ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book describes losing site, and finding it again in the many different places where architecture exists. The constructed, physical world, then, is supported by the visual and textual imagery that, taken together, enable us to 'transport' architecture back and forth, from its physical site to locations in the imagination. Demolition, the intentional, voluntary destruction of architecture, is no less difficult to witness, as it aggressively eliminates, even eradicates, a site in order to make way for new buildings in its place, and for cause. Designed to convey a sense of the place, picture postcards of ancient and modern architectural sites in Israel were produced throughout the twentieth century. Postcard compositions of an emerging modern nation wilfully inscribe civic buildings, memorial sites and archaeological landmarks into a narrative of nationhood and citizenship.
