Hal Foster, author of the acclaimed Design and Crime, argues that a
fusion of architecture and art is a defining feature of contemporary
culture. He identifies a "global style" of architecture--as practiced by
Norman Foster, Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano--analogous to the
international style of Le Corbusier, Gropius and Mies.
More than any art, today's global style conveys both the dreams and
delusions of modernity. Foster demonstrates that a study of the
"art-architecture complex" provides invaluable insight into broader
social and economic trajectories in urgent need of analysis.