Publisher's Synopsis
The theme of memory in architecture has often been discussed, both in terms of architecture as an instrument of memory and in terms of memory as a material or dimension of architecture. This text offers a contemporary reconsideration of the issue that takes into account the dramatic changes that have been brought about by suburbanization.;The wide-ranging discussion draws on four main strands, moving from past to present, from architecture to town, from town to territory. The first strand is a book published in 1966 by the English historian of ideas, Frances Yates. The second is a metaphor forged in 1930 by Sigmund Freud. The third is an account given by the American artist Robert Smithson of a suburban walk in 1967. The final strand is a small park designed by the architect Georges Descombes in a suburb of Geneva in the 1980s. All the strands are pulled together in a cohesive argument that illuminates contemporary practice. Sebastien Marot is editor of "Le Visiteur", the Paris journal of landscape architecture and urbanism.
