Architecture and Disjunction

Avant-garde theorist and architect Bernard Tschumi is equally well knownfor his writing and his practice. Architecture and Disjunction, which bringstogether Tschumi's essays from 1975 to 1990, is a lucid and provocative analysis ofmany of the key issues that have engaged architectural discourse over the past twodecades -- from deconstructive theory to recent concerns with the notions of eventand program.The essays develop different themes in contemporary theory as theyrelate to the actual making of architecture, attempting to realign the disciplinewith a new world culture characterized by both discontinuity and heterogeneity.Included are a number of seminal essays that incited broad attention when they firstappeared in magazines and journals, as well as more recent and topicaltexts.Tschumi's discourse has always been considered radical and disturbing. Heopposes modernist ideology and postmodern nostalgia since both impose restrictivecriteria on what may be deemed "legitimate" cultural conditions. He argues forfocusing on our immediate cultural situation, which is distinguished by a newpostindustrial "unhomeliness" reflected in the ad hoc erection of buildings withmultipurpose programs. The condition of New York and the chaos of Tokyo are thusperceived as legitimate urban forms.