ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines the experience of History in architecture from the dual perspective Jameson establishes between History understood as totality and event. It then focuses on both the temporal and nontemporal aspects of architecture. The concept of autonomy has been celebrated by both structuralism and post-structuralism, to mention two discourses influential for contemporary architectural theories. The book discusses time, history and architecture in reference to the work of two influential and diverse figures whose contribution to the formation of author's theorization of architectural history. It provides a critical insight into the presence of the things of the past without dismissing the presence of the potential future things to come. The book pronounces New Brutalism a hinge in the suggested periodization, to be followed by architecture's postmodernist moment, during which time capitalism retooled itself, disseminating digital techniques across the cultural sphere, including architecture.
