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Essay

Inkorporierungen: Spolien als Instrument der Mimesis in der Gegenwartsarchitektur

Hans-Rudolf Meier

Published online:

01 Sep 2016

Abstract

Abstract

The contribution investigates the reuse of building elements (spolia) in recent architecture as a means of enhancing similarity. To design or build with spolia is today a common practice of mimetic expression. Contemporary architects, unlike those of the end of the last century, no longer seek contrasts in keeping with concepts such as bricolage or deconstruction so much as they attempt to evoke connections. Spolia figures repeatedly and increasingly as a means of preserving continuity. Three variations in the use of spolia are discussed, each exhibiting a different function for the reused elements: as design tools, as guarantors of authenticity, and as additive elements. In the latter two cases, suggestions of sympathetic or contact magic are in evidence.

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