Tokyoids: The Robotic Face of Architecture

Architect François Blanciak’s Tokyoids surveys the robotic faces of Tokyo buildings, arguing that robot aesthetics significantly shaped architectural history.

Blanciak distinguishes robot aesthetics from traditional architectural variables like size, material, and style, focusing instead on observable expressions like twinkling eyes, laughing mouths, and howling balconies. Through his photographs of fifty buildings, he traces the origin of the robot face to architecture before robotics.

The book delves into the historical significance of the face in architectural theory, showing how its construction led to the emergence of robot aesthetics. Each chapter explores a different emotion conveyed by the robot faces, such as awe, wrath, mirth, pain, angst, and hunger.

(This book may contain a sharpie mark on the top or bottom edge and may show mild signs of shelfwear.)