Architecture, politics and memory in post-WWII Europe

Abstract

All architecture has a political dimension, in a sense it expresses a set of values and is never a neutral medium. The late American artist and architect, Lebbeus Woods (1940-2012) stated that 'architecture is a political act by nature. It has to do with the relationships between people and how they decide to change their conditions of living' (Jacobson, 2015). At a higher institutional level, architecture becomes a process by which a building and urban context can be redefined and transformed as a representation of the powers that be. Architectural history is replete with various instances where the ruling political class has resorted to patronise public architecture and appropriated it as a medium to convey potent visual signals that resonate their ideologies. [excerpt]