Cooper Union Building Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Cooper Union Building - Essay Example As the Cooper Union Centre is dedicated to the promotion of science and art, this innovative building stands for the basic values of the institute by blending scientific architectural design experiment with a creative vision for future building designs. Most of the building is lit by natural sunlight and the â€Å"green roof† of this building has won it LEED Gold rating. The design of the building attains a political overtone primarily through assimilating the spirit of Peter Cooper, the founder of the institution, who aimed at promoting free access to all, to the arts, whereas appreciation of art still at large remains an upper class vocation and privilege. It was Slavoj Zizek who took the idea of political unconscious delineated by Frederic Jameson based on the theory of Marxism, and developed it to make it a useful tool in evolving a critique of architecture. Zizek observed that â€Å"there is a coded message in an architectural formal play, and the message delivered by a building often functions as the â€Å"return of the repressed† of the official ideology.† ... This essay begins its argument in the realization that architecture is not at all an, â€Å"autonomous art† but one that exists in relation with a â€Å"complex web of social and political concerns.†8 In this attempt to find the political connotations of architecture, one has to take into account, many streams of thought as evolved by social critics and philosophers like Adorno, Walter Benjamin, Georg Simmel, Roland Barthes and so on. For example, while comparing imaginative and functionalist architecture and its progression through history, Adorno has pointed for the need of a modern aesthetics that addresses both the ends of the spectrum.9 This has to be understood in the backdrop of a market oriented architectural ideology. If the history of architecture is traced from a political angle, it can be seen that the entry of an affluent bourgeoisie reflected in architecture as â€Å"decline in craftmanship, enduring mediocrity, and the swindle of mechanical reproduction. †10 This resulted in â€Å"unmitigated kitsch† and later in an attempt to overcome this and address modern realities of capitalism, â€Å"monstrous, schematically rigid skyscrapers (began to) project out of a raging sea lacquered tin.†11 Bloch had called this trend in architectural design as non-humanely and â€Å"rendered uniform in the domineering form of the glass box.†12 Marxian analysis of architecture has taken this discourse one step further and shown how cultural artifacts, including buildings, serve to reinforce the hegemony of â€Å"commodity capitalism.†13 Hale has went on to explain this concept further citing Walter Benjamin and said that: A new architecture had evolved in iron and glass, which eroded the distinction between inside and outside space. This perfectly suited the

Management in Egypt Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Management in Egypt - Research Paper Example The extent to which an individual can be good as a manager is influenced by a lot of factors that include but are not limited to age, region, religion, culture, gender, experience and knowledge. One of the most significant and influential among these factors is the culture that a manager belongs to. Culture sets the norms, trends and traditions upon which all business practices in a particular region base. In order to run a successful business, it is imperative that the manager fully understands and complies with the requirements of the culture that prevails in the area in which the business is conducted. There are several cultural factors that enhance an individual’s ability to manage the work. Likewise, there are many factors of cultural significance that decline the individual’s ability to manage. For example, a culture that is receptive towards external influences and elements may make it very easy for a manager to implement innovative and creative ideas in a busine ss setting. On the other hand, such a culture may easily loose the inherent goodness of the business practices as they give room to foreign elements. Therefore, in order to be successful as a manager in a particular culture, it is advisable to carry out a deep analysis of the culture and study its traits that may enhance or decline the eligibility of an individual as a manager. This paper aims at discussing the positive and negative influences of the Egyptian culture upon management. Management in Egyptian culture: Egypt has a very formal set up of business, and there are a lot of requirements of intercultural management. In order to fulfill the requirements of the intercultural management, managers need to be courteous to their maximum capacity all the time. People in power and authority need to be dealt with utmost respect and honor. Normally, the practice involves an Egyptian agent who assumes the role of an intermediary between a manager and another professional, whose basic tas k is to arrange appointments. For an individual who has business in two different cities in Egypt at one time, it is advisable to keep two different agents for each so that matters can be addressed with full formality. Agents for business can be got from the â€Å"commercial attache of the Egyptian Embassy in your country, the commercial section of your country’s embassy in Egypt, or the Egyptian Department of Commerce† (kwintessential). Formality is the key trait of business in Egypt. When people meet one another, tea or coffee is commonly served and is assumed as a symbol of hospitality. The beverage an individual offers in the business in Egypt represents the individual in person. Therefore, if the person who is offered the beverage does not accept it, he/she essentially rejects the offer maker. In order to display hospitality and comply with the requirements of ethics, it is compulsory for the guest to take at least a sip, if not drink the whole cup. Egyptians plac e a lot of emphasis on an individual’s looks and the way he carries himself. In the Egyptian culture, people are judged by their appearances. Managers are essentially people in power, so they should develop and maintain a high status. Therefore, in order for an individual to be successful and respected as a manager, it is imperative that he presents himself in a highly professional way and makes stay in some international hotel of extreme standard. Also, managers in Egypt do not differentiate between their personal and professional life. Both go side by side and often merge into each other. Managers tend to assist their subordinates in all aspects of the job. Managers