ABSTRACT
This essay explores the relationship between the “starchitect” and the starchitect’s creation, “starchitecture.” It locates the source for that relationship in three historical places: the genesis of architecture history’s birth from art history, with the latter’s emphasis on the relationship between the artist and the created art object being central. Two twentieth-century moments were crucial as well: the manifesto-wielding Modernist architect followed by the Pop Art-inspired Postmodernist architect who capitalized on the venerable precedent separating “building” from “architecture,” each a distinct category of cultural production. Armed with digital tools for form-making, the (star)chitect of the twenty-first century is both provisional and fundamental.
