Mute Icons: And Other Dichotomies in the Real in Architecture

No longer concerned with narrative excesses or with the shock and awe of sensation making
the mute icon becomes intriguing in its deceptive indifference towards context, perplexing in its unmitigated apathy towards the body. Object and building, absolute and unstable, anticipated and strange, manifest and withdrawn, such is the dichotomy of mute icons. Dwelling in the paradox between silence and sign and aiming to debunk a false dichotomy between critical discourse, a pursuit of formal novelty and the attainment of social ethics, "Mute Icons" reaffirms the cultural need and socio-political relevance of the architectural image, suggesting a much-needed resolution to the present but incorrect antagonism between formal innovation, social responsibility and economic austerity. Intersecting relevant historical antecedents and polemic theoretical speculations with original design concepts and provocative representations of P-A-T-T-E-R-N-S recent work, the book aspires to stimulate authentic speculations on the real.

Part history, part theory, and part monographic atlas, Mute Icons includes contributions by Georgina Huljich, Guillermo Martinez, Ciro Najle, Marco Spina, Brett Steele, and Constance Vale.