Towards a Dialogical History of Modern Architecture: Essays on Otherness and Canon (Routledge Research in Architecture)

The book challenges three perspectives on the modern architectural canon: explanations that disregard impacts and effects beyond the North Atlantic (monologic), superficial modifications that simply add "Other" figures to the canon, and views that reject the canon itself. Instead, it recognizes the canon's significance in comprehending architecture, while seeking to uncover its presumed Western-centric integrity through a shift from a monological to a dialogical approach. This approach integrates concepts of identity and Otherness as dialectically articulated and mutually interrelated. In essence, the book's main thesis contends that the canon's historiographic construction overlooked the existence of “Otherness”, specifically neglecting the world beyond the North Atlantic nucleus of the West. By examining a global context to comprehend the canon formation, the book proposes a more accurate understanding of the history of modern architecture. Recognizing that this task cannot emanate from a single hegemonic center, it presents the prospect of a coral-type architectural history.