Description:
"Cornerstone" is a new collection of essays offering a dazzling, contemporary spin on the origins of civilization.
Pedro Azara s unique architectural and archaeological insights, enhanced by his knowledge of cuneiform script, decode the dreams, myths and ideas that gave birth to the city some 7000 years ago.
Through painstaking fieldwork and the reexamination of ancient Mesopotamian texts, Azara casts fresh light on these first architects and in the process, uncovers the mysterious origins of urban culture and the aesthetic principles underpinning it.
With nimble wit and a voracious intellect, Azara follows these echoes from the past through to our present day cityscapes, proof that, perhaps, our old neighbours have never really moved out.
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Brief description: Pedro Azara is professor of aesthetics at the Barcelona School of Architecture. He is the curator of To Lose Your Head (Idols) at the 58th Venice Biennale.