Contrary to the view that postmodern architects regarded themselves as self-referential artists, this book draws on the buildings, projects and writings of Charles Willard Moore (1925-1993) to reveal the architects socio-political aspirations. Moore, one of the founders of postmodernism, wanted to create places that would inform people about where and who they are. His designed spaces were intended to counteract the alienation created by a technocratic mass society. Moores architecture was intended to create the conditions for political action in a public sphere that promotes a diversity of citizens voices. Reese presents a reassessment of the work of Charles W. Moore, who dedicated himself to opposing a conformist mass society. - On Charles W. Moores interpretation of postmodern architecture Presentation of the various postmodern architectural approaches of Moores era Scholarly reassessment of this architectural movement

Achim Reese studied architecture at RWTH Aachen University and the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. After working at the editorial for the architecture magazine ARCH+ in Berlin from 2012 to 2015, he was a pre-doctoral fellow at the Kunsthistorisches Institut - Max Planck Institute in Florence from 2016 to 2019. His dissertation, on which the book Places for the Self. After previously teaching architectural history and theory at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart, he has been teaching at the Technical University of Munich since the winter semester 2022-23.