Each was published in collections themed around the renewed interest in

the body in architecture. Their authors speak from leading educational in-

stitutions, one a respected authority in the twilight of a scholarly career; the

other emerging at the bleeding edge of architectural design. Both reclaim the

potential of what they present as a neglected or disparaged “body analogy”

as a site for contemporary architectural practice. The first, from a text called

“Body and Building,” seeks to recover an antique analogy in order to stabilize

architecture within a chaotic and alienating present, while the second, “From

Body to Blob,” calls for new analogies better able to articulate the complex

webs of identity in our wired world.