Iconic architecture and capitalist globalization

Abstract

The production of architectural iconicity and its relationship to contemporary capitalist globalization is the focus of this article by Leslie Sklair. While Sklair notes that iconicity can take a range of forms, here he is particularly concerned to understand the iconicity ascribed to buildings or spaces (or indeed architects) on the basis of their uniqueness or difference. For Sklair, this form of contemporary iconic architecture is now corporate to an extent that is historically unprecedented. He accounts for this historical shift with reference to an analysis of the new conditions of architectural production associated with the agents and institutions of an emergent transnational capitalist class. Iconicity can not be accounted for with reference to explanations which focus solely on the symbolic/aesthetic qualities of a building or space. Rather, Sklair demonstrates how the agents and institutions of the transnational capitalist class have increasingly come to define the times, places and audiences that make buildings, spaces, and architecture iconic.