This book presents the rise and decline of the meta-concept of transparency in architectural theory and practice, from modernity to hypermodernity. It investigates the complex relations around the see-through aesthetic, and the role of unseen and invisible structures for staging transparency as the dominant optics of modernity. It also examines diverse theories and tactics regarding transparency, and tests the concept in a range of works, both built and written. As such, the book introduces readers to new perspectives on space, and to processes for understanding and designing architecture, informed by media-philosophy.

Author Biography

Thomas Mical is Professor of Architectural Theory, and Head of School of Art & Design at The Auckland University of Technology. He completed his M. Arch. At the Harvard GSD, and his PhD in Architectural Theory at Georgia Institute of Technology College of Architecture. He was recently a Visiting Senior Fellow at the London School of Economics Department of Media and Communications (2015) and is Visiting Professor in Architectural Theory at Tongji University (2017).