Overview

Cinematic Starchitecture explores how examples of famous architecture have circulated throughout cinema history across diverse genres. Building on the term ""starchitecture"" – coined in 1997 for dramatic, monumental structures designed to gain international attention and economic advantage – the authors demonstrate that a crucial part of an architectural structure’s iconic star status emerges through its engagement with (and codification by) the media, and with cinema in particular. This book explores how iconic architectural structures have performed a myriad of roles and functions that exceed buildings’ everyday uses or identities as aesthetic objects, location markers, or spatial settings, to show that countless films globally have featured famous buildings as inimitable components of narrative exposition, character development and/or identity construction. This volume will appeal to students, scholars, and researchers of film studies, media studies, and architecture and architectural history, as well as those in the areas of media and cultural studies, history, popular culture, and urban geography.

Full Product Details

Author:   Merrill Schleier (University of the Pacific, USA) ,  Paul Newland (Liverpool John Moores University, UK)
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Weight:   0.690kg
ISBN:  

9781032602134

ISBN 10:   1032602139
Pages:   274
Publication Date:   03 November 2025
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Not yet available  
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Table of Contents

Introduction: what is cinematic starchitecture? Part 1: Starchitects and Cinema 1. Gaudí: Starchitecture, Iconicity, and Barcelona 2. The Iconicity of Architectural Decay in Detroit: The Posthumous Cinematic Re-mediation of Albert Kahn 3. Traces of a Proto-Starchitect: Erich Mendelsohn’s Architecture on Screen Part 2: Iconic Starchitecture in Cinema 4. Plaza and Fortress: Screening Lincoln Center’s Ambiguous Iconicity 5. La La Land’s (2016) Griffith Observatory: Through the Nostalgic Lens of Rebel Without a Cause and the Studio-Era Musical Part 3: Lofty Towers and Vertical Views 6. Tokyo Tower on Screen 7. The Nearest Thing to Heaven: the Empire State Building as romantic icon 8. Millennial Global Starchitecture in the City of London and its Cinematic “Other” in Rocks Part 4: Cinematic Starchitecture and Genre 9. Hong Kong Starchitecture and Action-Sci Fi Cinema 10. The Icon and the Grid: North by Northwest, the United Nations Building, and the Thriller Genre’s Media-Architecture Complex 11. Building Dystopia: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Marin County Civic Center in THX 1138 (1971) and Gattaca (1997) Part 5: Architectural Typologies and Styles in Cinema 12. “Concrete Stardom”: Brutalism’s Cinematic Iconicity and the Spatial Imaginaries of London 13. Pensive Spectacles: On Museal Gazes in Cinematic Starchitecture 14. Poetic Referentiality: The Ocean Liner as Film Star Index

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Author Information

Merrill Schleier is Professor Emeritus of Art and Architectural History and Cinema Studies at the University of the Pacific, USA, specializing in the relationship of urbanism, identity, and cinema. Paul Newland is Professor of Film and Architecture at Liverpool John Moores University, UK. He has published widely on representations of cities, landscapes, and architecture in literature and film.

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