Modernity and Durability

Perspectives for the Culture of Design
1. Auflage 2018
ISBN: 978-3-86922-700-9
Verlag: DOM Publishers

Buch, Englisch, Band 78, 144 Seiten, Format (B × H): 210 mm x 228 mm, Gewicht: 472 g

Reihe: Grundlagen/Basics

The orthodox concept of the Modern, as it was passed down from the 1920s to the post-war era, has been in a state of crisis
for quite some time. This is particularly visible in the fields of urban planning, architecture, and design. Theorists and practitioners have either fiercely defended it as a crowning historical achievement to be upheld and further cultivated, or dismissively rejected it as a short-lived and outdated episode that needs to be replaced with something different and new. Architectural theorist and practitioner Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani suggests a third option: that we reformulate our understanding of the Modern, continuing to pursue its original social and humanist ambitions while radically re-examining its ideological, political, social, technical, functional, economic, ecological, and aesthetic assumptions.

Our world, which continues to be shaken by dreadful wars, is also being sapped and polluted by our thoughtlessness and our
greed. The capitalist compulsion to turn everything into a commodity has led to needless production and consumption, and we are both victims and accomplices of this predicament. The consumerist frenzy has brought completely new forms of exploitation and exacerbated the unjust inequalities between different parts of our world. Starting from these premises, the author puts forward a new design approach that strives for – and is defined by – durability. This is an approach that rejects the frivolous waste of resources and superficial prolif­eration of images that have become commonplace today. It offers
an alternative to the contemporary fixation on spectacles, both hollow and dangerous, and instead calls for measured restraint and substantial simplicity.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Lampugnani, Vittorio Magnago

Über Autor(innen)

Lampugnani, Vittorio Magnago
Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani (b. 1951 in Rome) studied architecture at the Sapienza University and the University of Stuttgart, where he completed his doctorate in 1977. He served as scientific ­advisor to the International Building Exhibition Berlin (IBA) from 1980 to 1984, and was the editor-in-chief of the ­magazine Domus from 1990 to 1996. He was the director of the Deutsches ­Architekturmuseum in Frankfurt am Main from 1990 to 1995 and taught at the Graduate School of Design of Harvard ­University, among others. He was professor of the ­History of ­Urban Design at the ETH Zurich from 1994 to 2017, serving also as dean of the Department of ­Architecture and director of the Institute of History and Theory of Architecture (gta). He has a ­remark­able record of scholarly publication and architecture practices in Milan and Zurich.