Architecture Constructed

Architecture Constructed explores the central, open secret of architecture: the long-suppressed conflict between arche and teckton—between those who design, and those who build. This unresolved tension has a centuries-old history in the discipline, persisting through Classical and Renaissance times to the present day, and yet it has rarely been addressed through a historical and theoretical lens. In this book, acclaimed architectural theorist Mark Jarzombek examines this tension head-on, and uses it to rethink the nature of the history of architecture. He reveals architecture to be a troubled, interconnected realm, incomplete and unstable, where labor, craft, and occupation are the ‘invisible’ complements to the work of the architect. Erudite, entertaining, and full of surprising and thought-provoking juxtapositions and challenges, Architecture Constructed is packed with novel insights into the internal conflicts and paradoxes of architecture, and is rich with examples from modern and