(W)architecture & Identity

[Image(s): What remains of one of Iraq's holiest Shiite shrines - the Golden Dome of the al-Askari Mosque in Samarra- Wednesday, after insurgents detonated two bombs inside. The attack has set off "an unprecendented spasm of sectarian violence" edging Iraq closer to civil war. Rocked to our foundations, Tom Dyckhoff has a timely review of Robert Bevan's new book (The Destruction of Memory: Architecture at War) and "the wanton destruction of culturally important buildings treated as war crime." A tangential yet interesting follow up to that article, is this advice given to Arab architects to 'shun heritage cloning' with their projects, and the trend of copying Western designs which only further abstracts the vulnerable historic narrative of their architectural identity.]