Ontology of Construction
On Nihilism of Technology and Theories of Modern Architecture

This 1994 book explores theories of construction in modern architecture.

Gevork Hartoonian (Author), Kenneth Frampton (Foreword by)

9780521586450, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 28 March 1997

142 pages, 30 b/w illus.
25.4 x 17.9 x 0.8 cm, 0.32 kg

Ontology of Construction, first published in 1994, explores theories of construction in modern architecture, with a particular focus on the relationship between nihilism of technology and architecture. Providing an historical context to the concept of making, the essays collected in this volume articulate the implications of technology in works by such architects as Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Adolf Loos and Mies van der Rohe. Also provided is an interpretation of Gottfried Semper's discourse on the Tectonic and the relationship between architecture and other crafts. Emphasising 'fabrication' as a critical theme for contemporary architectural theory and practice, Ontology of Construction is a provocative contribution to the current debate in these areas.

1. Montage: recoding the Tectonic
2. Architecture and the question of technology: two positions and the 'other'
3. Adolf Loos: the awakening moments of tradition in modern architecture
4. Métier: Frank Lloyd Wright's tradition of dwelling
5. Mies van der Rohe: the genealogy of column and wall
6. Construction of the not yet construed.

Subject Areas: Theory of architecture [AMA]