The Singular Objects of Architecture
The Singular Objects of Architecture by Jean Baudrillard, published by University of Minnesota Press in October 2005, is a thought-provoking exploration of the intersection between architecture and philosophy. This first edition spans 80 pages and is presented in English. The book features a dialogue between Baudrillard and architect Jean Nouvel, examining the concept of singular objects—ranging from ideas and buildings to sentiments and human beings—and how these relate to broader issues of politics, identity, and aesthetics.
Readers will find a rich discussion that delves into topics such as the future of urban environments and the implications of transparency in architecture. The conversation also addresses contemporary architectural challenges, including the gentrification of New York City and notable structures like Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. Through this exchange, Baudrillard reflects on his key concepts, offering fresh insights into the relationship between the philosophical and the practical aspects of architecture. This book serves as a bridge between disciplines, providing an intimate view of how objects and ideas interact within our ever-evolving built environment.
Official synopsis Publisher
What is a singular object? An idea, a building, a color, a sentiment, a human being. Each in turn comes under scrutiny in this exhilarating dialogue between two of the most interesting thinkers working in philosophy and architecture today. From such singular objects, Jean Baudrillard and Jean Nouvel move on to fundamental problems of politics, identity, and aesthetics as their exchange becomes an imaginative exploration of the possibilities of modern architecture and the future of modern life.
Among the topics the two speakers take up are the city of tomorrow and the ideal of transparency, the gentrification of New York City and Frank Gehry’s surprising Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. As Nouvel prompts Baudrillard to reflect on some of his signature concepts (the virtual, transparency, fatal strategies, oblivion, and seduction, among others), the confrontation between such philosophical concerns and the specificity of architecture gives rise to novel and striking formulations–and a new way of establishing and understanding the connections between the practitioner and the philosopher, the object and the idea.
This wide-ranging conversation builds a bridge between the fields of architecture and philosophy. At the same time it offers readers an intimate view of the meeting of objects and ideas in which the imagined, constructed, and inhabited environment is endlessly changing, forever evolving.
Jean Baudrillard is one of the most influential thinkers of his generation and author of The Vital Illusion (2001).
Jean Nouvel has designed buildings throughout the world, including the new Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, and is a recipient of France’s Grand Prix d’Architecture.
Robert Bononno, a translator and teacher, lives in New York City.
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