This advance companion book to the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale considers the exhibition’s theme of “Fundamentals” by examining the role of the historical utopia in contemporary practice, a subject that has long fascinated architects.
The Department of Architecture at Vienna University of Technology and its director, architect Cuno Brullman, have invited personalities from the field—including Sam Jacobs (UK), Brendan MacFarlane (USA), Mike Davis (USA) and Caroline Bos of UNstudio (NL)—to reflect on the lasting influence of utopian and experimental research of the 1960s and 1970s. The book brings together a highly varied collection of texts, drawings and other illustrations in which a variety of approaches is presented. Chapters include topics such as “Utopia as the representation of the possible”, “Utopia as aspiration” and “Utopia as science fiction.”