Almost four years since its initial appearance, Hans Ibelings' essay on the new tendency towards abstract, neutral architecture has lost none of its relevance. His identification and examination of the last word in modern architecture of the post-war International Style stands strong in projects by OMA, Jean Nouvel, Dominique Perrault, Herzog & de Meuron, and Toyo Ito, and is well understood in relation to one of the dominant forces of the present time: globalization. This enlarged edition of Supermodernism includes a new final chapter in which Ibelings charts the latest examples of supermodernism, as well as a revised introduction and conclusion in which he responds to the numerous reactions his provocative stance has triggered.

"Communication, Space, & Design looks at how our worldview shapes our relations to and conceptions of space and place, and how our spaces and designs impact our communication practices. By asserting that our spaces and designs are increasingly promoting various expressions of separation, this book contends that this separation turns makes us more private. We find this increasing inwardness, for example, in the rise of gated-communities, exclusionary suburbs, and hyper-suburbs. Ultimately, the book asks how our spaces and designs impact our understanding and embodying of democracy, civility, and justice. It also explores how this inward turn limits our sense of obligation to the world and each other by undermining our ability to develop the communicational resiliency and moral sophistication that comes with through public interactions."--BOOK JACKET.

An ever-increasing proportion of our lives is spent in supermarkets, airports and hotels, on motorways or in front of TVs, computers and cash machines. This invasion of the world by what Marc Augé calls "non-space" results in a profound alteration of awareness: something we perceive, but only in a partial and incoherent manner. Augé uses the concept of "supermodernity" to describe a situation of excessive information and excessive space. In this fascinating essay he seeks to establish an intellectual armature for an anthropology of supermodernity.

The global spread of uniform modes of production and cultural values has been accompanied by a dissemination of stereotypes of "modern" architecture styles almost everywhere around the globe. Paradoxically, the reverse process has also emerged: In some countries, the elites feel the necessity to counterbalance the "loss of identity" and defend their own cultures against the "intruding" forces of globalization. What started as a defensive notion has developed into a more progressive attempt to re-create what has allegedly been lost. This trend is being strongly expressed in discourses about architecture in countries of the South. Who are the actors feeling compelled to "construct" new identities? How are these new identities in architecture created in various parts of the world? And, which are the ingredients borrowed from various historical and ethnic traditions and other sources? These and other questions are discussed in five case studies from different parts of the world, written by renowned scholars from Brazil, Mexico, Egypt, India and Singapore.

In this volume, architects, artists, theorists, three symposia and four exhibitions attempt to find answers to questions such as: Could the architectonic study and/or deconstruction of space play a decisive role in the shift of attention to space?, and: What is the role of the aesthetization of the environment on our concept of space?

The experience of modernization -- the dizzying social changes that swept millions of people into the capitalist world -- and modernism in art, literature and architecture are brilliantly integrated in this account.

An analysis of the relationship between urbanism and personal identity evaluates the ways in which people are shaped by their spaces and vice versa, in an account that explores such topics as the disparities between structural interiors and exteriors, the moral obligations of citizens, and the role of a city's atmosphere in molding its residents' beliefs. 10,000 first printing.