ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the architectures of Jameson, Tafuri and Lefebvre. Fredric Jameson's Architecture and the Critique of Ideology constitutes his first major essay on the subject of contemporary architecture. Tafuri was mainly introduced to North American architects and critics through the Institute of Architecture and Urban Studies, and especially its journal Oppositions. For Tafuri, an architectural equivalent to the zero degree may be found in one concrete structure: Mies van der Rohes New York Seagram building, which embodies the ultimate, frozen silence. Jameson in his essay concludes by arguing that Tafuris and the postmodernist positions are essentially the same, in spite of their apparently profound divergence. An unsigned article The Theory of Moments and Construction of Situations was published in the Internationale Situationniste journals fourth issue, in June 1960. It starts with quotation of Henri Lefebvres La Somme et le Reste, outlining his theory of moments, then proceeds to define the concept of situation and its derivation from the former.
