Façadomy: A Critique on Capitalism and Its Assault on Mid-century Modern Architecture

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Process Press, 2013 - Architecture - 418 pages
Façadomy offers a comprehensive critique of architecture and its relationship to capitalism. The result of this analysis is a theory that outlines why architectural movements rise and fall, the anatomy of these movements and how dynamic market forces will affect the future of architecture in the United States. The story begins with an analysis of the Revivalist movement of the late 19th century and ends with an examination of the current global economic decline and the effect it has already had on some of the architecture being produced today. Cornetet's research reveals that a relatively undocumented architectural movement, known as Mid-Century Modernism, emerged as a response to many of the same problems being dealt with in the United States today, including uncontrolled population growth, limited resources and financial decline. Mid-Century Modern design was the architecture of capitalism and it has come to represent the Golden Age of Capitalism. Mid-Century Modernism embodied a philosophy that contained valuable lessons on process and design that have since been forgotten. These lessons are described in Cornetet's comprehensive analysis of Mid-Century Modern architecture and supported by an extensive case study that examined nearly 200 structures in Orlando, Florida. The book's design, graphics and photography bring to life this uniquely American architecture movement as Cornetet engages in a colorful dialogue that seeks to explain why we build the way we do in the United States.

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About the author (2013)

James Cornetet is an architect, professor, capitalist and founding member of Process Architecture in Orlando, Florida. He has won several design competitions and his work has received local, national and international design awards and has been featured in a number of print publications. Cornetet's designs range from the A'Design Award-winning get your feet off my coffee table, which was on display in the Museum of Design in Como, Italy to the AIA Award-winning Channelside Parking Garage in Tampa, Florida. Channelside was honored as one of the best parking garages in the world by the International Parking Institute. In 2012, Cornetet was selected as one of 13 architects most likely to change the future of the built environment in Florida by a jury consisting of Stefan Horner of Herzog & de Meruon and Miami Herald architecture critic Beth Dunlop. In 2013, he received the AIA Fred H. Pryor Young Architects Forum Achievement Award which recognizes a young architect who consistently demonstrates excellence, exceptional promise and leadership qualities in both the profession and the community. In addition to his work at Process Architecture, Cornetet's critiques on architecture and society have been published in the German architecture publication Bauwelt, YAF Connection and AIA Florida's florida/caribbean Architect. Cornetet is an adjunct professor of architecture at Valencia College and the University of Central Florida School of Architecture in Orlando. Cornetet received a Bachelor of Science in Architecture in 2004 from the University of Cincinnati and a Master of Architecture from the University of Cincinnati in 2006. He is a LEED Accredited Professional and is licensed to practice architecture in the State of Florida.

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