Sovereign Architecture: The Enigma of Power in the Age of Globalization
"...While both architecture and the built form are effective and powerful in their communicative qualities, iconic architecture plays a leading role in the way we form our cultural identity. It reflects the uniqueness and historical achievements of nations and its design assumptions and aesthetics, which were accumulated over a period of time for any culture, and represent the pride of nations. But in modern times under western architecture effect, similarities in architectural abstraction of form are increasingly evident despite the past objection to the negative impact of the international style. Such trend is being marketed through the architecture of iconic buildings. The demand for iconic architecture today proves that modernity in general and the Industrial and French revolutions as the important hinges of modernity, did not alter the general trend of architecture in its history, which is the search for iconic buildings that prove the cultural and technological accomplishments of modern nations. Charles Jencks comments that “the iconic building as a genre concerned mostly with its own iconicity is now the foremost category of architecture in the world.” Hence the important question that should be asked in this age of globalization is: why is it that iconic architecture still is considered a source of national pride even when it is part of private investment and represents a trend towards more of a global culture?"
Faida Atto
