The Virtual Dimension: Architecture, Representation and Crash Culture.Edited by John Beckmann. Basel: Birkhauser. 1998. CHF CHF In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Swiss Franc. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. 38, DM48 If you want to get a sense of the range of viewpoints about virtual technologies then you might find this volume interesting. At one end, there are informative and incisive incisive /in·ci·sive/ (-si´siv) 1. having the power or quality of cutting. 2. pertaining to the incisor teeth. in·ci·sive adj. 1. Having the power to cut. articles about how virtual representation will change the way buildings will be designed, produced and work, the organizing metaphors of the new world of virtual representation and the representation of the virtual in various media. At the other end, there are discussions that posit the replacement of human intelligence by cyborgs and architecture by self-assembling buildings. In between are articles that discuss applications of virtual technologies to art, philosophy and religion, and a number of projects that use virtual technologies to develop new kinds of community and new visual and haptic haptic /hap·tic/ (hap´tik) tactile. hap·tic adj. Of or relating to the sense of touch; tactile. haptic tactile. sensibilities sen·si·bil·i·ty n. pl. sen·si·bil·i·ties 1. The ability to feel or perceive. 2. a. Keen intellectual perception: the sensibility of a painter to color. b. . What is missing from the volume is an editorial overview that puts in perspective the various positions of the authors from many different fields and with different interests. Instead, the reader must wade through the 28 chapters organized in no particular order and with no particular poetic or intellectual structure hoping to find something of interest or note. Some authors argue that the virtual dimension is a new utopian opportunity while others see it as hype. Some articles are notable for the clarity of their writing, while others are indecipherable. A few are illustrated while most are not. Of note to architects is that a number of the contributors do discuss architectural projects or the implications of the new technologies for architecture. There are more articles that directly or indirectly reject any need for material building or space at all. Perhaps the variety of viewpoints and discursive dis·cur·sive adj. 1. Covering a wide field of subjects; rambling. 2. Proceeding to a conclusion through reason rather than intuition. strategies are in the nature of the discourse surrounding the virtual dimension. Like the Internet, the Internet, the, international computer network linking together thousands of individual networks at military and government agencies, educational institutions, nonprofit organizations, industrial and financial corporations of all sizes, and commercial enterprises book offers different texts and images good, bad and ugly. Like the Internet this volume presents its chapters with neither hierarchy nor discrimination and leaves the reader with the task of making the critical editorial judgements. EDWARD ROBBINS
Edward Hutchinson Robbins (February 9, 1758 - December 17, 1837) served as the Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts from 1802 to 1806. |
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