Biopolitics and the Emergence of Modern Architecture

In this book, Sven-Olov Wallenstein shows that the point at which the internal logic of architecture, that is, its theory, and the way it is mobilized as a tool, were transformed, and the classical paradigm was abandoned, is also the threshold where the biopolitical machine emerged. According to Wallenstein, modern architecture is a significant part of the biopolitical machine. This means that its primary purpose is to produce subjectivity and that it must be interpreted in terms of the genealogy of the modern subject. Therefore, the panoptic principle should not be associated with any architectonic form, but with what Foucault called a "diagram"—an abstract machine where power relations emerge and which can take on many physical forms (hospital, prison, barracks, factory, school, etc.).

From the Foucauldian perspective adopted by Wallenstein, we see that the modern hospital, which became a kind of "laboratory" where new ideas were tested before being spread throughout the urban space, is one of the most concrete examples of the new architectural logic that displaced the classical paradigm. This approach, which reveals that space is not merely a functional shell but also an invisible mechanism of power operating on bodies, elevates architectural history beyond a purely formal narrative. The second half of the book contains a visual essay that takes a cross-section of the modern hospital's two-century trajectory; this essay offers a conceptual roadmap to the reader by bringing together the theoretical framework with concrete spatial transformations.

For Whom?

• Those who wish to delve deeply into architectural theory and history
• Philosophy and social science readers interested in Foucault and biopolitics literature
• Researchers and academics who question the production of urban space in the context of power relations
• Undergraduate and graduate students in architecture, urban planning, or sociology