The etymology of architecture has deep allusions in Western culture. »Architecture« or »arché-techné« derives its life from a tense interaction between »basic force« and »knowledgeable fabrication«. These two poles should be in balance but are not. Christian J. Grothaus pursues examples from antiquity, the Enlightenment, and the classical modern that document the struggle for and against the dominance of arché techné. He demonstrates that an »impossible possibility« proves the potential of the right architecture to prevail against current virtuality escapism, building and construction efficiency, or phantasms of timelessness.
