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Tokyoids: The Robotic Face of Architecture by Francois Blanciak at Abbey's Bookshop,
Tokyoids: The Robotic Face of Architecture
— —
Francois Blanciak

Tokyoids

The Robotic Face of Architecture

Francois Blanciak

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Paperback

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English
MIT Press
25 October 2022
Architecture
A photographic survey of the robotic face of Tokyo buildings and an argument that robot aesthetics plays a central role in architectural history.

A photographic survey of the robotic face of Tokyo buildings and an argument that robot aesthetics plays a central role in architectural history.

In Tokyoids, architect Fran ois Blanciak surveys the robotic faces omnipresent in Tokyo buildings, offering an architectural taxonomy based not on the usual variables-size, material, historical style-but on the observable expressions of buildings. Are the eyes (windows) twinkling, the mouth (door) laughing? Is that balcony a howl of distress? Investigating robot aesthetics through his photographs of fifty buildings, Blanciak argues that the robot face originated in architecture-before the birth of robotics-and has played a central role in architectural history.

Blanciak first puts the robot face into historical perspective, examining the importance of the face in architectural theory and demonstrating that the construction of architecture's emblematic portraits triggered the emergence of a robot aesthetics. He then explores the emotions conveyed by the photographed buildings' robot faces, in chapters titled ""Awe,"" ""Wrath,"" ""Mirth,"" ""Pain,"" ""Angst,"" and ""Hunger."" As he does so he considers, among other things, the architectural relevance of Tokyo's ordinary buildings; the repression of the figural in contemporary architecture; an aesthetic of dismemberment, linked to the structure of the Japanese language and local building design; and the influence of automation technology upon human interaction.

Part photographic survey, part theoretical inquiry, Tokyoids upends the usual approach to robotics in architecture by considering not the automation of architectural output but the aesthetic properties of the robot.
By:  
Imprint:   MIT Press
Country of Publication:   United States
Dimensions:   Height: 203mm,  Width: 133mm, 
Weight:   369g
ISBN:   9780262544238
ISBN 10:   0262544237
Pages:   224
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Preface ix Introduction 1 Diagram and Face 9 Awe 71 Wrath 89 Mirth 103 Pain 119 Angst 135 Hunger 151 Postface 169 Notes 175 Illustration Credits 193 Index 195

Fran ois Blanciak is an architect and Associate Professor in the Department of Architecture at the National University of Singapore. He is the author of Siteless- 1001 Building Forms (MIT Press).

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