day job: edited volume edition

Four years ago, my friend Elie Haddad hatched the idea of editing a survey of architecture built around the globe during the last half century. Elie,  who I first met at the (then) Boston Architectural Center and is now Dean of the School of Architecture and Design at Lebanese American University, approached me with the idea of compiling what we hoped would become a standard text for scholars, teachers and students interested in the great diversity of architectural production in the contemporary world. We enlisted twenty collaborators, found a publisher (thank you, Ashgate!) and slowly assembled a book that carefully examines the broad range of approaches to the built environment that characterize this age of pluralism and globalization. The first copy of A Critical History of Contemporary Architecture just arrived, and I can't wait to start sharing it with colleagues and students. You can find a copy at Ashgate's website, or ask your local bookstore to order a copy.

Contents

Introduction: modernism and beyond: the plurality of contemporary architectures, Elie G. Haddad and David Rifkind.

Part I Major Developments After Modernism

Modern (or contemporary) architecture circa 1959, Peter L. Laurence
Post-modernism: critique and reaction, David Rifkind
High-tech: modernism redux, Sarah Deyong
Deconstruction: the project of radical self-criticism, Elie G. Haddad
Greening architecture: the impact of sustainability, Phillip Tabb
Postcolonial theories in architecture, Esra Akcan

Part II Architectural Developments Around the World

Architecture in North America since 1960, Brendan Moran
Architectural developments in Latin America: 1960-2010, Zeuler R.M. de A. Lima
The place of commonplace: the ordinary as alternative architectural lens in Western Europe, Tom Avermaete
Dutch modern architecture: from an architecture of consensus to the culture of congestion, Frances Hsu
Metaphorical peripheries: architecture in Spain and Portugal, Xavier Costa
Architecture in Switzerland: a natural history, Laurent Stalder
Architecture in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union since 1960, Kimberley Elman Zarecor
Finland: architecture and cultural identity, Taisto H. Mäkelä
Architecture in Africa: situated modern and the production of locality, Iain Low
Global conflict and global glitter: architecture of West Asia (1960-2010), Esra Akcan
Old sites, new frontiers: modern and contemporary architecture in Iran, Pamela Karimi
Beyond tropical regionalism: the architecture of Southeast Asia, Kelly Shannon
Internationalism and architecture in India after Nehru, Amit Srivastava and Peter Scriver
Architecture in China in the reform era: 1978-2010, Tao Zhu
Architecture in post-World War II Japan, Ken Tadashi Oshima
Edge of centre: architecture in Australia and New Zealand after 1965, Philip Goad

Index.