Constructing (in) the `Real' World

Abstract

Baudrillard's notion of simulation is not that it is a false view of the world, but that it constructs a `real' world, which he identifies as hyperreal. This article argues that we can use architecture to explore this notion, as it is a key part of Baudrillard's career of theorising signification and, later, simulation. From early work on the domestic interior, to the peculiarity of the World Trade Center and the Centre Pompidou, from the spread of hypermarkets to questions of `social space', architecture performs a key role in Baudrillard's theorisation of contemporary culture. He also retains a certain utopianism, as seen in his view of the work of the architect Jean Nouvel. Finally, having considered this remaining possibility of radicality, the article claims that whilst radicality is possible in architecture, agency and self-conscious `resistance' to simulation are not.