Antifascist Architecture Book Advocates for Radical Design Beyond Market Constraints

Andrew Santa Lucia and Daniel Jonas Roche have co-authored 'Antifascist Architecture,' published by Park Books for $40. The book critiques contemporary architecture's complicity with capitalism and fascism, arguing for a reorientation toward utopian world communism through anarchist socialism. It structures its argument in three parts: theoretical foundations, case studies of antifascist projects, and practical applications. Examples include Karl Marx Hof in Austria, Casa del Portuale in Naples, and the Rashad Al-Shawa Cultural Center in Gaza, alongside movements like the Black Panther Party's community hubs. Illustrations by Lane Rick provide visual support, depicting architects and buildings in red pen. The authors challenge architects to abandon prestige and embrace mutual aid, citing influences from Karl Marx and Manfredo Tafuri. They reject aesthetic moralism while condemning fascist architecture like that of Giuseppe Terragni. The book calls for a non-market maximalism, emphasizing survival and solidarity over formal design prescriptions. It concludes that architecture should integrate with broader human activities, akin to baking bread, as a response to state violence and scarcity.