The Edifice Complex

The Architecture of Power

Published by Penguin
2005 (in ten languages)

Why do presidents and prime ministers, tycoons and tyrants share such a fascination with grand designs? Is it to impress or terrify, to wield state power, make a bid for immortality or just satisfy their egos? From Hitler's vast Chancellery to Saddam Hussein's Mother of all Battles’ mosque, from Olympic stadiums to Donald Trump's excesses, Deyan Sudjic examines the murky relationship between buildings, money and politics, revealing the power of architecture - and the architecture of power.

 “Astonishing ... a thrilling and passionately indignant trawl through vanity's most polluted depths.” - Jonathan Meades, The Times

“Funny, acidic, penetrating and provocative.” - Norman Foster

Book of the Year – The Washington Post

“Punchily written ... deftly amusing ... a closely argued, brilliantly marshalled, important book.” Tom Rosenthal, Daily Mail