Architecture and Surrealism: A Blistering Romance

The first major survey on the rich relationship between the imagery and thinking of Surrealist art and the architecture of the 20th and 21st centuries

In a world where ‘smart’ objects can talk to each other and a lethal gun can be produced with a desktop 3D printer, the conditions for contemporary design are nothing if not surreal. With technology now setting the protocols and altering our daily lifestyles in profound ways, the concepts and otherworldliness of Surrealism have become more relevant to architects than the dogmas of architectural formalism.

Architecture and Surrealism: A Blistering Romance charts the development of the fertile relationship between these two very different ways of seeing the world and reveals how the fusion of these ideas are being put to use by contemporary architects in extraordinary ways.

Divided into four thematic chapters, the book explores the connection between architecture and Surrealism through the central concepts of the body, the house, the city and the environment. Each chapter offers a spectrum of images of works by both established and emerging architects, as well as feature pages dedicated to contemporary work, all of which demonstrate the lasting influence of Surrealism on architectural aesthetics.

In an era of wearable technology and big data, connecting us everywhere all the time, Architecture and Surrealism unveils fascinating and unexpected forms, buildings and spaces that are creating the most exciting futures for our personal and built worlds.

Neil Spiller is Hawksmoor Chair of Architecture and Landscape at the University of Greenwich, London. He is the author of Visionary Architecture and Digital Architecture Now, both published by Thames & Hudson. His architectural design work and research has been widely published and exhibited worldwide.