Repositioning cities through star architecture: how does it work?

Alaily-Mattar, Nadia; Dreher, Johannes; Thierstein, Alain

doi:10.1080/13574809.2017.1408401

Cited by 32 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…These buildings attract the attention of policymakers, the mainstream media (Alaily-Mattar et al, 2022), and architectural press (Dovey, 2005) and can ‘arouse public attention, causing disputes and controversies’ (Yaneva, 2009: 8). As many cultural flagships are funded by public money, the usage of funds must be justified (Alaily-Mattar et al, 2018). Flagship public projects also dominate architectural discourse (McNeill, 2006) and architectural education (Stevens, 1998).…”

Section: Theoretical Perspectives On Flagship Architecturementioning

confidence: 99%

A performing arts centre for whom? Rethinking the architect as negotiator of urban imaginaries

Goudsmit,

Kaika,

Verloo

2023

Urban Studies

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In this study, we interpret architecture not as a single imaginary stemming from architects and architectural patrons, but as the result of negotiating urban politics and urban imaginaries between different stakeholders, including policymakers, citizens, and developers. We focus in particular on the role of architects within this process as mediators between different stakeholders, who nevertheless have their own specific agenda to pursue. We draw on an empirical case of the Taipei Performing Arts Centre, a cultural flagship project built in Taiwan and designed by the Office for Metropolitan Architecture. Through a review of internal documents, interviews, and content analysis on archival data, we expose the controversy over the integration of the historical ‘low culture’ local food market into the design for the new ‘high culture’ Performing Arts Centre. Although the architects imagined and pursued the integration of the new centre into the existing local culture, both policymakers and local citizens contested this attempt. The study concludes that, despite claims from both policymakers and architects of representing ‘the people’, there were often misunderstandings, deliberate or otherwise, regarding the needs of ‘the people’ or indeed of who ‘the people’ are.

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Section: Theoretical Perspectives On Flagship Architecturementioning

confidence: 99%

A performing arts centre for whom? Rethinking the architect as negotiator of urban imaginaries

Goudsmit,

Kaika,

Verloo

2023

Urban Studies

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“…Previous research on buildings characterized as architectural icons have mainly focused on issues like the typology of architectural icons [8,9], the characteristics of buildings functioning as architectural icons [2,[10][11][12][13][14][15], the importance of buildings as architectural icons for cities and their development [16][17][18][19][20][21][22], the impact of architecture on the construction of urban identities [23,24], and the influence of the phenomenon of star architects on the creation of architectural icons [25][26][27][28].…”

Section: State Of Research-iconic Architecturementioning

confidence: 99%

The Importance of Architectural Icons of the City of Szczecin for the Transformation of Landscape Identity and Promotion of the City’s Image

Bal,

Czalczynska-Podolska,

Nieścior

2023

Sustainability

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The practice of promoting an image of the city using architectural objects, and the need to identify or create architectural icons in urban spaces, outlined in this article, occurs in many cities worldwide. The city of Szczecin in Poland, the subject of this research, is no exception. The turbulent history of the city, which for years remained within the borders of Germany, makes it particularly worth analyzing in these terms because it shows the shifting popularity of architectural objects in the context of changing political, cultural, and economic conditions. The research presented here aims to identify iconic objects commonly exploited to build an image of Szczecin, assess their prominent features, and analyze changes over time in their popularity and use for these purposes. The historical and interpretive research was based on a detailed analysis of old and contemporary architectural objects of Szczecin depicted in postcards from the last hundred years, from the period spanning 1920 to 2023. The analysis covered several digital databases containing archival and contemporary postcards. This analysis enables the identification of the most popular objects, suggests the key characteristics of iconic buildings, and identifies four basic types of buildings, which are distinct in terms of purpose, message, and the specific image of the city to which each contributes. The duration of each type as a popular object, the strength of its impact on the city’s image, and its importance for the urban landscape are also identified. The research revealed that: architecturally iconic buildings are created concerning political, economic, and social conditions and the need to promote a specific image of the city, certain features contribute to a building’s potential as an architectural icon, and the strength of the building’s impact, its importance for the city landscape, and the possibility of creating a specific image depending on its iconic type.

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“…This was the third-highest number ever". Valorizing the idea of culture-led urban regeneration, cities were engaged in a competitive race to reinvent their destinies with architecture (Alaily-Mattar et al, 2017). The new cathedrals of culture and flagship star architectural projects (Freidenheim, 2010) apparently gave form to the prophetic vision expressed by Guy Debord (1967), playing a role at the intersection of education, consumption and spectacle.…”

Section: Historical Traces Of a Latent And Continuous Mutationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mutating City: Designing Events as a Matter of Social Innovation

Celaschi

Formia

Vai

2020

SDRJ

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Contemporary European cities have become so large and complex that is extremely difficult, especially in times of economic crisis, to set up for them a top-down type of project. Cities can respond in a more efficient way to the inevitable ongoing change by continuously mutating, through a process of collective awareness about their real-time status. This condition can be achieved through a plethora of bottom-up, shared actions that are codesigned and implemented, and belong to a process that encompasses what is transient and temporary, what is ad-hoc and what relates to the digital sphere. Faced with this challenging premise, design comes into play and, by operating on services, events and analogical and digital communications, it can operate as a discipline that can mediate between continuous urban mutation and the need to govern it through an appropriate shape. In this article, the authors focus on the role of design within the processes of mutation that are occurring within several urban areas in Italy, where a culture of design is prevailing over grand projects of modern-day "urban mysticism". This study will closely examine the type of events that form a process rather than its possible product. As such, they can adapt easily to a logic of continuous mutation that is feather-light, sustainable and engenders participation, both when design is their pretext (such as in the design weeks) and when design is the instrument to give events substance and a tangible form.

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Repositioning cities through star architecture: how does it work?

Cited by 32 publications

References 31 publications

A performing arts centre for whom? Rethinking the architect as negotiator of urban imaginaries

A performing arts centre for whom? Rethinking the architect as negotiator of urban imaginaries

The Importance of Architectural Icons of the City of Szczecin for the Transformation of Landscape Identity and Promotion of the City’s Image

Mutating City: Designing Events as a Matter of Social Innovation

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