Gordana Fontana-Giusti Examines Michel Foucault's Impact on Architectural Theory

A new book by Gordana Fontana-Giusti, published by Reverte, examines the historical and theoretical questions that Michel Foucault addressed throughout his career and their consequences for architecture. Since the mid-1960s, Foucault's work has shaped multiple domains of culture, knowledge and the arts, architecture and its critical discourse among them, and the implications for the discipline have been extensive. His archaeological and genealogical approaches to knowledge reoriented the history and theory of architecture, while his stance toward the arts and aesthetics produced a renewed engagement with the avant-gardes. The volume is organized around thematic chapters covering archaeology, confinement, bodies, spatiality and aesthetics. Its stated aim is to test and demonstrate how Foucault's thought remains relevant to architectural knowledge, to its historiography and to practical application. Central to the argument is the juxtaposition Foucault established between space, knowledge and power, which opened new ways of conceiving space in architectural and urban design projects. Equally significant, according to the book, is the philosopher's attention to the body and to sexuality, which has defined understandings of the possibilities and limits of the human condition and of its relationship to architecture. The publication appears in the PSA series as number 11 and carries the title Foucault sobre la arquitectura.