Abstract

This article offers a critical overview of Virilio's engagement with the world of architecture. It surveys his involvement with the actual design process, and charts the development of his theoretical work from his early interest in typology to his more recent fascination with dromology. The article highlights the positive contributions made by Virilio in these fields, but so too it seeks to expose the 'Achilles' heel' in his approach. Virilio's work is shown to be plagued by a consistent aestheticizing impulse, which acts as a form of anaesthesia and 'numbs' the concern for the political. Virilio can therefore be compared to Futurists such as Marinetti, and the shortcomings which Walter Benjamin found in Marinetti's work can be seen to be echoed in that of Virilio.