Interrogating Pop in Architecture

Though always rare and exciting, the occasional iridescently vibrant proposal is well established as a component of today’s architectural and building practice. More recently, however, the frequency of this phenomenon has grown exponentially, and today, we increasingly note the construction of ever more radical architectural icons, changing both our physical and cultural landscapes. Furthermore, these icons have themselves directly become denizens of the media and attractions to the wider public. As a result, more and more architects are aspiring to and even becoming admired as POP stars in their own right. INTERROGATING POP IN ARCHITECTURE explores the cultural phenomenon of POP with an eye towards understanding its relevance in the world of contemporary architecture. It is an open inquiry which seeks to frame the term “POP architecture,” through concretely exploring the possibilities and risks of POP phenomena as they are translated into architecture. It traces the contributions and discussions of a hybrid group of students, teachers, and invited guests from the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, and psychology, all of whom worked together at the TU Berlin, commonly engaged in a journey to decipher the relationship between POP and architecture.