ABSTRACT
A culturally dominant narrative about architectural practice portrays it as the work of creative individuals endowed with the talent to envision buildings of cultural relevance and artistic value—sometimes even at the expense of functionality or common sense. The figure of the “starchitect,” with its problematic evocation of celebrity and vanity, illustrates the popular adoption of this narrative, which celebrates the work of a select few in the language of fame and individual prowess normally reserved for athletes or Hollywood actors. Dutch architect and theorist Rem Koolhaas, himself an exemplar of this architectural elite, has called it— wittingly and hyperbolically—“the flying circus of the perpetually jet-lagged.” 1
