IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envirb/v19y1992i2p173-188.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Corporate Towers and Symbolic Capital

Author

Listed:
  • K Dovey

    (Department of Architecture and Building, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia)

Abstract

The meaning of the corporate office tower is explored within the framework of the production of symbolic capital. The method involves an interpretation of leasing advertisements—the field of discourse which envelops the decision to lease. The advertising is argued to be market sensitive and therefore to reflect the prevailing values of corporate culture. The aim is to unpack the myths and meanings that are used to generate symbolic capital through built form. The semantic themes outlined include distinction, authenticity, power, contextualism, and timelessness. The meanings of the location, the foyer, the view, and the interior settings are also discussed. Analysis of this field of discourse reveals these towers to be the popular architecture of a patriarchal corporate culture. It also reveals a number of contradictions underlying their production, such as ‘dominant contextualism’, ‘timeless fashion’ and ‘dynamic conservatism’. The towers are argued to be manifestations of the process Harvey calls creative destruction, a form of place destruction in which architectural practice is deeply implicated.

Suggested Citation

  • K Dovey, 1992. "Corporate Towers and Symbolic Capital," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 19(2), pages 173-188, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirb:v:19:y:1992:i:2:p:173-188
    DOI: 10.1068/b190173
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/b190173
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/b190173?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envirb:v:19:y:1992:i:2:p:173-188. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.