfold ed, but the Yugoslav side metic u -
lous ly insist ed on the feed back loop when it came to final deci sions. They
were to be made by peo ple not sys tems or machines. Despite all the sci en tif -
ic para me ters and ide olo gies, the archi tects insist ed on main tain ing con di -
tions for the pos si bil i ty of a soci etal plan to be recon sid ered against macro-
eco nom ic fac tors. This the o ret i cal ly allowed for local insti tu tions to influ -
ence devel op ment. Although this deci sion-mak ing and coor di na tion process
was sup posed to pro vide an inclu sive start ing point for soci etal plan ning, the
prac tice was not as consistent. 
The evolv ing dynam ics of spa tial plan ning dur ing the post-war era con -
sis tent ly pro duced iron ic out comes, root ed in the con flict ing ide o log i cal
posi tions of those involved. These ironies under scored the dual nature of
archi tec ture, which both antic i pat ed and helped shape the tran si tions of the
1990s. As social ist and cap i tal ist archi tec tur al prac tices inter sect ed, the sym -
bol ic mean ings of build ings were often reframed, detached from their orig i -
nal con text, and rein ter pret ed in ways that con flict ed with their ide o log i cal
foun da tions. Par tic u lar ly, the col lab o ra tion between Yugoslav plan ners and
West ern experts high light ed this irony, as West ern investors adapt ed social ist
method olo gies to suit their own agen das. This knowl edge exchange, while
root ed in ide o log i cal oppo si tion, result ed in an unex pect ed align ment of
prac tices across the Iron Cur tain, with West ern mod els influ enc ing social ist
con texts. The irony per sists today, as the forces shap ing archi tec ture were
not only pro fes sion al but also deeply polit i cal, reveal ing how invest ment and
ide o log i cal com pro mise played a cen tral role in trans form ing both archi tec -
tur al mean ing and urban devel op ment dur ing the Cold War era. More over,
the real i ty of inter na tion al sym posia, exhi bi tions, and invest ments was inte -
gral to estab lish ing an imag ined expert reality—one that con tin ues to influ -
ence archi tec tur al and plan ning prac tices to this day.
Nika GrabarArchitecture and Irony
Cold War Architectures 323
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325
Lejla Odobašić Novo
Architectural Irony and the
Sarajevo City Hall
A Symbol of Cultural Paradox
Lejla Odobašić NovoArchitecture and Irony
1 Andreas Huyssen, Present Pasts: Urban
Palimpses ts and the Pol i tics of Mem o ry (Stan ‐
ford, CA: Stan ford Uni ver si ty Press, 2003)
2 Pierre Nora,  “Between Mem o ry and His to ry:
Les Lieux de Mémoire,” Rep re sen ta tions 26
(Spring 1989): 7–24.
3 Mau rice Halb wachs, On Col lec tive Mem o ry,
ed. and trans. Lewis A. Coser (Chica go: Uni ‐
ver si ty of Chica go Press, 1992)
4 Paul Ricoeur, Mem o ry, His to ry, For get ting,
trans. Kath leen Blamey and David Pel lauer
(Chica go: Uni ver si ty of Chica go Press, 2004)
5 James E. Young, The Tex ture of Mem o ry: Holo ‐
caust Memo ri als and Mean ing (New Haven,
CT: Yale Uni ver si ty Press, 1993)
Architectural Irony and the Sarajevo City Hall 327
Framing Architectural Irony: Vijećnica as a Site of Contestation
Sara je vo City Hall, known as Vijećni ca (pro nounced Vee-yea-chnee-tsah) ,
stands as one of the most emblem at ic and con test ed struc tures in Sarajevo’s
com plex urban land scape. Built in 1896 by the Aus tro-Hun gar i an regime in
a pseu do-Moor ish style, Vijećni ca was intend ed to assert impe r i al author i ty
while appeal ing to the local pop u la tion through a super fi cial ges ture of cul -
tur al affin i ty. Over the ensu ing decades, the build ing has been repur posed as
a nation al library dur ing the Yugoslav social ist peri od and lat er as a sym bol
of mul ti cul tur al ism, when it became a tar get of delib er ate destruc tion dur ing
the Bosn ian War. Today, Vijećni ca is often cel e brat ed as a his tor i cal mon u -
ment and a sym bol of resilience, but such inter pre ta tions risk over sim pli fy -
ing its deep er, more com plex significance.
This paper posits that Vijećni ca is not mere ly a sta ble sym bol of uni ty
or resilience; rather, it is a pro found exam ple of archi tec tur al irony—a con -
di tion where the intend ed mean ing or func tion of a build ing is sub vert ed by
its his tor i cal ly politi cized tra jec to ry, cre at ing a struc ture that embod ies con -
tra dic to ry mes sages or mul ti ple, conflicting—paradoxical—narratives.
Archi tec tur al irony can emerge when a building’s design or pur pose is at
odds with the his tor i cal events and sociopo lit i cal con texts that shape its use
and per cep tion over time. In the case of Vijećni ca, this irony is revealed
through its role as a  'liv ing text,' where each attempt by dif fer ent regimes to
impose a sin gu lar nar ra tive has been met with sub ver sion, rein ter pre ta tion,
or trans for ma tion, reflect ing ongo ing strug gles over iden ti ty, his tor i cal nar ra -
tives, and cul tur al her itage in Sarajevo.
To explore these com plex i ties, this paper draws on key the o ries from
mem o ry stud ies and cul tur al the o ry. Andreas Huyssen’s con cept of the  “flu -
id i ty of mem o ry”  and Pierre Nora’s idea of lieux de mémoire  pro vide
a foun da tion for under stand ing how mon u ments like Vijećni ca func tion as
dynam ic sites where col lec tive mem o ry is con tin u ous ly pro duced and con -
test ed. Mau rice Halb wachs’ the o ry of col lec tive mem o ry  high lights how
dif fer ent social groups have inscribed their iden ti ties onto the build ing over
time. Addi tion al ly, Paul Ricoeur’s insights on selec tive mem o ry and for get -
ting  offer a frame work for cri tiquing the building’s recon struc tion, while
James E. Young’s notion of counter-mon u ments  helps us under stand the
inher ent irony in efforts to pre serve its orig i nal form.
By apply ing these the o ret i cal per spec tives, this paper cri tiques con ven -
tion al approach es to her itage preser va tion and mon u men tal i ty, demon strat ing
how Vijećnica’s recon struc tion reflects broad er ten sions between mem o ry,
for get ting, and the pol i tics of space in post-con flict soci eties. Through this
analy sis, it chal lenges dom i nant nar ra tives that attempt to fix Vijećnica's
1 2
3
4
5
Lejla Odobašić NovoArchitecture and Irony
6 The Ser bo-Turk ish War was a mil i tary con flict
that took place between 1876 and 1878, in
which the Ser bian and Mon tene grin forces
fought against the Ottoman rule sup port ing
a rebel lion in Bosnia and Herze gov ina which
in turn fur ther fueled the polit i cal unrest cul ‐
mi nat ing in a war between Rus sia and Turkey.
7 Nedžad Kur to, Arhitek tu ra Bosne i Herce ‐
govine: Razvoj Bosan skog Sti la (Sara je vo:
Među nar o d ni Cen tar za Mir, 1998).
8 Dijana Alić,  "Ascrib ing Sig nif i cance to Sites of
Mem o ry: The Sarajevo’s Town Hall," Urban
Inter na tion al Press (Great Britain, 2004), 70.
Architectural Irony and the Sarajevo City Hall 329
mean ing, reveal ing instead the com plex i ties and con tra dic tions that make it
an endur ing and con test ed sym bol in Sarajevo’s cul tur al landscape.
Historical Context and Architectural Design: Emphasizing
Paradoxes
The the o ret i cal frame works of Andreas Huyssen, Pierre Nora, and Mau rice
Halb wachs offer pro found insights into the com plex i ties of Vijećnica’s archi -
tec ture and its shift ing sym bol ism across dif fer ent his tor i cal peri ods. In
1878, fol low ing the Con gress of Berlin and the end of the war between Ser -
bia and Turkey , the Hab s burg Monar chy assumed con trol over Bosnia and
Herze gov ina, suc ceed ing the Ottoman Empire. This shift in pow er was not
just polit i cal; it was reflect ed in a rad i cal trans for ma tion of Sarajevo’s urban
land scape. The city's spa tial plan ning shift ed dra mat i cal ly from Ottoman
mod els to West ern and Vien nese prece dents , mark ing the cap i tal as a can -
vas where two con trast ing worlds col lid ed. The Aus tro-Hun gar i ans imposed
new urban forms that sig naled their author i ty, along side changes in gov er -
nance, social struc tures, and demo graph ic pat terns. By 1910, the city had
swelled from 21,337 to 30,547 inhab i tants, with the demo graph ic com po si -
tion shift ing dra mat i cal ly: the Mus lim pop u la tion fell from 69% to 40%,
while the Roman Catholic pop u la tion surged from 3% to 37%; the Ortho dox
Chris t ian pop u la tion remained sta ble at 18%. 
Amidst these changes, the Aus tro-Hun gar i an rulers decid ed to make
their mark on the capital’s sky line by con struct ing a grand City Hall. This
build ing, Vijećni ca, was meant to assert their dom i nance while simul ta ne -
ous ly pay ing homage to local tra di tions. Yet, the ges ture of  ‘homage’
revealed a deep er irony. Sara je vo, at that his tor i cal moment, stood at the
cross roads of two diver gent cul tur al spheres: the tra di tion al, Ottoman-cen -
tered East, and the pro to mod ern, Euro pean West anchored in Vien na. This
inter sec tion was expressed in the archi tec ture of Vijećni ca, which the Hab s -
burg gov ern ment com mis sioned in a style they called  'pseu do-Moor ish.'
Hence, archi tec ture became a bat tle ground for com pet ing narratives—one
that sought to merge the seem ing ly incom pat i ble ele ments of empire
and locality.
The late 19  cen tu ry saw Aus tro-Hun gar i an rule des per ate ly try ing to
bal ance the empire's tra di tion al val ues with the dis tinct iden ti ties of its
annexed ter ri to ries . Archi tec ture was employed as a diplo mat ic tool to
forge con nec tions between colo nial ambi tions and local cus toms. The pseu -
do-Moor ish style emerged from this cul tur al maneuver—a blend of Moor ish
and Egypt ian ele ments, reshaped with a Vien nese aug men ta tion, cre at ing a  
‘new ver nac u lar’ that the Aus tro-Hun gar i ans believed would appeal to the
6
7
th
8
Lejla Odobašić NovoArchitecture and Irony
1
1 Postcard of Sarajevo City Hall from the late 1890’s.
(from the personal collection of Ferhad
Mulabegovic, used by permission).
9 Nora,  "Between Mem o ry and His to ry: Les
Lieux de Mémoire," 7–8.
10 Ibid., p.84
11 Ibid., p.66
Architectural Irony and the Sarajevo City Hall 331
Bosn ian pop u la tion. Iron i cal ly, they failed to rec og nize that Bosnia's dom i -
nant archi tec tur al style was root ed in Ottoman prin ci ples, not in the Andalu -
sian or North African motifs that informed their designs. Pierre Nora’s con -
cept of lieux de mémoire—sites of memory—refers to places where col lec -
tive mem o ry is inscribed and pre served, often because the orig i nal social
fab ric that sus tained these mem o ries has been lost. Vijećni ca can be seen as
a lieu de mémoire  in the way it was con struct ed to serve as a sym bol ic site
that anchored the Hab s burgs’ nar ra tive of con trol and cul tur al hege mo ny. By
using an archi tec tur al style that was intend ed to evoke Islam ic tra di tions, the
Aus tro-Hun gar i ans attempt ed to cre ate a mon u ment that would inte grate the
city's Ottoman past with their impe r i al future. How ev er, rather than cre at ing
a seam less nar ra tive, the build ing became a site of con test ed mem o ries.
Nora’s the o ry helps to elu ci date how each peri od of Vijećnica’s his to ry
involved an attempt to fix its meaning—to estab lish it as a site of mem o ry
that would serve the needs of those in pow er. The Aus tro-Hun gar i an regime
sought to anchor its author i ty in a space that, while appear ing to pay homage
to local tra di tions, was deeply dis con nect ed from them. This dis junc tion cre -
at ed an inher ent irony, as the build ing was nev er ful ly embraced by the local
pop u lace it was meant to appease.
The site for Vijećni ca fur ther under scored this dis con nect. Posi tioned
delib er ate ly at the edge of the city, on the east ern periph ery of the Ottoman
Bašćarši ja, the new City Hall was meant to serve as a gate way to Sara je vo.
How ev er, its orientation—turned away from the old Ottoman center—was
a clear asser tion of Aus tro-Hun gar i an dom i nance. Bosn ian-Aus tralian archi -
tect Dijana Alić argues that the building’s tow er ing height and its main
entrance, fac ing the banks of the Mil jac ka Riv er rather than the city streets,
were meant to visu al ly and polit i cal ly sev er it from its sur round ings.  The
pseu do-Moor ish style, she sug gests, was a strate gic attempt to de-esca late
ten sions between the city's Mus lims, Serbs (Ortho dox), and Croats
(Catholics) by forg ing a  'Bosn ian' style and nation al iden ti ty. How ev er, this
iden ti ty was heav i ly skewed toward the Bosn ian Mus lims, reflect ing a cal cu -
lat ed Aus tro-Hun gar i an effort to coun ter act grow ing Croa t ian and Ser bian
nation al ism by fos ter ing a sep a rate Bosn ian char ac ter, labeled as  'Bošn jak.'
The archi tec ture, prof fered to assert con trol through cul tur al inclu sion,
iron i cal ly rein forced per cep tions of alien ation. The inclu sion of  'Islam ic' ele -
ments in Vijećni ca was cru cial from the out set, entrust ed first to the
renowned Aus tro-Hun gar i an archi tect Kar lo Pražik. Yet, his pro pos al was
ulti mate ly reject ed by Aus tri an author i ties, lead ing to his replace ment by
archi tect Alexan dar Wit tek in 1892. When Wit tek fell ill, the task was final ly
hand ed to Ćir il Iveković, who com plet ed the project in 1896 [ 1 ]. These
9
10
11
Lejla Odobašić NovoArchitecture and Irony
2
2 View of the Council Chamber Hall, Sarajevo City
Hall from the early 1900’s. (from the personal
collection of Ferhad Mulabegovic, used by
permission).
12 Homi K. Bhab ha, in his sem i nal work  "The
Loca tion of Cul ture" (1994), intro duced the
con cept of mim ic ry as a colo nial strat e gy
where in the col o niz er encour ages the col o ‐
nized to imi tate the cul tur al norms and prac ‐
tices of the col o niz er, cre at ing a rela tion ship
of ambiva lence and par tial pres ence. While
Bhab ha pri mar i ly applied this idea to lan ‐
guage, iden ti ty, and behav ior, the con cept has
been extend ed to archi tec ture to describe
how colo nial pow ers employ local or region al
styles to assert dom i nance while appear ing to
respect local tra di tions. Thus, while Bhab ha
did not specif i cal ly coin  "archi tec tur al mim ic ‐
ry," his the o ret i cal frame work pro vides the
foun da tion for under stand ing the term in
a broad er post colo nial context.
13 Andreas Huyssen, Twi light Mem o ries: Mark ing
Time in a Cul ture of Amne sia (New York: Rout ‐
ledge, 1995), 2–5.
Architectural Irony and the Sarajevo City Hall 333
archi tects, each bring ing a dif fer ent vision, mir rors the frag ment ed and often
con tra dic to ry nature of the Hab s burgs' attempt to forge a uni fied iden ti ty
through archi tec tur al expres sion. In their effort to bridge cul tures, the Aus -
tro-Hun gar i ans only high light ed the divides, as Vijećni ca became less a sym -
bol of uni ty and more a tes ta ment to impe r i al aspi ra tions that strug gled to
under stand the cul tur al com plex i ties of Sarajevo. 
Vijećni ca is arguably one the most impres sive and opu lent struc tures
ever com mis sioned by the Hab s burg admin is tra tion in Sarajevo—a lav ish
mon u ment to impe r i al ambi tion. Con ceived as an archi tec tur al state ment, the
building's plan is an equi lat er al tri an gle, each of its three cor ners accent ed by
a com mand ing tow er, sym bol iz ing the reach of impe r i al pow er. Its most
strik ing fea ture, the south-fac ing façade over look ing the Mil jac ka Riv er, is
an intri cate dis play of orna men ta tion, with a cen tral bay rich ly adorned to
draw the eye and assert its pres ence upon the skyline.
The archi tec tur al dra ma con tin ues with in: the heart of the build ing is
a vast hexag o nal atri um, crowned by a gleam ing dome of glass and steel
from which all spaces radi ate, as if to empha size the cen tral i ty of pow er
ema nat ing from this seat of author i ty. A grand mar ble stair case ascends from
the atri um, lead ing vis i tors upward through the hier ar chi cal tiers of gov er -
nance, to the most impos ing rooms—the orig i nal City Coun cil (Grad sko
Vijeće) meet ing room and its sec ondary coun ter part, both locat ed on the first
floor [ 2 ].
The con struc tion of Vijećni ca as a mon u men tal City Hall was an exer -
cise in archi tec tur al mim ic ry , intend ed to assert impe r i al pow er and con -
trol through cul tur al sym bol ism. Yet, its func tion con tin ued to evolve and
reflect the flu id i ty of the polit i cal and soci etal shifts. Draw ing on Huyssen's
notion of  “flu id i ty of mem o ry” —in which he argues that mem o ry is not
sta t ic but flu id, con stant ly evolv ing in response to present needs and desires
—we can see an exam ple of this through a build ing whose iden ti ty has been
repeat ed ly rede fined by the regimes that con trolled it.
The effort at cul tur al cohe sion back fired spec tac u lar ly. In 1914, just
after a vis it to Sarajevo’s City Hall, Arch duke Franz Fer di nand of Aus tria
was assassinated—a spark that ignit ed World War I and unleashed forces that
politic of archi tec ture could not con tain. The build ing, orig i nal ly intend ed to
con sol i date pow er, became a silent yet salient wit ness to the empire’s col -
lapse. Between 1914 and 1941, Vijećni ca saw a range of occupants—
including prison—as it was adapt ed to var i ous func tion al needs. Each ten ant
altered its inte ri or, reflect ing the shift ing pur pos es and frag ment ed iden ti ties
imposed upon it. 
After World War II, Bosnia and Herze gov ina emerged as one of the six
republics of Yugoslavia (along with Slove nia, Croa t ia, Ser bia, Mon tene gro
12
13
Lejla Odobašić NovoArchitecture and Irony
3
4
3 View of Sarajevo City Hall from the 1980’s.
4 Council Chamber Hall turned into the library study
room from the 1980’s. (from the personal collection
of Ferhad Mulabegovic, used by permission).
14 Halb wachs, On Col lec tive Memory.
Architectural Irony and the Sarajevo City Hall 335
and Mace do nia), a state deter mined to forge a new social ist iden ti ty, one that
neces si tat ed the era sure of its colo nial past. Vijećni ca, as a sym bol of for mer
Aus tro-Hun gar i an author i ty, stood as a reminder of that past and thus
required reimag in ing. To align with the ide o log i cal shift of the new regime,
the build ing was repur posed from a seat of admin is tra tive pow er to the
Nation al and Uni ver si ty Library—a bea con of social ist enlight en ment and
progress [ 3 ][ 4 ]. Here, Nora's con cept of lieux de mémoire is again applic a -
ble, as the social ist gov ern ment sought to cre ate a new site of mem o ry that
would align with its ide o log i cal goals.
Dur ing the Yugoslav era (1945−1992), Sara je vo was rad i cal ly trans -
formed, expand ing far beyond its pre vi ous geo graph i cal lim its. The
cityscape itself became a can vas for new social ist ideals, replac ing impe r i al
grandeur with archi tec tur al expres sions of equal i ty and col lec tivism. This
was a time when archi tec ture was not mere ly about aes thet ics but ideology—
a dec la ra tion of the regime’s vision to ele vate the pro le tar i an work ing class.
New build ings were con struct ed as sym bols of uni for mi ty and equal i ty,
spaces designed to embody the col lec tive spir it and to serve as tan gi ble
rewards for the con tri bu tions of the people.
In this con text, Vijećni ca under went its own meta mor pho sis: from
a colo nial sym bol of bureau cra cy to a con tem po rary library and research
insti tute open to alI. Mau rice Halb wachs’ the o ry of col lec tive mem o ry
empha sizes that mem o ry is a social con struct, shaped by the group that holds
it. Col lec tive mem o ry is not about the past itself, but rather how the past is
remem bered by dif fer ent social groups , and as such this peri od illus trates
how dif fer ent social groups inscribed their own mem o ries upon the build ing.
For the social ist regime, Vijećni ca was reimag ined not as a rel ic of colo nial
rule but as a bea con of enlight en ment and cul tur al syn the sis, reflect ing the
ideals of a social ist state that sought to tran scend eth nic and reli gious
divides. This refram ing was an effort to con struct a new col lec tive mem o ry
that aligned with the social ist vision of a uni fied, mod ern Yugoslavia. How -
ev er, as Halb wachs sug gests, col lec tive mem o ry is always con test ed, and not
all social groups in Sara je vo may have accept ed this new iden ti ty for
Vijećni ca. For some, it remained a sym bol of past impe r i al dom i na tion,
while for oth ers, it became a cher ished part of the city’s intel lec tu al and cul -
tur al life; a liv ing tes ta ment to the city’s capac i ty for cul tur al adap ta tion and
resilience and an embod i ment of Bosn ian multiculturalism.
Vijećnica’s Destruction
In 1992, when Vijećni ca was shelled by Serb nation al ist forces dur ing the
Bosn ian War, the ironies of its his to ry seemed to reform as flames. Here was
14
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5 Shelled Sarajevo City burning in 1992. Photo by
Rikard Larma (used with his permission).
Architectural Irony and the Sarajevo City Hall 337
a build ing that had trans formed from a sym bol of impe r i al author i ty only to
be tar get ed for embody ing the very spir it of diver si ty it had come to rep re -
sent. The burn ing pages of 1.5 mil lion books flut tered like  'black snow' over
the city, a grim tes ta ment to the attempt to erase Sarajevo's plu ral is tic mem o -
ry. How bit ter ly iron ic that a struc ture that once aimed to bridge cul tures was
destroyed in an act of cul tur al cleans ing, its ash es a stark com men tary on the
fragili ty of shared his to ries in times of division.
Dur ing the Yugoslav peri od (1945−1991), Vijećni ca, the Bosn ian
Nation al and Uni ver si ty Library held over 1.5 mil lion books—a trea sure-
trove of knowl edge that housed the Nation al Archives of Bosnia and Herze -
gov ina, the entire col lec tion of the Uni ver si ty of Sara je vo, more than
150,000 man u scripts and rare books, and copies of every book, jour nal, and
news pa per ever pub lished in the country. 
On the night of August 25, 1992 the Serb nation al ist army unleashed
a bru tal assault, shelling the library in relent less waves; with in moments, the
library was engulfed in flames. The siege last ed for three days, con sum ing
the very soul of Bosnia’s cul tur al mem o ry. By the end, the vast major i ty of
the library’s col lec tion had been reduced to smol der ing frag ments, a nation’s
her itage turned to dust via a cal cu lat ed act of cul tur al era sure. This strate gic
oblit er a tion under scores Halb wachs' notion that col lec tive mem o ry is frag ile
and can be manip u lat ed or erased by those in power.
The man who signed the order to anni hi late Vijećni ca was Niko la Kol -
je vić, a fig ure whose life embod ies a pro found and trag ic irony. Once a dis -
tin guished lit er ary pro fes sor at the Uni ver si ty of Sara je vo, Kol je vić was
a revered Shake speare an schol ar, poet, and a crit ic who thrived in the city’s
rich, cos mopoli tan milieu. Kol je vić was deeply embed ded in the intel lec tu al
fab ric of Sara je vo, a city that mir rored the very ideals his schol ar ship
once upheld.
In a cru el twist of fate, the seeds of per son al tragedy began to unrav el
this con nec tion. The death of his son in a ski ing acci dent in the late 1970s
plunged Kol je vić into a deep depres sion, dri ving him toward Ortho dox mys -
ti cism and a fer vent embrace of Ser bian nation al ism. This once-cel e brat ed
man of let ters, who had spent his life immersed in the works of Shakespeare
—himself a mas ter of irony—transformed into a staunch sup port er of
Radovan Karadžić, the nation al ist Serb leader. By 1992, Kol je vić had relo -
cat ed to Pale, the strong hold of the Bosn ian Serb lead er ship, from where he
played a piv otal role in orches trat ing the siege of Sarajevo.
Kol je vić, a for mer schol ar who had once walked the halls of Vijećni ca,
a man who had undoubt ed ly turned the pages of rare books and man u scripts,
became the archi tect of their destruc tion. For Kol je vić, Vijećni ca had come
to sym bol ize every thing he now despised about Sarajevo—its Ottoman
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6 Burnt atrium of the City Hall during the siege.
Photo by Richard Rogers.
15 Rebec ca Knuth, Burn ing Books and Lev el ing
Libraries: Extrem ist Vio lence and Cul tur al
Destruc tion (West port, Conn.: Praeger,
2006), 6.
16 András J. Riedl may er,  "Killing Mem o ry: The
Tar get ing of Bosnia’s Cul tur al Her itage," tes ti ‐
mo ny pre sent ed at a hear ing of the Com mis ‐
sion on Secu ri ty and Coop er a tion in Europe,
April 1995 (Wash ing ton: US Gov ern ment Print ‐
ing Office, 1995), 51.
Architectural Irony and the Sarajevo City Hall 339
lega cy, its mul ti cul tur al iden ti ty, and the schol ar ly life that con tin ued to
flour ish with in its walls. His direc tive to Ratko Mladić to shell and erad i cate
Vijećni ca was not just a mil i tary order; it was an act of per son al and ide o log -
i cal era sure, an attempt to oblit er ate the very sym bol of a city that had once
nur tured his intel lec tu al pur suits. In this act, the schol ar-turned-nation al ist
made a mock ery of the val ues he once embodied, 
The burn ing of books is an act that tran scends mere destruc tion; it is an
assault on the very essence of cul ture and mem o ry. As Rebec ca Knuth
observes,  "books and libraries con sti tute the liv ing tis sue of cul ture; the
destruc tion of books (with burn ing fre quent ly serv ing as the method) under -
mines the ideals of truth, beau ty, and progress – and, by exten sion, civ i liza -
tion itself.”  The irony is stark: Vijećni ca, once the repos i to ry of Bosnia's
diverse cul tur al and intel lec tu al her itage, became a tar get of delib er ate oblit -
er a tion, not because of what it housed, but because of what it represented—
an edi fi cial tes ta ment to Bosnia’s plu ral is tic spirit.
This cul tur al onslaught pro voked inter na tion al out rage; the Har vard
librar i an András Riedl may er con demned the mael strom as an act of  "cul tur al
destruc tion." He argued that this was not just anoth er casu al ty of war but
a cal cu lat ed effort by nation al ist extrem ists to extin guish both human lives
and the mem o ry of Bosnia's his tor i cal ly plu ral is tic and tol er ant soci ety .
Tying it back to Andreas Huyssen’s con cept of the  “flu id i ty of mem o ry”, its
destruc tion rep re sents a vio lent attempt to halt this flu id i ty, to fix mem o ry in
a state of era sure, effec tive ly deny ing the plu ral ism that the build ing had
come to sym bol ize [ 6 ].
The attack on Vijećni ca rep re sents a com plex and lay ered instance of
cul tur al and col lec tive mem o ry era sure. Through the lens of Halb wachs’ the -
o ry of col lec tive mem o ry, Nora’s lieux de mémoire, and Huyssen’s flu id i ty
of mem o ry, the attack on Vijećni ca can be under stood as an attempt to erase
a con test ed and dynam ic site of mem o ry, under scor ing the pro found irony of
a build ing that once unit ed diverse nar ra tives becom ing a casu al ty of divi -
sion and intolerance.
Reconstructing Memory: Post-War Restoration 
The post-war recon struc tion of Vijećni ca is laden with lay ers of irony,
reflect ing the ten sion between remem ber ing and for get ting, preser va tion and
trans for ma tion. After the Bosn ian War, the building’s restora tion became
a sym bol of nation al resilience and a state ment of cul tur al revival. How ev er,
the deci sion to restore Vijećni ca in its orig i nal Aus tro-Hun gar i an style, rather
than embrac ing its more recent role as a nation al library and cul tur al cen ter,
reveals a deep er, more com plex nar ra tive about mem o ry and iden ti ty in post-
15
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7 Exterior view of City Hall in 2007. Photo by the
author.
Architectural Irony and the Sarajevo City Hall 341
con flict Sara je vo. This deci sion can be crit i cal ly exam ined through Paul
Ricoeur's ideas on selec tive mem o ry and for get ting, as well as James E.
Young's con cept of counter-monuments.
The unwa ver ing com mit ment to rebuild ing Vijećni ca, along with its
once-vast library col lec tion, drew sig nif i cant sup port from an array of inter -
na tion al orga ni za tions, includ ing the World Bank, UNESCO, the Har vard
Uni ver si ty Libraries, and the Gov ern ment of Aus tria. The urgency of the
cause was unde ni able, and yet the recon struc tion efforts seemed to attract as
much atten tion for the building's haunt remains as for its poten tial revival.
The ruins of Vijećni ca became the back drop for a high-pro file concert
—an event meant to draw media atten tion to the restora tion cam paign. The
Sara je vo Sym phon ic Orches tra, under the baton of Zubin Mehta, per formed
Mozart’s Requiem with in the crum bling walls of the City Hall. The choice of
music—a requiem, tra di tion al ly a mass for the dead—could not have been
more para dox i cal, as it echoed through a struc ture being res ur rect ed to sym -
bol ize nation al renew al. This per for mance, meant to her ald a new begin ning,
res onat ed with the mourn ful notes of loss and remem brance, under scor ing
the com plex lay ers of mean ing entwined in Vijećnica’s revival. Here, amidst
the ash es of war and the hope ful strains of music, the build ing itself seemed
to exist in two worlds: one of death and destruc tion, the oth er of rebirth and
recla ma tion, trapped with in the ironies of its own history.
In the after math of the con flict, war sur vivors in Sara je vo yearned for
a return to  'nor mal cy,' imag in ing their city as a thriv ing, glob al metrop o lis
that would focus on cur rent chal lenges rather than linger on the wounds of
its past. Yet, even in its ruined state, Vijećni ca loomed large—not as a mere
rel ic of his to ry, but as a pow er ful sym bol of what had been lost and what
could still be reclaimed. Iron i cal ly, while the build ing was shat tered and
scarred, it’s very ruin became a tes ta ment to its his tor i cal sig nif i cance, evok -
ing a deep er sense of cul tur al val ue pre cise ly because of its vulnerability. 
Soon after the war end ed in 1995, the first ten ta tive steps were tak en
toward restor ing Vijećni ca, but the dis cus sions sur round ing its future use
were fraught with ambi gu i ty. Should it be restored to its orig i nal func tion as
a City Hall? Or should part of it serve as the Nation al and Uni ver si ty
Library, as it had done for decades? Some even pro posed leav ing it in its
ruined state, as a stark, vis cer al mon u ment to the destruc tion wrought by
war. In 1996 it was decid ed to relo cate the library col lec tion to a  'tem po rary'
home at the Uni ver si ty of Sara je vo, in a build ing that had once served as
mil i tary bar racks named after Josip Broz Tito. 
How ev er, the recon struc tion of these facil i ties lagged and was not com -
plet ed until 1999, three years after the deci sion was made, at which point the
library moved into what was sup posed to be its inter im res i dence. This  
Lejla Odobašić NovoArchitecture and Irony
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9
8 View of the Council Chamber in 2007.
9 View of the grand staircase in 2007.
17 Ricoeur, Mem o ry, His to ry, For get ting, 55–57,
412–413.
18 Ibid., p. 412–416.
Architectural Irony and the Sarajevo City Hall 343
'tem po rary' arrange ment has since become a per ma nent fix ture of the uni ver -
si ty cam pus, much like Vijećni ca itself—a struc ture caught between its past
iden ti ties and uncer tain future, embody ing the very con tra dic tions of a city
striv ing to move for ward while con tin u al ly being pulled back into its own
com plex history.
The deci sion to recon struct Vijećni ca in its orig i nal Aus tro-Hun gar i an
form and func tion adds yet anoth er lay er of irony to its already com plex nar -
ra tive. In the after math of war, its restora tion as a City Hall seemed to res ur -
rect not its most recent role as a cul tur al bea con, but its orig i nal func tion as
a sym bol of impe r i al pow er. Accord ing to Ricoeur, mem o ry is inher ent ly
selec tive, shaped by both con scious and uncon scious process es that decide
which events are remem bered and which are for got ten.  By recon struct ing
Vijećni ca as it appeared dur ing the Aus tro-Hun gar i an peri od, the restora tion
efforts under score a desire to remem ber the building's colo nial past while
simul ta ne ous ly for get ting its lat er trans for ma tions. This act of selec tive
mem o ry rep re sents an attempt to fix the building's iden ti ty at a par tic u lar
moment in time, there by neglect ing the flu id and evolv ing nature of its his -
tor i cal and cul tur al significance.
Ricoeur also high lights the role of for get ting in the con struc tion of
mem o ry, sug gest ing that for get ting is not mere ly the loss of mem o ry but can
also be an active process of era sure or sup pres sion . In the case of Vijećni -
ca, its recon struc tion can be seen as an inten tion al act of forgetting—
specifically, a for get ting of the building's more recent past. The restora tion,
there fore, can be cri tiqued as a con scious effort to sta bi lize the building’s
mean ing and reduce its dynam ic com plex i ty, align ing with a sin gu lar nar ra -
tive that may not ful ly cap ture the building’s mul ti fac eted history.
In the years fol low ing the war, as Sara je vo embarked on a jour ney of
recon struc tion and renew al, many of the city’s dam aged land marks began to
rise from the ash es, but Vijećni ca remained con spic u ous ly untouched. While
funds from the EU and Aus tri an gov ern ments trick led in, they were suf fi -
cient only for a par tial restoration—focused on sta bi liz ing the cen tral hall
and secur ing the building’s struc tur al integri ty. The full res ur rec tion of
Vijećni ca seemed a dis tant dream, stymied by soar ing costs, tan gled legal
own er ship, and deep uncer tain ty over its future pur pose. The very forces that
had rebuilt Sarajevo’s war-torn land scape showed lit tle urgency in restor ing
one of its most emblem at ic structures.
Unlike the impe r i al Aus tro-Hun gar i an rulers who orig i nal ly erect ed
Vijećni ca or the social ist Yugoslav author i ties who repur posed it, the post-
con flict Bosn ian lead er ship seemed indif fer ent to the building’s palimpses tic
sig nif i cance. The pseu do-Moor ish style, once deployed to sym bol ize a dis -
tinct Bosn ian iden ti ty, now appeared polit i cal ly irrel e vant, fail ing to align
17
18
Lejla Odobašić NovoArchitecture and Irony
10
11
12 13
10 View of the burnt-out roof with missing stained
glass in 2007. Photos by the author.
11 View of the burnt-out roof from the grand
staircase in 2007. Photos by the author.
12 Structurally stabilized Sarajevo City Hall, photo of
the front façade.
13 Detail of one of the towers, 2007. Photos by the
author.
Architectural Irony and the Sarajevo City Hall 345
with any con tem po rary eth nic or elec toral inter ests. In a grim twist of fate,
the build ing that had once been a focal point of Sarajevo’s archi tec tur al and
cul tur al iden ti ty now found itself adrift—without clear alle giance or cham pi -
on in the frac tured polit i cal land scape. Thus, its recon struc tion lan guished,
not because of lack of his tor i cal impor tance, but because it no longer served
a con ve nient polit i cal purpose.
The focus on Vijećni ca as a sym bol of Sarajevo’s resilience and mul ti -
cul tur al her itage began to fade. Polit i cal par ties shift ed their attention—and
the much-need ed funding—toward projects that promised more imme di ate,
tan gi ble ben e fits and clear er finan cial returns. Polit i cal pri or i ties crys tal lized
around ini tia tives that direct ly catered to spe cif ic eth nona tion al groups, and
as inter na tion al enthu si asm for fund ing a mul ti cul tur al approach dwin dled,
so too did the momen tum for Vijećnica’s full restoration.
In 1997, UNESCO des ig nat ed Vijećni ca as a mon u ment under the 
‘Mon u ments Pro tec tion Act,’ an acco lade that seemed to promise renewed
atten tion and resources. Yet rather than chan nelling sub stan tial fund ing
toward its recon struc tion, UNESCO allo cat ed $600,000 from the Ger man
gov ern ment for periph er al expenses—such as equip ment, staff train ing, and
the restora tion of the library col lec tion. The struc tur al sta bi liza tion efforts
resumed only mod est ly between 2002 and 2003 [ 8–13 ], and it wasn’t until
Sep tem ber 18, 2003, that the Sara je vo Can ton admin is tra tion made a deci -
sive move to restore Vijećni ca to its orig i nal role as City Hall, with lim it ed
space allo cat ed to the Nation al Library.
The irony deep ens when con sid er ing the final phase of ren o va tion,
which began in late 2008 and con clud ed in 2014. The effort was less about
reclaim ing Vijećnica’s dynam ic role as a cul tur al nexus and more about rein -
stat ing its orig i nal Aus tro-Hun gar i an func tion. The struc ture was ulti mate ly
rebuilt to fit a nar row ly defined pur pose, reflect ing a stark para dox: in the
pur suit of pre serv ing the past, the oppor tu ni ty to embrace its rich er, more
inclu sive lega cy was allowed to slip away.
Solidifying the Monument: Remembering and Forgetting 
Between the late 1990s and its reopen ing in 2014, Vijećni ca found itself in
a pecu liar limbo—structurally sound yet not ful ly recon struct ed. In this  'in-
between' phase, the build ing unex pect ed ly emerged as a vibrant cul tur al hub,
its par tial ly restored halls becom ing a dynam ic can vas for Sarajevo's cre ative
and com mu nal expres sion. Iron i cal ly, it was in this state of incom ple tion that
Vijećni ca tru ly came alive, its flex i ble inte ri ors adapt ing to host an array of
cul tur al events that breathed new life into its walls and reaf firmed its place
in the city’s cul tur al landscape.
Lejla Odobašić NovoArchitecture and Irony
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15
16
14 Sarajevo Film Festival (SFF) event organized in
Vijecnica. View of the atrium with grand staircase
visible, 2007.
15 SFF detail of the roof construction. Photos by the
author.
16 Photo of a concert in the main atrium of Vijecnica,
2007. Photos by the author.
Architectural Irony and the Sarajevo City Hall 347
Dur ing these years, Vijećni ca trans formed into a piv otal venue for fes ti vals,
cul tur al orga ni za tions, and muse ums, accom mo dat ing every thing from art
exhi bi tions and con certs to avant-garde instal la tions. Its gal leries dis played
works by renowned artists like Kounel lis in 2004, Zec in 2007, Kovače vić in
2008, Muri tić in 2008, and Dim itri je vić in 2010. The building's grand spaces
also became the cen tral stage for major events such as the Sara je vo Film
Fes ti val (SFF), MESS, Sara je vo Win ter, and Baščarši ja Nights, along with
count less con certs and per for mances [ 14 ] [ 15 ] [ 16 ]. In this unex pect ed role,
Vijećni ca defied its own unfin ished state, sym bol iz ing the con ver gence of
diverse nar ra tives and com mu nal gath er ings that define Sarajevo’s mul ti cul -
tur al spirit—perhaps more so than at any oth er point in its history.
Vijećnica's final chap ter of recon struc tion is steeped in irony, and for
many Bosni ans, its ver dict felt like a pro found mis step. To count less Sara je -
vans, Vijećnica’s iden ti ty is insep a ra ble from its role as a library, a cher ished
cul tur al land mark that stands as a tes ta ment to the city’s resilience and intel -
lec tu al spir it. The deci sion to return it to its ini tial admin is tra tive pur pose
sparked con tro ver sy and dis ap point ment, as it seemed to negate the very
essence of what the build ing had come to represent. 
James E. Young’s con cept of counter-mon u ments illu mi nates the ironies
inher ent in the restora tion of Vijećni ca. Counter-mon u ments are typ i cal ly
designed to chal lenge tra di tion al forms of com mem o ra tion, reject ing fixed or
sin gu lar inter pre ta tions of his to ry in favour of a more dynam ic and open-
end ed engage ment with the past. Although Vijećni ca was not orig i nal ly con -
ceived as a counter-mon u ment, its post-war sta tus iron i cal ly aligns with
Young’s frame work. Despite efforts to fix its sig nif i cance through the
restora tion of its orig i nal style, Vijećni ca a dynam ic site of mem o ry, con tin u -
al ly rein ter pret ed by the diverse com mu ni ties and nar ra tives it represents.
The building’s very exis tence resists any attempt to pin down a sin gle,
unam bigu ous mean ing. Even as its restored façade attempts to evoke the
grandeur and author i ty of Aus tro-Hun gar i an rule, the build ing is inescapably
marked by its his to ry of destruc tion, sur vival, and rein ven tion. It con tin ues
to oper ate as a con test ed space where con flict ing mem o ries and inter pre ta -
tions con verge, embody ing a kind of counter-mon u men tal i ty that defies the
restoration's attempt to  "freeze" it in time. Young’s con cept also helps to cri -
tique the lim i ta tions of con ven tion al restora tion prac tices, which often aim to
return build ings to a per ceived orig i nal state, ignor ing the evolv ing and mul -
ti ple mean ings that such struc tures accrue over time. By seek ing to restore
Vijećni ca in its orig i nal style, the recon struc tion efforts iron i cal ly ignore the
building's role as a  “counter-mon u ment,” a site where com pet ing his tor i cal
nar ra tives and iden ti ties inter sect. Instead of allow ing Vijećni ca to remain an
active, dynam ic site of memory—constantly in dia logue with its past—the
Lejla Odobašić NovoArchitecture and Irony
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18
19
17 Sarajevo City Hall front facade, 2024. Photo by the
author.
18 Sarajevo City Hall main atrium, 2024. Photo by the
author.
19 Sarajevo City Hall interior, Grand Stairs and the
Atrium, 2024. Photos by the author.
19 Huyssen, Twi light Mem o ries: Mark ing Time in
a Cul ture of Amne sia, 249–250.
Architectural Irony and the Sarajevo City Hall 349
restora tion attempts to con tain its mean ing with in a spe cif ic his tor i cal frame,
inad ver tent ly under scor ing the very flu id i ty of mem o ry that it seeks to deny.
Fur ther com pound ing this irony is UNESCO's des ig na tion of Vijećni ca
under the  ‘Mon u ments Pro tec tion Act,’ a move intend ed to pre serve its his -
tor i cal impor tance but one that inad ver tent ly froze the build ing in time, strip -
ping it of its abil i ty to con tin ue its adap tive, reflec tive jour ney. In declar ing
Vijećni ca a mon u ment, the deci sion con fined it to a sin gu lar nar ra tive,
under min ing its capac i ty to embody Bosnia’s com plex and inclu sive iden ti ty.
As Andreas Huyssen, a con tem po rary cul tur al his to ri an, notes, remembrance
—whether indi vid ual or collective—is inher ent ly unsta ble, always sub ject to
rein ter pre ta tion. In mod ern soci eties, where muse ums, memo ri als, and mon -
u ments often shift in mean ing or lose their orig i nal sig nif i cance, such an act
of preser va tion iron i cal ly risks ossi fy ing what should be dynam ic.
Vijećnica—a struc ture that had once adapt ed and evolved to accom mo -
date the city's shift ing identities—was trapped in the amber of its own his to -
ry, its poten tial to serve as a liv ing tes ta ment to Sarajevo's mul ti fac eted nar -
ra tive dimin ished. The irony, then, lies in the effort to hon or the past while
inad ver tent ly lim it ing the very evo lu tion that gave Vijećni ca its unique sig -
nif i cance. The restora tion of Vijećni ca, viewed through the lens es of
Ricoeur's selec tive mem o ry and Young’s counter-mon u ments, reveals a fun -
da men tal ten sion between efforts to fix its sig nif i cance and the building’s
resis tance to such sta bi liza tion. The deci sion to recon struct the build ing in its
orig i nal style is thus an act of both remem ber ing and for get ting, an attempt
to hon our a par tic u lar past while sup press ing others. 
Counter-Monumentality and Vijećnica: An Alternative Approach
In con sid er ing the recon struc tion of Vijećni ca, the poten tial for a counter-
mon u men tal approach intro duces an alter na tive vision, one that could
embrace the building's com plex and iron ic his to ry rather than attempt ing to
restore it to a fixed past. Going back to the con cept of counter-mon u men tal i -
ty, as artic u lat ed by schol ars like James E. Young, a counter-mon u ment
resists the incli na tion to freeze his to ry into an immutable form, instead it
cre ates a space where the ongo ing inter pre ta tion and evo lu tion of mem o ry
can flour ish. For Vijećni ca, this approach could have offered a more pro -
found engage ment with the building’s his to ry, invit ing a dia logue between
its var i ous roles through history.
The irony inher ent in Vijećnica’s recon struc tion lies in the deci sion to
restore it to its Aus tro-Hun gar i an form, there by priv i leg ing a sin gu lar, impe r -
i al nar ra tive while neglect ing its more recent and per haps more cul tur al ly
sig nif i cant his to ry. By opt ing for this fixed restora tion, the com plex i ty of the
19
Lejla Odobašić NovoArchitecture and Irony
20
21
22
20 Monument Against Fascism in 1986 when first
erected depicting its full height. During its
existence it slowly ‘disappeared’ into the ground.
21 A boy adding his inscription into the monument.
22 View of the disappeared monument. Photo
courtesy of Esther Shalev-Gerz.
20 The fol low ing is part of the artist ’s state ment
that Esther Shalev-Gerz has shared with the
author to fur ther rein force the inten tions
behind the mon u ment:  “We invite the cit i zens
of Har burg, and vis i tors to the town, to add
their names here to ours. In doing so we com ‐
mit our selves to remain vig i lant. As more and
more names cov er this 12-metre-high lead
col umn, it will grad u al ly be low ered into the
ground. One day it will have dis ap peared
com plete ly and the site of the Har burg mon u ‐
ment against fas cism will be emp ty. In the
long run, it is only we our selves who can
stand up against injustice.”
Architectural Irony and the Sarajevo City Hall 351
building’s lay ered mean ings was over shad owed. A counter-mon u men tal
approach, how ev er, could have embraced these mul ti ple lay ers and allowed
for a dynam ic inter ac tion with the past. 
Jochen Gerz and Esther Shalev-Gerz's Mon u ment Against Fas cism in
Ham burg pro vides a pow er ful exam ple of how a counter-mon u ment can sub -
vert the tra di tion al role of a memo r i al. Erect ed in 1986 in the Har burg dis -
trict, this lead col umn (1x1x12m) was designed to dis ap pear over time as an
inten tion al com men tary on the tran sient nature of mem o ry and the role of
mon u ments in shap ing col lec tive con scious ness. The mon u ment invit ed the
pub lic to inscribe their names and thoughts on its sur face as an act of
engage ment with the very con cept of memo ri al iza tion. As the inscrip tions
accu mu lat ed, the col umn was pro gres sive ly low ered into the ground until it
van ished entire ly in 1993, leav ing only a plaque in its place . The delib er -
ate van ish ing of the mon u ment was 
meant to reject the idea that a sta t ic mon u ment could ever ade quate ly
cap ture or pre serve the essence of mem o ry, espe cial ly in the con text of
some thing as pro found and com plex as the mem o ry of fas cism and its con se -
quences. Instead, the mon u ment embod ied the notion that mem o ry requires
active par tic i pa tion and con stant renew al by those who live with its legacies.
This act of dis ap pear ance is cen tral to the monument’s counter-mon u -
men tal nature, reflect ing the idea that memo ri als should not serve as per ma -
nent reminders but as prompts for ongo ing reflec tion and engage ment. In
this way, the Mon u ment Against Fas cism sub verts the tra di tion al expec ta tion
that mon u ments are eter nal mark ers of his tor i cal events [ 20 ] [ 21 ] [ 22 ]. By
grad u al ly dis ap pear ing, it calls atten tion to the imper ma nence of mem o ry
itself, and to the dan gers of rely ing too heav i ly on phys i cal struc tures to car -
ry the weight of his tor i cal trau ma. The Gerz’s work direct ly chal lenges the
con ven tion al pur pose of mon u ments, which often attempt to fix a sin gu lar
nar ra tive in place for future gen er a tions. By con trast, this dis ap pear ing col -
umn acknowl edged that mem o ry and his to ry are dynam ic, flu id, and often
uncom fort able process es, ones that can not be con tained with in a sin gle sym -
bol ic struc ture. The inter ac tive and evolv ing nature of this mon u ment invit ed
the pub lic to take respon si bil i ty for remem ber ing by inscrib ing their own
thoughts onto the mon u ment, rather than rely ing on a mon u ment to do the
work for them.
For Vijećni ca, a sim i lar approach could have been employed in one seg -
ment of its recon struc tion to under score the iron ic ten sion between its his tor -
i cal roles. By incor po rat ing ele ments of grad ual decay or imper ma nence into
the restora tion, the recon struct ed build ing could have served as a reminder
of the fragili ty of both mem o ry and archi tec ture. It could have also been
used to record new mem o ries of the cit i zens today. Thus, a design ele ment
20
Lejla Odobašić NovoArchitecture and Irony
23
24
23 Vietnam Memorial by Maya Lin, view from the top,
the memorial looks like a ‘cut’ into the landscape.
Photo by Terry Adams, National Park Service
24 Detail of the reflective surface of the Vietnam
Memorial on which the names of the fallen
soldiers are written. Photo by Mark Segal
Architectural Irony and the Sarajevo City Hall 353
that reflect ed the pas sage of time, sim i lar to the Mon u ment Against Fas cism,
would have allowed Vijećni ca to stand as a liv ing sym bol of Sarajevo’s
evolv ing iden ti ty, rather than an attempt to freeze it in a spe cif ic moment of
impe r i al his to ry. This counter-mon u men tal approach would engage the pub -
lic in an ongo ing dia logue with the building’s past, high light ing the con tin u -
al process of nego ti at ing mem o ry in a city marked by both cul tur al rich ness
and his tor i cal trauma.
Maya Lin’s Viet nam Vet er ans Memo r i al in Wash ing ton, D.C., is anoth er
poignant exam ple of how a mon u ment can move beyond mere com mem o ra -
tion to fos ter per son al engage ment and reflec tion. The memorial’s defin ing
feature—its reflec tive black gran ite wall—enables vis i tors to see their own
image super im posed upon the engraved names of the fall en sol diers, there by
cre at ing a direct and inti mate con nec tion between the indi vid ual and the col -
lec tive mem o ry of those memo ri al ized. This inter ac tion trans forms the expe -
ri ence of the mon u ment into some thing active and per son al; each vis i tor is
con front ed not only with the past but with their own role in the ongo ing
process of remem brance. By incor po rat ing their own pres ence into the
memorial’s sur face, vis i tors are com pelled to con front the notion that his to ry
is not a sta t ic nar ra tive con fined to the past, but one that con tin ues to shape
and be shaped by those who engage with it. Lin’s min i mal ist design, with its
absence of overt sym bol ism, leaves space for mul ti ple inter pre ta tions, allow -
ing the memo r i al to res onate across gen er a tions and with indi vid u als of
diverse backgrounds.
For Vijećni ca, a sim i lar approach could have pro vid ed a means of
engag ing Sarajevo’s cit i zens in the building’s lay ered his to ry. By incor po rat -
ing reflec tive sur faces or oth er inter ac tive ele ments into the recon struc tion,
Vijećni ca could have invit ed vis i tors to see them selves as part of the ongo ing
nar ra tive of the city’s com plex past. Such a design would have fos tered an
active rela tion ship between the build ing and those who encounter it, empha -
siz ing that its mean ing is not fixed but con tin u al ly evolv ing. The act of see -
ing one’s reflec tion in the struc ture, as with Lin’s memo r i al, would have
sym bol ized the con ti nu ity between past and present, remind ing vis i tors that
they are part of a liv ing city that con tin ues to grap ple with its history. 
Fur ther more, this reflec tive or inter ac tive design with in the build ing,
could have been used to high light the mul ti ple roles Vijećni ca has played
through out its his to ry. The jux ta po si tion of these var i ous lay ers of his to ry,
reflect ed in both the archi tec ture and the vis i tors them selves, would have
cre at ed a dynam ic dia logue between the building’s past and present func -
tions allow ing the build ing to acknowl edge the con tra dic tions and com plex i -
ties that define its iden ti ty. Much like Lin’s memo r i al, which accom mo dates
the individual’s expe ri ence while also stand ing as a col lec tive mon u ment,
Lejla Odobašić NovoArchitecture and Irony
Architectural Irony and the Sarajevo City Hall 355
a sim i lar strat e gy at Vijećni ca could have rein forced the idea that mem o ry is
not mono lith ic but is shaped by the inter ac tion of mul ti ple nar ra tives and
perspectives. 
The irony in Vijećnica’s restora tion lies in the deci sion to freeze its
iden ti ty at a sin gu lar his tor i cal moment, over look ing its com plex evo lu tion
as a sym bol of both colo nial pow er and cul tur al resilience. While the restora -
tion was meant to hon or its past, it para dox i cal ly silences the dynam ic and
mul ti fac eted nar ra tives that have shaped the building’s sig nif i cance, such as
its role as the Nation al Library and its destruc tion dur ing the Bosn ian War.
A counter-mon u men tal approach would have allowed Vijećni ca to reflect the
flu id i ty of mem o ry and embrace its lay ered his to ry, engag ing the past and
present in ongo ing dia logue. Instead, the restora tion lim its its poten tial as
a site of inclu sive reflec tion, miss ing the oppor tu ni ty to embody the com -
plex i ties of Sarajevo’s col lec tive mem o ry and its strug gle to rec on cile with
its past.
Conclusion: Synthesizing the Paradox
This paper has exam ined the inher ent ironies embed ded in the shift ing roles
and mean ings of Vijećni ca, from its incep tion as a sym bol of Aus tro-Hun gar -
i an colo nial author i ty to its trans for ma tion into a cul tur al nucle us and its
con test ed res ur rec tion in the post-con flict peri od. By posi tion ing Sara je vo
City Hall as a com pelling case study of archi tec tur al irony, the paper has
con tex tu al ized it with in a broad er glob al frame work of build ings that have
under gone sim i lar trans for ma tive jour neys. In doing so, it has illu mi nat ed
the com plex inter play between archi tec ture, mem o ry, and iden ti ty in post-
con flict societies.
Cen tral to the argu ment is the idea that Vijećni ca func tions not mere ly
as a sta t ic sym bol, but as a dynam ic  ‘site of memory’—what Pierre Nora
calls a lieu de mémoire. Through out its his to ry, dif fer ent regimes and social
groups have sought to inscribe their own nar ra tives and mem o ries onto the
build ing. The Aus tro-Hun gar i an regime, for exam ple, attempt ed to use the
pseu do-Moor ish style to project a nar ra tive of cul tur al inte gra tion, while
simul ta ne ous ly rein forc ing their polit i cal dom i nance. Lat er, under Yugoslav
social ist rule, the build ing was trans formed into a nation al library, reflect ing
a delib er ate attempt to over write its colo nial iden ti ty with a new nar ra tive of
social ist progress and cul tur al syn the sis. In each case, Vijećni ca became
a con test ed site of mem o ry, embody ing the selec tive process es by which
soci eties choose to remem ber, rein ter pret, or for get their pasts.
Paul Ricoeur’s insights on selec tive mem o ry and for get ting are par tic u -
lar ly rel e vant in cri tiquing the deci sion to restore Vijećni ca to its orig i nal
Lejla Odobašić NovoArchitecture and Irony
Architectural Irony and the Sarajevo City Hall 357
form. This restora tion reflects an effort to fix the building's mean ing to
a spe cif ic his tor i cal peri od, priv i leg ing a nar ra tive of impe r i al her itage while
mar gin al iz ing oth er lay ers of its com plex his to ry. By focus ing on this sin gu -
lar nar ra tive, the restora tion risks freez ing Vijećnica's dynam ic and evolv ing
nature, reduc ing its role as a site where mul ti ple mem o ries and mean ings
inter sect. As Ricoeur sug gests, such acts of selec tive mem o ry involve not
only remem ber ing but also delib er ate forgetting—a sup pres sion of the
building’s more recent roles as a sym bol of mul ti cul tur al resilience and intel -
lec tu al life.
Mau rice Halb wachs' the o ry of col lec tive mem o ry fur ther elu ci dates
how dif fer ent social groups have inscribed their iden ti ties onto Vijećni ca
over time. For the social ist gov ern ment, the build ing was reimag ined as
a bea con of enlight en ment and cul tur al syn the sis, embody ing the ideals of
a uni fied Yugoslavia that tran scend ed eth nic and reli gious divides. How ev er,
the building’s destruc tion dur ing the Bosn ian War and its sub se quent recon -
struc tion high light the fragili ty of col lec tive mem o ry and its sus cep ti bil i ty to
manip u la tion by those in pow er. Halb wachs’ per spec tive under scores the
con test ed nature of Vijećnica's iden ti ty, which has been con stant ly reshaped
by shift ing polit i cal and social contexts.
James E. Young's con cept of counter-mon u ments offers anoth er crit i cal
lens through which to under stand the ironies of Vijećnica's post-war restora -
tion. Counter-mon u ments chal lenge tra di tion al forms of com mem o ra tion by
reject ing fixed or sin gu lar inter pre ta tions of his to ry. Although Vijećni ca was
not orig i nal ly con ceived as a counter-mon u ment, its sta tus in the after math
of the war aligns with Young’s frame work. Despite efforts to restore it to its
orig i nal form, the build ing con tin ues to func tion as a dynam ic site of mem o -
ry, where con flict ing inter pre ta tions and nar ra tives coex ist and evolve. The
deci sion to restore Vijećni ca to its Aus tro-Hun gar i an appear ance may seek to
sta bi lize its mean ing, but the build ing itself resists such final i ty, remain ing
an open text sub ject to ongo ing rein ter pre ta tion and debate.
By apply ing these the o ret i cal per spec tives, the paper cri tiques con ven -
tion al approach es to her itage preser va tion and mon u men tal i ty, demon strat ing
how Vijećnica’s recon struc tion reflects broad er ten sions between mem o ry,
for get ting, and the pol i tics of space in post-con flict soci eties. Through this
analy sis, it chal lenges dom i nant nar ra tives that attempt to fix Vijećnica's
mean ing, reveal ing instead the com plex i ties and con tra dic tions that make it
an endur ing and con test ed sym bol in Sarajevo’s cul tur al landscape.
Trac ing the com plex his to ry of Sara je vo City Hall reveals the many
ways in which archi tec tur al irony and mem o ry are inscribed with in its evolv -
ing roles and mean ings. The irony does not reside sole ly in its styl is tic dis so -
nances or polit i cal role rever sals but in the very act of its post-con flict
Lejla Odobašić NovoArchitecture and Irony
Architectural Irony and the Sarajevo City Hall 359
restoration—a restora tion that sought to res ur rect an impe r i al past while
over shad ow ing its more recent incar na tions as a sym bol of cul tur al resilience
and diver si ty. This choice under scores the uneasy bal ance between the desire
to hon or her itage and the neces si ty to acknowl edge the mul ti-lay ered iden ti -
ties of post-con flict spaces.
Ulti mate ly, Vijećni ca serves as a reminder of the para dox es that archi -
tec tur al his to ry often car ries. It is a build ing that resists any sin gle, defin i tive
nar ra tive; its every stone car ries a tale of irony and mem o ry. As we reflect on
its past and con tem plate its future, we are con front ed with pro found ques -
tions: How can we hon or a com plex his to ry while adapt ing to con tem po rary
needs? How do we bal ance the impulse to remem ber with the neces si ty to
move for ward? In Vijećni ca, these ques tions remain unre solved, etched into
its very foun da tion, mak ing it a liv ing tes ta ment to the com plex i ties of mem -
o ry, iden ti ty, and cul tur al endurance in post-con flict societies.
Lejla Odobašić NovoArchitecture and Irony
Architectural Irony and the Sarajevo City Hall 361
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363
Kyle Dug dale is an archi tect, his to ri an, and
Senior Crit ic at Yale School of Archi tec ture. He
holds an under grad u ate degree from Cor pus
Christi Col lege, Oxford, a pro fes sion al degree
from Harvard’s Grad u ate School of Design, and
a doc tor al degree from Yale. A res i dent of New
York City, he has also taught at Columbia’s Grad ‐
u ate School of Archi tec ture, Plan ning and Preser ‐
va tion. His work has been pub lished in jour nals
includ ing Per spec ta, Thresh olds, Utopi an Stud ies,
Clas si cist, Archi tec tur al Record, and Wolkenkuck ‐
uck sheim. His most recent book is enti tled Archi ‐
tec ture After God.
Nika Grabar grad u at ed from the Fac ul ty of Archi ‐
tec ture in Ljubl jana (2003), was a Ful bright vis it ‐
ing schol ar at Colum bia Uni ver si ty, GSAPP, New
York (2007−09), defend ed her PhD the sis at the
Ljubl jana Fac ul ty of Archi tec ture (2009). Her work
involves research of archi tec tur al her itage and
plan ning with an empha sis on the her itage of
mod ernism, con tex tu alised in the inter na tion al
con di tion. Her research inves ti gates the pos si bil i ‐
ties of new crit i cal approach es and method olo ‐
gies in the field of archi tec tur al his to ry and the o ry
as key ele ments for under stand ing con tem po rary
archi tec tur al issues. 
Ari ane Lourie Har ri son, PhD, AIA is a Prin ci pal
and co-founder of Har ri son Ate lier (HAT) and
a reg is tered archi tect in New York State. She is
a lec tur er at the Yale School of Archi tec ture
where she has taught since 2006, and a fac ul ty
mem ber at Yale CEA (Cen ter for Ecosys tems and
Architecture).She is the Coor di na tor of the Mas ‐
ters of Sci ence in Urban Design at the Grad u ate
School of Archi tec ture, Pratt Insti tute and a lec ‐
tur er at the Weitz man School of Design, Uni ver si ‐
ty of Penn syl va nia, where she has taught since
2022. HAT’s work on mul ti-species design has
been inter na tion al ly rec og nized, select ed for the
Barcelona Archi tec ture Fes ti val (2023), and
award ed for Hempcrete Habi tats (2022 Glob al
Archi tec ture and Design Award) and Pol li na tors
Pavil ion (2021 AIANY Design Awards). AB Prince ‐
ton, M Arch GSAPP, Colum bia, PhD NYU. Cur rent
projects include a hempcrete mon i tored Pol li na ‐
tors Habi tat at The Bee Con ser van cy on Gov er ‐
nors Island, NY. Her projects and writ ing explore
the con cepts and real i ties of mak ing archi tec ture
for mul ti ple species, from her anthol o gy Archi tec ‐
tur al The o ries of the Envi ron ment: Posthu ‐
man Territory (Rout ledge, 2013) to  “Fer al Archi tec ‐
ture,” in Aes thet ics Equals Pol i tics (MIT Press,
2019);  “Holes” in Ambigu ous Ter ri to ry (Actar,
2020);  “Fer al Sur faces” in Future Offices (Actar
2023) and  “Build ing Envelopes as Mul ti-species
Habi tats,” AD Posthu man Archi tec ture (2023). She
earned her AB from Prince ton Uni ver si ty, her M.
Arch from GSAPP Colum bia Uni ver si ty and PhD.
From New York University.
Anna Neimark teach es visu al stud ies and design
stu dio at SCI-Arc. She is a co-founder of First
Office Archi tec ture in Los Ange les. First Office
has received numer ous hon ors, includ ing the
Archi tec tur al League Prize and the nom i na tion as
a final ist in the MoMA PS1 Young Archi tects Pro ‐
gram 2016. Their work and writ ing were pub lished
in the Gra ham Foun da tion book, Nine Essays
(Trea tise Press, 2015).
Lejla Odobašić Novo is a Bosn ian-Cana di an
archi tect and researcher with bachelor’s and
master’s degrees in archi tec ture from the Uni ver ‐
si ty of Water loo, and a Ph.D. from Inter na tion al
Burch Uni ver si ty. She inves ti gates how the built
envi ron ment can engage with con test ed his to ries
and play a crit i cal role in both per pet u at ing and
trans form ing spaces marked by con flict. Lejla
teach es at Inter na tion al Burch Uni ver si ty and
directs the Archi tec ture Pro gram at Kuma Inter ‐
na tion al in Sara je vo. She is also on the steer ing
com mit tees of the Archi tec tur al Asso ci a tion of
Bosnia and Herze gov ina and DoCo Mo Mo BH,
and is a licensed archi tect with the Ontario Asso ‐
ci a tion of Architects.
Michael Osman teach es mod ern archi tec tur al
his to ry at UCLA’s Archi tec ture and Urban ism
Depart ment. He also directs the Department’s
MA and PhD pro grams. Osman is one of the
found ing mem bers of Aggre gate: The Archi tec ‐
tur al His to ry Col lab o ra tive, a plat form for explor ‐
ing new meth ods in archi tec tur al his to ry. He is
the author of Modernism’s Vis i ble Hand: Archi tec ‐
ture and Reg u la tion in Amer i ca (Uni ver si ty of
Min neso ta Press, 2018), a book on the role build ‐
ings have played in devel op ing sys tems for envi ‐
ron men tal and eco nom ic regulation.
George Papa mattheakis is a researcher, writer,
and edi tor based in Athens, Greece. He holds
mas ters in envi ron men tal stud ies (Yale M.E.D.  
Biographies

365
’23), human geog ra phy (Haroko pio  ’20), and
archi tec ture (NTUA thens  ’17). He is inter est ed in
the study of infra struc tures, envi ron men tal sci ‐
ence, and the urban iza tion of the coun try side. As
a Ful bright schol ar at Yale, he stud ied the over ‐
laps between the hos pi tal i ty indus try and the pro ‐
duc tion of envi ron men tal sci ence in Greece. He is
the 2023 Yale Envi ron men tal Human i ties grantee
to study post-tourism devel op ment imag i nar ies in
Greek island. George is the edi tor of Stan ley
Tiger man: Draw ing on the Ineff a ble (Yale School
of Archi tec ture and Yale Uni ver si ty Press, 2025),
and co-edi tor of Islands After Tourism: Escap ing
the Mono cul tures of Leisure (kyklàda.press, 2023),
The Beach Machine: Oper at ing the Mediter ranean
Coast line (kyklàda.press, 2022), and Athens, mis ‐
print ed: Toward a counter-par a digm (Futu ra,
2019). His writ ing has appeared in edit ed vol umes
and jour nals such as Foot print, Log, Clog, Šum,
and Cartha.
Ral itza Petit is a prac tic ing archi tect, edu ca tor
and researcher based in Lux em bourg. In part ner ‐
ship with Emmanuel Petit, she has co-found ed
the think-tank Epis teme-Archi tec ture, and co-
leads archi tec tur al design stu dios at the John E.
Doli bois Euro pean Cen ter of Mia mi Uni ver si ty in
Lux em bourg since 2018.
Ral itza was raised in Bul gar ia and edu cat ‐
ed in the Unit ed States. She holds a Master’s
degree from Prince ton Uni ver si ty, School of
Archi tec ture, and a doc tor al degree from Har vard
Uni ver si ty, Grad u ate School of Design. Her
research inter ests focus on the cross-sec tion
between dig i tal and phys i cal with a spe cial inter ‐
est in mas sive ly mul ti play er online games, and
arti fi cial intelligence.
Emmanuel Petit: Emmanuel is author of Irony, Or,
The Self-Crit i cal Opac i ty of Post mod ern Archi tec ‐
ture (Yale Press), and edi tor of Philip John son:
The Con stan cy of Change (Yale Press), Stan ley
Tigerman's Schlep ping Through Ambiva lence:
Writ ings on An Amer i can Archi tec tur al Con di tion
(Yale Press), Reck on ing with Col in Rowe: Ten
Archi tects Take Posi tion (Rout ledge), Ana lyt ic
Mod els in Archi tec ture (Yale SoA / Actar). He was
Asso ciate Pro fes sor in the School of Archi tec ture
at Yale Uni ver si ty, the inau gur al Sir Ban is ter
Fletch er Pro fes sor at the Bartlett School of UCL
in Lon don, and vis it ing pro fes sor at MIT, the Har ‐
vard GSD, the Ecole Poly tech nique de Lau sanne.
He received his Ph.D. and Mas ter of Arts from
Prince ton Uni ver si ty, and his diplo ma in archi tec ‐
ture from the ETH in Zurich. He is Prin ci pal of
JEAN PETIT ARCHITECTES SA in Luxembourg-
City.
Cesira Sis si Rosel li: Archi tect and pho tog ra ph er,
she obtained a schol ar ship for the Mas ter in Pho ‐
tog ra phy and Visu al Design at the NABA Acad e ‐
my, Milan. The PhD at the Uni ver sità degli Stu di di
Udine was on the rela tions between irony in
archi tec ture and Cedric Price. She was research
fel low at the Uni ver sità Iuav di Venezia focus ing
on archi tec tur al pub lish ing and doc u men tary
pho tog ra phy. In 2019 she took part in the new sci ‐
en tif ic review  “Ves per. Riv ista di architet tura, arti
e teo ria”. In 2021 she pub lished the book  “Iro nia
prog et tante. Tre sketch su Cedric Price” (Lib ria
pub lish ing). She exhib it ed her research  “Arche ‐
olo gia sco las ti ca” about the schoo’s uni verse at
Ca' Pesaro Inter na tion al Gallery of Mod ern Art in
Venice (2018) and in many pri vate art gallery. She
is Pro fes sor on con tract of the His to ry of Archi ‐
tec ture and Urban Plan ning at Laba Acad e my
(Bres cia, Italy). She col lab o rates with Uni ver sità
Iuav di Venezia and with Archi tec ture-Engi neer ‐
ing Uni ver sità degli Stu di di Brescia.
Kate ri na Zacharopoulou is a PhD can di date in
archi tec tur al his to ry and the o ry at The Bartlett
School of Archi tec ture, UCL. Her the sis explores
humour in British post mod ern archi tec tur al cul ‐
ture and is sup port ed by the Lon don Arts and
Human i ties Part ner ship. Her inter est in humour
and archi tec ture dates back to under grad u ate
stud ies in Archi tec tur al Engi neer ing at the Aris to ‐
tle Uni ver si ty of Thes sa loni ki, Greece and was
devel oped fur ther dur ing an MA in His to ry and
Crit i cal Think ing at the Archi tec tur al Asso ci a tion.
Kate ri na has talked about the top ic in con fer ‐
ences and pub lic events inter na tion al ly, and her
research was recog nised with a Grad u ate Stu ‐
dent Award by the Inter na tion al Soci ety for
Humor Stud ies in 2022. She cur rent ly teach es
his to ry of archi tec ture at the Archi tec tur al Asso ci ‐
a tion and the Bartlett. She cur rent ly teach es his ‐
to ry of archi tec ture at the Archi tec tur al Asso ci a ‐
tion and the Bartlett.

367
Catching Flak
On the Irony of Fortresses
Anna Neimark, Michael Osman
Keywords: Fortress, Paul de Man, Parabasis, Vauban, Military
During this time of heightened emotions brought about by wars, military terms might be
the last possible object to bring to an issue on irony. There is nothing ironic about war, as it
is experienced. Yet we do find it disturbingly present in the modern language of our
discipline, so we are willing to catch some flak.
Flak itself is an abbreviation of a compounded German word, dating back to World War II.
The acronym stands for the Flieger-abwehr-kanonen, or the flying defense cannons, that
produced clouds of shrapnel in the skies. Canons, too, are a medium of irony. In the German
language, little distinction is made between the weapons of war and the annals of
disciplinary knowledge: both kanonen are spelled with a single n. Doubles are seemingly
everywhere in warfare. Take the mortar’s trajectory, for example, as projectiles are
intimately tied to theories of projection. Bringing cannons into the canon, Robin Evans
described the conundrum faced by early military engineers. The form of a defensive fort, he
showed, made a direct relation of the arc of an offensive shot and the projection plane of
drawing. In the field, a vector of offence produces a corresponding geometry of defense. On
paper, representing that geometric confluence requires a set of reciprocal orthographic
conventions. Is it ironic that the artist Albrecht Dürer speculated on the truncated cone of
the fort’s form with the visual aid of the projectile’s path? The convex surface was
simultaneously formed by the attack of cannonballs and informed by the impression of
battered arches. Evans dwelled on a possible moment of indecision: Dürer needed the wall
to map the path and he needed the path to map the wall, and we may never know which
one came first. His projections of a fortress are therefore self-referential, depicting a
structure caught in a cloud of linework flak. One hundred and fifty years later, in an
astonishing drawing, the military engineer Sébastian le Prestre de Vauban figuratively
represented the explosion of lines – this can be read as much an aesthetic attack as a
descriptive image. What explodes in the drawing is a curtainwall.
This essay will address the double life of military language in architecture: curtainwall
façades, urban boulevards, interior enfilades, banquette halls, parade grounds, and printed
magazines are just some of the modern terms that trace their origin to the military fort. The
aim is to understand how architectural theory can revisit this glossary of terms to employ
the slippage of meaning for multiple purposes. We believe it can offer a place of comic
relief, while as the same time, it may also offer a way to sharpen the stakes.
Who Laughs Last?
The Architecture of Entertainment as a Paradigm of
Abstracts
Serious Irony from Cedric Price to the Present Day
Cesira Sissi Roselli
Keywords: Politics, Pretence, Cedric Price, Fun, Clubbing
On 18 September 2024, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni receives a phone call from the President of the
African Union Commission.
On 1 November 2024, news is leaked that the phone call was a telephone deception by the Russian
comedian duo Vovan & Lexus Actually, no discrepancies emerge during the conversation from the
government's public positions on the issues tendentiously raised by the Russian interlocutors.
The elementary nature of a prank call takes on the dimensions of an international diplomatic case. The
episode becomes emblematic because it demonstrates (beyond the systemic fragility of the filters of
the Office of the Diplomatic Advisor to the Italian Prime Minister) how one resorts to the modalities of
irony to approach extremely serious issues, such as the war in Ukraine and illegal immigration from
North Africa.
Starting from this episode, the paper aims to investigate the status of irony: after a period of apparent
crisis, where political correctness seems to have flattened the debate, can irony still be a useful
reading tool to interpret the present?
This change of direction is repeated cyclically in history. To examine how this is reflected in the field of
design, some of Cedric Price's works are taken as case studies in relation to some exhibitions and
projects by radical and more recent authors.
Considering Price as one of those authors capable of balancing the rigour of technological tension
and the opening determined by abstraction, today the need to resume Price’s studies is linked to the
desire to reconsider this interrupted history where innovation was used to converse with the
construction of imageries, in a prolific exchange between technical sciences and theoretical visions.
Experiences like those accrued by Price return to be key issues in the present, where the detachment
of the various levels of the design process has sanctioned an autonomy of the disciplines, causing
their progressive and mutual depletion.
The title of the proposal "Who laughs last?" is a quotation from the cover of the magazine Ottagono
No. 98 of 1991. The title of the magazine's editorial "Architecture and entertainment" by Marco De
Michelis is the text that traces the guideline proposed in the paper. Starting with Cedric Price's Fun
Palace experiment, similar projects are analysed including: the Entertainment Centre for Leicester
Square (Michael Webb, 1962); the Enterainment Tower for Montreal (Peter Cook, 1963); the Theatre
Trodheim (Archigram, Ron Herron, 1968-70); Pietro Derossi's installations for the XIV Milan Triennale
(1968); The Bang Bang Club (Ugo La Pietra, Milan, 1967); The Altro mondo club (Pietro Derossi, 1968);
The Montercarlo Project (Archigram, 1970); Space Electronic (Florence Mondial Festival, Gruppo 9999
and Superstudio, 1971); the project for Ministry of Sound (OMA, London 2015).
The paper investigates projects where an ironical approach is recognizable. Ironical approach refers
to the attitude towards reality characterized by an analytic awareness and an irreverent
consciousness and typical of a methodology born in times of change and crisis.
The aim is to define which compositional traits characterised these projects in architectural and
political terms. For example, the use of colour made by the post-modernist movement and the micro
or macro scale which took over both architecture and design objects. Or the amused and
uncompassionate split of the Vitruvian triad, the use of dislocation, the provocation of a designer
designing a non-plan and the reversal of the architect’s role in a process of auto-irony.
369
Mainly the paper tries to find the answer to this question: is it already possible being ironic
today?
Is irony in architecture maybe a luxury that we can’t give ourselves no more, or is it a way to
see the reality, to interpret the world in a non-schematic and free-from-preconceptions
point of view?
Irony doesn’t solve a problem; it is an aptitude. Vladimir Jankélévitch connects the idea of
irony to the idea of “occasion”: irony helps to pinpoint where can be an unexpected
occasion. And architecture always needs new occasions.
Transfer of Power
A Calendar of Classical Contradictions from Trump to
Biden
Kyle Dugdale
Keywords: Classicism; Washington, DC; Trump; Biden; Tennis
The months surrounding the 2020–2021 transition of presidential power in Washington, DC
witnessed a fury of classical drama in and around Washington, DC. In December 2020,
outgoing president Donald Trump signed an executive order recommending that newly
commissioned federal buildings—courts of justice, government offices, even structures built
for the nation’s least exciting federal agencies—demonstrate a visible commitment to the
vocabularies of classical architecture. America’s architects erupted in protest. But on
January 6, 2021, it was a different crowd that marched upon the US Capitol—its Corinthian
columns forming an orderly backdrop to the growing violence of the mob.
Two weeks later, the same building was decked out in full glory for the inauguration of
President Joseph Biden. Witnesses to the celebratory speeches might have detected a
more vocal commitment than usual to the notion that DC's classical architecture served as
an enduring symbol of democracy. Indeed, the same day saw the release of a new
architectural logo for the White House itself—designed to be “forward-looking while having
its roots in something very traditional,” and intended to symbolize the new president’s
“desire to bring the country together.” The new graphic identity came complete with
classical letterforms to communicate “a governing tone.”
Before another month had passed, Biden had revoked Trump’s executive order. White
House press photographs dutifully documented the performance of his presidential duties
at a desk placed carefully against the backdrop of the State Dining Room’s Corinthian
pilaster order.
Re-enter Pliocene
Irony and Sincerity in Speculative Architectural Fiction
George Papamattheakis
Keywords: Speculative Architecture, Territory, Future thinking, Superstudio, Planet City
In 1972 the Italian journal IN featured a project by Superstudio, titled “Salvages of Italian Historic
Centers.” With six proposals for six different cities, the architects were responding to their
contemporaneous Italian discourse on preservation, seeking to unearth its radical potential. The sixth
proposal referred to the group’s hometown, Florence, and suggested that a deliberate flooding of the
Arno valley would provide a more suitable environment for the conservation of significant buildings,
saving the historic city from both degradation and speculation at once. In the points explaining their
rationale, Superstudio presented an argument that has received little attention: they cite a “return to
the Pliocene geological condition” as a valuable operation in itself. Nested within their ironic
approach, this statement essentially questions what the object of preservation really is, and what era
it is more fruitful to “return to.”1
Superstudio’s position was meant to be provocative more than it was constructive, yet seen in
hindsight, its irony is fairly productive. Historians of science Deborah Coen and Fredrik Albritton
Jonsson recently noted a Holocene nostalgia permeating the sciences and Anthropocene discourse,
and warned against a naturalization of certain restoration thresholds.2 “Salvages” comes at an
important moment in this history (later in the same year UNESCO publishes the landmark Convention
Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage) and asks an epistemological
question that is even more relevant today with regards to the much-rehearsed goal to restore the
atmosphere to its pre-industrial condition.
Set within this background, my essay considers landscape-scale speculative architectural fictions of
the past 50 years. First, I read closely the “Salvages” project by Superstudio and place it in its
epistemological context as it relates to architectural conservation and ecological restoration. I then
turn to two recent examples of speculative architectural practices: Those by Design Earth and Liam
Young. I read their key projects, most notably Geostories (2016) and “The Great Endeavor” (2023)
respectively. In a trajectory that apparently overlaps with rising climate change awareness, I observe a
shift in the approach of the authors from ironic detachment to earnest investment. This tendency
could be paralleled with a more general cultural shift away from postmodern cynicism and towards a
“new sincerity” that combines irony and earnestness, which some commentators have noticed after
the 2000s.3 It is interesting that the architectural speculations I look at are simultaneously “reflective”
and “performative” and are driven by an eagerness to be propositional in very palpable ways—for
example by collaborating with scientists to get realistic measurements for their speculations.
My goal is to examine the function of irony in the speculative architectural project, and suggest that
more than inventing new worlds, their combined strength lies with their ability to question
epistemological premises that are otherwise difficult to address.
1 Super stu dio,  “Sal vages of Ital ian His toric Cen ters: Omens for Good
For tune for your Cities,” Log 22 (2011). First pub lished in Ital ian
in 1972.
2 Deb o rah Coen, and Fredrik Albrit ton Jon s son.  “Between His to ry and
Earth Sys tem Sci ence.” Isis 113, no. 2 (2022): 407–16.
3 Jimenez Lai,  “Between Irony and Sin cer i ty,” Log 46 (2019).
AI: Peter Pan’s Runaway Shadow, Digital Twins and an
Intelligently Artificial Architecture of Irony
371
Rhetoric and Form
Ralitza Petit
Keywords: Generative AI (Artificial Intelligence), Digital Twins, IoT (Internet-of-Things),
Subject and Object, Rhetoric and Form, Episteme and Techne
Artificial Intelligence is hot; and some architects are getting cold feet.
This relative unease might be dismissible at a first glance, as if it were attributable to some
mere humorous inaptitude of fear in the face of novelty, but the not-so-humorous irony of
architecture’s AI predicament might be a problem of both rhetoric and form. In fact, AI
might have brought to light the unintended and unexpected inversion in the order of
precedence between the episteme and techne of the very discipline of architecture. The
ultra rapid infiltration and matter-generation of AI tools in human life, culture, society,
environment — “everything and everywhere” — has produced a new situation in which
architecture’s notoriety of being slow to change, i.e. slow to show theory through buildings,
is inverted: buildings are smart, and smarter, and conceptualization of this “smartness” or
intelligence has come to a baffled state of uncertainty or ambiguity, perhaps even denial.
One way of addressing the complicated, ironic, condition of architecture in the age of AI
would be by backtracking through the bits of history of how we got here — or how and
when form and rhetoric might have switched places — innovations such as digital twins and
the IoT (Internet of Things) are highly implicated in this version of history backtracking.
Reverse history, take one: The human subject in the World of Warcraft. year 2004.
Online gaming can be dated back to the 1970s, and an alternate version of a human subject
can be attributed to a digital representation, but not replication — a subject created
specifically in online games — the human is loosely “mirrored” and the digital version of the
human player is defined solely within its digital realm; anonymity and disassociation appear
possible and the relationship between physical and digital is clearly definable. The
transformation of the the digital subject — an avatar/skin/nick/char… and the ensuing
interdependency of real and digital constitute the subject’s timeline into the irony of AI in
architecture.
Reverse history, take two: The environment, particularly the inanimate object of interest, in
the latter’s first appliance as connected to the internet is a Coca-Cola vending machine at
Carnegie-Mellon University, year 1982.
By 2008-2009, “more things than people” are connected through IoT. The internet
connected vending machine gives entry into the IoT — which evolve and amass into entire
“smart” buildings smoothing the gradual loss of an environment as subservient to the
human subject — who controls space (and utility). The subject-object or
subjectenvironment connection deeply embedded in the center of past architectural
treatises becomes ambiguous: IoT allows “things” — such as objects, appliances, furniture,
entire buildings and urban spaces to be interconnected in a similar way and with similar
weight as people being interconnected — i.e. the internet is an equalizing inter-net where
things and humans have equally defined access to the “main”, a reality outside. In the post-
smart-vending year 2019, a popular sitcom capitalized on the comedic aspects of a now
commonplace situation — conversing with a refrigerator. The episode of the sitcom “Modern
Family” showed one of its main characters Cameron literally singing a duet with his smart
fridge (named Brigette) — a situation followed by an infuriated partner, Mitchell, finally
resorting to unplugging of the intelligent appliance in a jealous fit of competition with the
aforementioned device.
Reverse history, take three: The first digital twin, purportedly a replica of a NASA spaceship, year
2010.
The process of creating digital copies of the environment, i.e. to objects, extends into defining digital
copies of humans. Many copies. Both subjects and objects are twinned, duplicated and interlinked
through multitudes of sensors and algorithms. Unlike the IoT which equalizes subjects and objects
through attributing “smartness” by a process of access and connection, digital twinning equalizes by
attributing intelligence b ya process of referencing, controlling, adjusting, correcting and monitoring
any potential difference. Continuously. The Edge - Amsterdam is a touted as the world’s smartest and
most intelligent building with more than 28K sensors — controlling capacity of rooms, tables, parking
spots, bathrooms usage and cleaning staff, occupants’ location and personal habits down to
individual humidity preferences, solar energy usage and so on. Perfect twinning of all imaginable
criteria is the ambition. The emergent actual disparity between twins and duplication processes,
especially the disparity between intent and result as in irony, occurs when the individuals supposed to
be observed and tracked in order to enhance the occupied building by literally becoming a part of a
symbiotic organism refuse to adhere or participate. Hence, smart buildings can open to constructively
actuated juxtaposition of relationships of the scattered subject to the architectural environment, the
ironic relationships of simulated discreetness or incompleteness of a subject to a similarly unevenly
defined environment.
On the back of the pre-histories of digital twins interconnected with their originals through the IoT,
ambiguity has befallen architecture’s form since the very recent 2022 when ChatGPT and other visual
generative AI tools have been introduced — seemingly at everyone’s disposal. Moreover, it appears
that the very instantaneity of transition from conceptualized e-motive architectural search for form to
a near-total abandonment of formal ideation, giving in to the seduction of singing with a fridge, might
have also suspended architecture’s rhetoric. Such an ironic suspension of architecture is precipitated
and actuated by the disheveling of its subject’s integrity in a more profound way than ever before —
rather than a Frankensteinian recomposing the entity or the idea of the subject from parts, that
subject — in parts and as a whole — is simultaneously multiplicated and scattered.
Further, the object itself, the architectural environment, which has most recently been through the
consequences of rhetorical purification (modernism), recomposition (postmodernism),
dematerialization (parametricism) appears to be in a relationship with a “naturally artificial” subject
through an AI induced digital smoothening: if irony is an act rather than a significance, then
architecture which is “activated” through (like-minded) AI tools could become a prime playground for
irony.
The actualization of architecture, however, still falls on the shoulders of the human.
Feral Surfaces
A More-Than-Human Perspective on New York’s Wild Side
Ariane Lourie Harrison
Keywords: Atlas for the End of the World, Map of Life, Urban Land Expansion
373
It could be ironic that formerly apocalyptic visions—flooding and fire—describe a new
normal for many American cities. Just as New York City floods, so too do its burnt orange
skies broadcast the simultaneously near and far presence of the March 2023 Canadian
wildfires. The end of the world has been a reality for non-humans for some time now. The
Atlas for the End of the World maps the apocalyptic collapse of species in the wake of
human urbanization and industrialization of agriculture.1 So does the Map of Life,
documenting the impact of urban land expansion projected to 2050.2 These data
visualizations point to the need to literally design and build wilderness into cities.
And architects have dreamed this for centuries: Piranesi’s overgrown ruins of Paestum from
the 1770s depict the margins of a city inhabited by animals and outcasts; that in the demise
of human buildings, emerges living space for species seen as foreign to the city. Today,
there is increasing appreciation for the role of cities in sustaining other species.3 This
article argues that rather than the demolition of the city, it is the reorganization of building
materials and rethinking of building surfaces that can dramatically expand non-human’s
potential habitats. A more literal reading of the image of a pig flying between the chimneys
of Battersea Power Station during the filming of Pink Floyd's music video in December 1976
could suggest we no longer view the juxtaposition of animal and city as an impossibility.
1 Richard J. Weller,  "Pré cis" in Richard J. Weller, Claire Hoch,
and Chieh Huang, Atlas for the End of the World (2017), http:
//atlas-for-the-end-of-the-world.com/.
2 https://mol.org/species/projection/urban
3 https://environment.yale.edu/news/article/cities-can-be-pa
rt-solution-sustaining-species
Humorous Irony in Guild House and BEST Products
Stores
How an Architecture of Communication Can Fail to
Communicate
Katerina Zacharopoulou
Keywords: Humour, Irony, Incongruity, Politics, Postmodern
The proposed paper explores how postmodern architectural irony is performed in built
projects, by looking at two exemplary projects described by their architects in a very similar
way, but resulting in contrasting communicative effects. These projects are Guild House as
described in Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (Robert Venturi, 1966) and
Learning from Las Vegas (Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, and Steven Izenour, 1972),
and BEST Products Stores, as described in De-Architecture (James Wines, 1987).
Both projects are situated by their architects-authors within a critique of modern
architecture’s inability to communicate, and constitute a response by employing irony as a
design tool for communication. Through the Complexity and Contradiction chapter “The
Inside and the Outside”, the Learning from Las Vegas concept of the “decorated shed”, and
De-Architecture’s technique of “inversion”, irony emerges as a tangible strategy of
architectural practice based on a contradiction between expectations and experience
which provokes amusement. Specifically, the authors see this type of humorous irony occurring when
the façade or shell of a building creates expectations about its interior, function, or structure, which
are opposite to reality.
While Venturi, Scott Brown and Wines use humour terminology (wit, jester, joke, laughter, etc.) to
describe irony as a tool of communication, irony’s potential to be amusing is usually either taken for
granted or not analysed in depth. In line with Linda Hutcheon’s argument that irony’s discourse has
been mostly in relation to “intellectual detachment”, this paper puts forward irony’s humorous side to
emphasise its affective, communicative, bodily aspect.
The humour theory of “benign violation”, which defines humour as the perception of a non-threatening
incongruity, is first used to explain how humour intersects with irony in practice for each project. Then,
utilising Linda Hutcheon’s concepts of the “transideological politics of irony” (the simultaneous
affirmation and rejection of the system irony criticises) and “discursive communities” (the pre-existing
groups sharing the context necessary to understand irony), the paper explores the contrasting
communicative effects of the two projects.
This comparative analysis of irony eventually reflects two different conceptions of communication,
revealed in the type of expectations that are contradicted in each case, namely how commonplace
they are. In Guild House, the conventions that irony subverts are related to the modern architectural
language of unity between form and programme, expressed, for example, through continuity of
material and independent volumes. BEST Products Stores, on the other hand, subvert universal
conventions about a building’s steadiness and completeness. Here irony is destructive to
architecture’s expected appearance of integrity and stability in a more radical way, and becomes not
only more widely understandable, but also offensive to an architect’s role and authority.
Cold War Architectures
Global Discourses, Slovenian Practices, and Ideological Fractures
Nika Grabar
Keywords: Architecture, Ideology, Planning, Cold War, Irony
Architecture functions simultaneously in at least two separate ways – as a physical and symbolic
object, while its perception can change over time. When the situation arises in which the same
architectural form begins to be perceived in symbolic terms as a vehicle for values that are antithetical
to those that the same building represented at the time of its construction, irony cannot be dismissed
with a wave of the hand as a bad joke, since its effects cut into all the pores of everyday life. The fact
that the same architectural form can influence different modes of perception over time raises the
question of its content and purpose in a wider context of space, which is directly linked to visions of
progress and thus to constant technological and social transformations. In the contemporary world, a
sense of irony could be linked to the many renovations and new buildings that, with their glittering
facades, no longer convince anyone of a just and bright future.
The perception of contemporary spatial effects is today largely conditioned by building technologies
and digital presentations. Both are accelerated or decelerated by the media landscape. The field of
architectural discourse has therefore inevitably expanded into these areas in recent decades. What is
often overlooked is that the development of digital technologies related to architectural design has
two parallel trajectories, both of which were shaped after the Second World War. One is related to
planning buildings and presentation techniques. The other concerns less visible but no less important
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processes – spatial planning methodologies. The role of architects in the development of
both trajectories was not negligible and as such it is interesting for analysis.
The pioneering spirit of the architects of the post-war period, navigating between the
interests of the Cold War, inevitably collided with the barriers of different discourses that
were outlining different futures. In the context of architectural collaborations between the
Eastern and Western blocs, it was impossible to find a common denominator regarding
ideological tendencies, which is why they were often avoided at professional meetings. A
telling example were the initial congresses and meetings of the UIA, where, when writing
the founding charter, Eastern Bloc architects, unlike their Western counterparts, advocated
a democratic organisation of the association. But the apolitical stance won the day. The
avoidance of political topics was supposed to allow for truly professional discussions. In
such environments, architectural discourse became increasingly formalistic.
At the same time, when it came to establishing conditions for financing individual projects,
for example the Marshall Plan or the Molotov Plan, discourses related to architecture were
increasingly distanced from formal issues into the domain of the societal planning in the
East, and the free market in the West. The involvement of architects in this context was
significant, which can be discerned also from the developments of the American-Yugoslav
Project [AYP] in the 1960s, supported by the governments of both countries and the Ford
Foundation. Using the Ljubljana region as a model case study, the experts were concerned
with planning modernised settlement patterns as well as with the long-term aim of
establishing a training centre for Eastern Bloc planners in Yugoslavia. In fact, the project
was an excellent field for the exchange of knowledge in both directions and had positive
effects on both sides. It could also be said to have influenced many of the successful
architectural projects of that period in Yugoslavia. Planners from different disciplines
worked together with the help of computer technology to develop models and complex
procedures for the design of efficient space in accordance with the societal plan, which
worked only so long as the socialist state apparatus existed to guard, even if only
theoretically, the outcome. The protocols of state administration, although separate from
the development models, were therefore intrinsically linked to them. The engine of
development was, however, like in capitalism, based on managing societal differences, but
not increasing them, rather equalising them, while the pursuit of a certain lifestyle was built
into the very fabric of the planning system.
Yugoslavia played a bridge-building role by helping to develop planning methods
interesting for countries of both blocs, which paved the way for Western investment. At the
same time, an analysis of AYP documents shows that the development of working methods
and many development projects were financially supported to win the Cold War. The post-
WWII spatial planning protocols, including the associated computer technologies in the
context of architecture, thus became a part of international operations that were as
important as the arms or space race. Backed by international financial mechanisms, they
significantly influenced political decision-making, technological development, and alliances
on both sides of the Iron Curtain. By the 1980s, the work of architects, which had on the one
hand produced many architectural achievements in physical space, distanced the
discourse from political issues and thus formalised it. The fall of the socialist state placed
political differences on the common denominator of the free market, which changed the
symbolic framework of planning and rendered the perception of many iconic architectural
achievements as failed. Ironically, the very planning methods that allowed for the
development of the most engaged architectural practices in the post-war period
contributed to this. The article focuses on the interpretation of the events surrounding the founding of
the UIA and its exhibitions on the one hand, and on the American-Yugoslav project on the other, to
shed light on the described dilemmas through the specific role of Yugoslav architects in the
international post-WWII environments.
Architectural Irony and the Sarajevo City Hall
A Symbol of Cultural Paradox
Lejla Odobašić Novo
Keywords: Architectural Irony, Sarajevo City Hall, Cultural Identity, Historical Architecture, Post-
Conflict Reconstruction
This paper examines the notion of architectural irony through the example of the Sarajevo City Hall
(Vijećnica), a building that embodies a complex interplay of historical, cultural, and political narratives.
It was built as a City Hall by the Austro-Hungarian regime in 1896 after they took power over Bosnia
and Herzegovina from the Ottoman Empire. The building was designed in a pseudo-Moorish style as
a means of asserting administrative power in the previously Ottoman part of the old town while
attempting to appeal to the local population who were majority Muslim at the time. However, the new
administration failed to differentiate the Ottoman architectural style that was prominent in Bosnia
from the Moorish which had roots in Andalusia and was foreign to the local population albeit having
an Islamic influence. The building’s grand scale, orientation which was disassociated from the urban
fabric of the old town and architectural articulation ended up generating quite the opposite
consequence and rendered Vijećnica a symbol of colonialism. With the fall of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire and between the two World Wars, the building was used as a temporary prison until it was
converted into the National Library during the socialist Yugoslav regime after World War II. As a prime
representation of both its colonial past and Ottoman roots, Vijećnica had no place in the construction
of the new socialist, secular and modern Bosnia and Yugoslavia. The relevance of the building’s
colonial background was thus transformed if not diminished by the change in the building’s use from
a place of administration to one of learning, from a colonial center to a modern progressive research
institution and the National Library. The newly crafted identity as a library subsequently provided a
gateway for Vijećnica into the daily lives of Sarajevans and their collective memory and it also acted
as a testament to multicultural Bosnia. It is in this building that the memory of cultural interactions,
influences and multiple narratives were not only brought together but transfigured and changed
according to the specific sensibilities of the local people and culture. Precisely due to this reason, it
also became one of the major targets during the Bosnian War (1991-1995) when it was burnt to the
ground along with the majority of its 1.5 million books. Vijećnica’s journey to reconstruction after the
conflict further compounds its irony as the reconstruction process failed to acknowledge, let alone
further facilitate, the evolving nature of this building but rather it superimposed the rigidity of the
original form and function of the City Hall exactly as it stood during the Austro-Hungarian rule. This
paper examines the inherent irony in the edifice’s fluctuating roles—from a symbol of colonialism to
that of a cultural nucleus and questions its resuscitation in the post-conflict period. By employing
literary analysis techniques and gathering perspectives from historians, architects, and locals, the
paper interprets Vijećnica’as a multilayered 'text' that reveals ironic commentary on politics, war,
peace, and cultural memory. This analysis not only highlights the Sarajevo City Hall as a case study of
architectural irony but also situates it within the global context of buildings that have undergone
377
similar transformative journeys, offering insights into the broader themes of architectural
symbolism in post-conflict societies.
Izdala Publisher
Univerza v Ljubljani, Fakulteta za arhitekturo
/ University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Architecture
Zoisova cesta 12, SI-1000 Ljubljana
Gostujoči urednik Guest Editor
Ph.D., MA, dipl.arch.ETH Emmanuel Petit
Urednik Editor
Paul O Robinson, University of Ljubljana, FA
Uredniški odbor Editorial Board
prof. dr. Uršula Berlot Pompe, University of Ljubljana, ALUO
Judith Birdsong, Writer and Lecturer, School of architecture, UT
Austin
prof. dr. Matej Blenkuš, University of Ljubljana, FA
doc. dr. Mariana Correia, Escola Superior Gallaecia, PT
prof. dr. Peter Fister, University of Ljubljana, FA
prof. dr. Imma Forino, Politecnico di Milano
prof. mag. Peter Gabrijelčič, University of Ljubljana, FA
prof. dr. Vojko Kilar, University of Ljubljana, FA
prof. Robert MacLeod, USF School of Architecture and
Community Design
prof. dr. Agostino De Rosa, Università Iuav di Venezia
doc. dr. Matevž Juvančič, University of Ljubljana, FA
izr. prof. dr. Beatriz Tomšič Čerkez, University of Ljubljana, PeF
doc. dr. Špela Verovšek, University of Ljubljana, FA
doc. dr. Domen Zupančič, University of Ljubljana, FA
prof. dr. Tadeja Zupančič, University of Ljubljana, FA
Tehnični urednik Technical Editor
doc. dr. Špela Verovšek, University of Ljubljana, FA
Prevodi v slovenščino Slovene Translations
Andreja Šalamon Verbič
Podoba na ovitku Cover art
Sam Jacob
Design & layout Design & layout
Marko Damiš
Črkovna vrsta Fonts
Minion Pro, Acumin Pro
Cena Price
24,90 EUR
Architecture Research 2024
/ Arhitektura, raziskave
ar.fa.uni-lj.si
ISSN 1581-6974 www
ISSN 1580-5573 print
The AR journal redaction is co-financed by the Slovenian Research
and Innovation Agency (ARIS P5-0068; ARIS-ZPP-23/24)
379
Irony is not just one topic amongst many in architecture. It is a subject
which readily aligns architecture with theory, and thus intellectually
channels access to our discipline in a particular light. Neither an
attribute of architectural form that one can catch by looking at it in a
state of distraction, nor a set structure of discourse, nor accessible to
casual apperception, irony requires a “learned” understanding and
interpretation of the relation and discrepancies between thingness and
ideality. Whereas 20th century postmodernism was largely defined
through its many levels of irony, neither theory nor irony were necessarily
much en vogue in architecture in the nineties and the aughts. Yet today’s
tumultuous times should be fertile ground for irony’s return — triggered
by current notions of post-humanism, the Anthropocene, and the shifts in
socio- and geo-politics.  
Emmanuel Petit
AR / Architecture Research is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal
published yearly by the University of Ljubljana Faculty of Architecture.
AR is a critical platform for research and explorative writing at the
highest level of creative scholarship. The journal’s integrative format
presents diverse correspondences between some of the most creative
contemporary voices in architecture, art and associated fields.
2024
2024
Architecture Research
/ Arhitektura, raziskave
Architecture and Irony
/ Arhitektura in ironija