Architecture and Identity ─ Responses to Cultural and Technological Change

Expanding his collected essays on architectural theory and criticism, Chris Abel pursues his explorations across disciplinary and regional boundaries in search of a deeper understanding of architecture in the evolution of human culture and identity formation. From his earliest writings predicting the computer based revolution in customized architectural production, through his novel studies on ‘tacit knowing’ in design or hybridization in regional and colonial architecture, to his radical theory of the ‘extended self’, Abel has been a consistently fresh and provocative thinker, contesting both conventions and intellectual fashions.

This revised third edition includes a new introduction and six additional chapters by the author covering a broad range of related topics, up to recent concerns with genetic design methods and virtual selves. Together with the former essays, the book presents a unique global perspective on the changing cultural issues and technologies shaping human identities and the built environment in diverse parts of the world, both East and West.

Chris Abel is Honorary Visiting Professor at Ulster University Belfast and a member of the International Committee of Architectural Critics. He is the author of numerous works of architectural history, theory and criticism and has taught at major universities around the world.