A new book, titled "The Age of Spectacle: Adventures in Architecture and the 21st-Century City" by Tom Dyckhoff, has been released in late April and explores the birth of iconic landmarks from New York to Beijing, and from Bilbao to Portsmouth to show that how they emerged in the cities and what are the roles of them for the market economy or society. Rowan Moore from The Guardian reviews Tom Dyckhoff's new book by critisizing his particular focus on the book.

And still they come. The Gherkins, Shards, Walkie-Talkies, Cheesegraters, Scalpels, giant iPhones, Bird’s Nest stadiums, flying tabletops, big pants. Like the conveyor belt of consumer items that older readers will remember in Bruce Forsyth’s Generation Game, the supply of funny-looking buildings with funny names seems never-ending. Nicknames are converted into brands; satire and marketing merge....Continue Reading

Top image: The Shard on the south bank of the Thames at London Bridge by Renzo Piano. Image © Michel Deance/RIBA/PA

> via The Guardian