Perez-Gomez, Alberto (McGill University)

Timely Meditations, vol.1: Architectural Theories and Practices - Selected Essays on Architecture Perez-Gomez, Alberto (McGill University)

This remarkable collection brings together a selection of essays by Alberto Pérez-Gómez, originally published in diverse periodicals and as chapters in books, over a period of twenty-five years. The essays have been revised and updated by the author, sometimes substantially modified to reflect more accurately the state of contemporary questions in the field of architecture. While the writing deliberately blurs the edges of history and theory, the essays have been collected in two separate volumes: the first focusing on architectural theories and practices both historical and recent, and the second on more general aspects of architectural philosophy. The untimeliness of these texts on architecture, history, and philosophy is a welcome departure from today's incessant demand for timely innovation. These articles engage with central and marginal figures from architecture's past, converse with contemporaries who hold a sympathetic stance, and engage diverse philosophical positions. The essays draw from other fields of inquiry: philosophy, theatre, literature, art, dance, and neuroscience, to name a few. It is through these interdisciplinary conversations and the questions they generate that the works manifest their full power, rendering visible many currently-ignored issues. Against some of our most assured convictions and protocols, Pérez-Gómez consistently seeks meaningful sites in which to re-negotiate the architect's task of imagining the world otherwise. This is done without affectation or pretense, acknowledging the task's difficulty in our late-modern world. By joining past, present, and future, the texts offer their gift: the hopeful shaping of a time to come. This remarkable collection is a testament to three decades of thinking, whose untimeliness will challenge and reward readers, placing the search for dwelling, belonging and love at the heart of architecture (Foreword by Peter Olshavsky).