Architectural Positions. Architecture, Modernity and the Public Sphere

Public space is changing. Where in earlier times people met each other on a public square it seems that now a hotel lobby is the desired designation. This change in the notion of what the public area exactly is forms one of the most crucial themes in current architectural debate. Where are shared spaces presently to be found where people can meet each other and develop and share a public meaning?
This illustrated anthology brings together an impressive collection of writings by 36 leading architects, who have over the last fifty years presented different positions in relation to the debate over the idea and limits of what the public is, or should be.
Contributors include: Aldo Rossi, Rem Koolhaas, Matthias Ungers, Daniel Libeskind, Peter Zumthor, Alison and Peter Smithson, Rob Krier, Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos and Jean Nouvel.