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Pre/ArchitectureBy: Spyros Papapetros Series: Sternberg Press Critical Spatial Practice On the study of prearchitecture that took place after WWII. Can there ever be a world before architecture? Is there an arche origin, beginning, or authority that precedes the appearance of architectonics? This book argues that such a pre architectural state became a central object of investigation by architectural historians and practicing architects in the aftermath of world
By: Spyros Papapetros | Series: Sternberg Press / Critical Spatial PracticeOn the study of prearchitecture that took place after WWII.
Can there ever be a world before architecture? Is there an arche--origin, beginning, or authority--that precedes the appearance of architectonics? This book argues that such a pre-architectural state became a central object of investigation by architectural historians and practicing architects in the aftermath of world historical events and major epistemological revolutions.
Confronted by the ravages of war and omens of modern architecture's own ending, architects like Frederick Kiesler tried to trace the origins of human design by exploring the foundational techniques of human and animal building through conversation with paleoanthropologists and evolutionary biologists of the first half of the twentieth-century. At the same time, historians like Sigfried Giedion attempted to reinterpret a number of recently discovered prehistoric monuments, if only to corroborate theoretical principles that were already in use by modernist art and architectural critics.
After WWII, the narrative of Prearchitecture moves progressively backwards to the middle of the nineteenth century when the term "prearchitectonic" was coined even before the institutional emergence of prehistory as a discipline of scientific research. Gottfried Semper wrote about the "prearchitectonic conditions" of peoples from eras preceding the historical civilizations of the Near East, expressed through smaller structures such as ceramics but not yet through monumental structures. For Semper, "prearchitectonic" elements described not a single temporal period but a general structural condition that survived the inventions of history and of architecture.
Ultimately, the study of prehistoric origins could uncover not only the causes of modernity's present crisis, but also the signs of architecture's futures past. By juxtaposing the fossils of prehistory with postwar cosmic anxieties and prognostications of a post-histoire, what is ultimately invented is a pre/post/erous history--a fictional prehistory of future architectonics. Pre-architecture is not simply "not architecture;" it is what architecture could have become but ultimately disavowed. The same unfulfilled potentialities haunt not only the distant past but also architecture's anxious present that periodically circles back to an aborted prehistory.
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4 of 5 because you have to print a return label and for those of us who don't need a printer therefor don't have one its too much trouble
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Reviewed in the United States on May 8, 2026
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So glad I bought the plan. After 2.5 years of everyday use of my toaster, it quit working. Contacted Asurion, they emailed a shipping label. A few hours after I dropped the package off at UPS, I had the refund in my Amazon account. Very easy, no hassles.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2026
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Very bad
This guys are just an eye wash, they do not cover anything but will charge you. I bought Hand Blender and it broke in couple of months and I took 3 year protection from Asurion. When I contacted them about the issue, they said it is not started, go to manufacturer. I reached out to Amazon and they replaced it for me. Now again it broke. I reached out to asurion again. Now they say it is not contract. what is the point of having protection. Waste of time and money. I will not recommend this to anyone. This is a fraud protection.
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Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2026
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Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2026
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Simple and not Drama claim process.
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The process was simple and straightforward to follow. In the end, they honored the plan and covered the cost of my salt cell based on the value when I originally bought it. They issued me a gift card that I could use on Amazon for that amount.
While prices have gone up and a new cell now costs about $200 more, it was still definitely worth having the coverage. Overall, I’m satisfied with how the claim was handled.
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Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2026