Lecture date: 1997-05-21
‘All architecture has had some cosmic grounding, whether Egyptian, Christian, or the modern architecture of Mendelsohn, Tatlin, and Le Corbusier. In today’s global media culture, however, there is some confusion. Religion interprets an unfolding universe in terms of past understanding while the scientific world adopts adolescent metaphors such as the “big bang” and “the selfish gene” in an attempt to relate us to the universe. The failure of both these leading discourses to provide adequate interpretations of a fifteen billion year event (which is still unfolding) opens the door to others, such as architects, to explore a reinterpretation of the universe and our growing knowledge of it by means of more appropriate metaphors; when other professions fail, architects can step in and continually redesign the universe, or reinterpret the meaning of its laws.
Charles Jencks is an architect, designer, and author of numerous books including The Language of Post-Modern Architecture; Architecture Today; and The Architecture of the Jumping Universe.
AA School of Architecture
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