PREFACE
The discipline of architecture has gone through something of a metamorphosis in recent
years. There is evidence of a clear shift both in the nature of debates within architecture
and in its relationship with other academic disciplines. Not only are architects and
architectural theorists becoming more and more receptive to the whole domain of cultural
theory, but cultural theorists, philosophers, sociologists and many others are now to be
found increasingly engaged with questions of architecture and the built environment. This
volume was born of a desire to support this development, and to reinforce these links. It
attempts to situate architecture within a broader cultural context, and to consider not only
how debates from cultural theory, philosophy and so on might begin to inform a
discussion about architecture, but also how architecture and the built environment might
offer a potentially rich field for analysis for cultural studies and other disciplines.
This volume was spawned largely by the MA in Architecture and Critical Theory at
the University of Nottingham, a course that was set up initially to fill what was perceived
as being a gap in standard architectural education, but which has since attracted students
from many other disciplines. Much of the material contained in this volume was
uncovered during preparation for seminars and lectures on the course, and already existed
as a collection of unbound, well-thumbed photocopies long before the book was
conceived. I am grateful to all those who have contributed to the MA, both to those who
have taught on the course and to those who supported its establishment, especially Peter
Fawcett and Bernard McGuirk. Likewise I am grateful to the remarkable group of
students who have been on the course. Their enthusiasm and spirit of enquiry have been a
constant source of inspiration and delight, and many of the questions that they have
raised have fed into this volume.
I would like to record a vote of thanks to all those who have offered help and often
indispensable advice in the actual preparation of Rethinking Architecture. In particular, I
am indebted to Andrew Ballantyne, Geoffrey Bennington, Andrew Bowie, Peter Carl,
Sarah Chaplin, Matt Connell, Neal Curtis, David Frisby, Graeme Gilloch, Jonathan Hale,
Vaughan Hart, Nick Heffernen, Paul Hegarty, Eric Holding, Bill Hutson, Susan Marks,
Giles Peaker, Doina Petrescu, Jane Rendell, Ioana Sandi, Ingrid Scheibler, Adam
Sharman, Yvonne Sherratt, Jon Simons, Simon Tormey and Christina Ujma.
I am also grateful for the advice and assistance of the authors themselves, especially
Andrew Benjamin, Hélène Cixous, Jacques Derrida, Jürgen Habermas and Fredric
Jameson, and to all those who have given permission to reprint the articles.
I must also thank Tristan Palmer for his insight and enthusiasm in setting up this
project, and Sarah Lloyd, Michael Leiser and Diana Wallwork at Routledge for their
support in seeing it through to completion.