Widely known for his award-winning design work, the Los Angeles–based architect Craig Hodgetts has distinguished himself as one of the key voices of his generation through trenchant commentary and visionary speculation on architecture and design. This volume gathers an array of theoretical polemics on buildings and cities, critical assessments of major projects and personalities, and other writings that showcase Hodgetts's unique position as both a central figure in the discipline of architecture and a tireless advocate of technological opportunities developed at the fringes of the field. Contextualized with a critical introduction by historian Todd Gannon and illustrated with rare materials from Hodgetts's archive, this collection cuts a revealing cross-section through a turbulent period, during which architecture's confidence in the modernist project was shaken, its intellectual energies redirected, and its cultural agenda re-imagined in the face of environmental challenges, technological opportunities, lingering disciplinary traditions, and revolutionary new ideas.

Todd Gannon is Robert S. Livesey Professor and head of the architecture section at The Ohio State University’s Knowlton School. His most recent book is Reyner Banham and the Paradoxes of High Tech. His other books include The Light Construction Reader (2002), Et in Suburbia Ego: José Oubrerie’s Miller House (2013) and monographs on the work of Morphosis, Bernard Tschumi, UN Studio, Steven Holl, Mack Scogin/Merrill Elam, Zaha Hadid, Peter Eisenman, and Eric Owen Moss. His essays have appeared in The Routledge Companion for Architecture Design and Practice (2015), The SAGE Handbook for Architectural Theory (2012), and in periodicals including Log, The Architect’s Newspaper, and Offramp. In collaboration with Ewan Branda and Andrew Zago, he curated the 2013 exhibition A Confederacy of Heretics. His work has been recognized and supported by the Getty Foundation, the Graham Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Institute of Architects, the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, The Ohio State University, and UCLA.

Craig Hodgetts is known for employing an imaginative weave of high technology and storytelling to invigorate his designs, producing an architecture that embraces contemporary ideology, information culture, and evolving lifestyles. With a broad-ranging background in automotive design, theater, and architecture, he brings dramatic concepts to life by means of an uncompromising application of construction methodology. Hodgetts is presently professor in the UCLA Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Planning, and previously was a founding dean of the School of Design at the California Institute of the Arts. With HsinMing Fung, he has twice held the Eero Saarinen Chair at Yale University, and served as visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Rice University, and the University of Arizona. Known for his enthusiasm for interdisciplinary studies, he has also been active in curriculum development at the Art Center College of Design, where he created a prototype classroom for advanced studies in the Department of Environmental Design.