Berlin Contemporary

Julia Walker is Associate Professor of Art History at The State University of New York in Binghamton, USA. Her research focuses on modern and contemporary architecture, emphasizing the persistence and transformation of modernist ideas within contemporary practice—and the ways in which this modernist inheritance informs, inflects, and destabilizes claims to political meaning. Her current projects examine the underrepresentation of women in architectural practice and explore the history of architectural criticism as a genre.

“Walker writes about contemporary architecture not as a critic but as a sharp-eyed, thought-provoking historian. Berlin Contemporary is a meticulously researched book that raises the bar for the study of recent urbanism; Walker’s luscious, flowing prose makes for effortless reading, despite the seriousness of the subject. A formidable achievement.”

• Introduction: Berlin, the Contemporary Capital Chapter 1: Bridging and Breaking—Master Planning the Spreebogen Chapter 2: The Reichstag’s New Lightness of Being Chapter 3: Monumental Modernism—The Chancellery as Future Ruin Chapter 4: Palaces of Doubt Conclusion: No One Intends to Open an Airport