Over the past century, luxury has been increasingly celebrated in the sense that it is no longer a privilege (or attitude) of the European elite or America’s leisure class. It has become more ubiquitous and now, practically everyone can experience luxury, even luxury in architecture. Focusing on various contexts within Western Europe, Latin America and the United States, this book traces the myths and application of luxury within architecture, interiors and designed landscapes. Spanning from antiquity to the modern era, it sets out six historical categories of luxury - Sybaritic, Lucullan, architectural excess, rustic, neoEuropean and modern - and relates these to the built and unbuilt environment, taking different cultural contexts and historical periods into consideration. It studies some of the ethical questions raised by the nature of luxury in architecture and discusses whether architectural luxury is an unqualified benefit or something which should only be present within strict limits. The author argues how the ideas of permissible and impermissible luxury have informed architecture and how these notions of ethical approval have changed from one context to another. Providing voluptuous settings for the nobles and the leisure class, luxury took the form of not only grand palaces, but also follies, country and suburban houses, private or public entertainment venues and ornate skyscrapers with fast lifts. The Architecture of Luxury proposes that in Western societies the growth of the leisure classes and their desire for various settings for pleasure resulted in a constantly increasing level of ’luxury’ sought within everyday architecture.

Academic Paper from the year 2024 in the subject Art - Architecture / History of Construction, grade: A, Free University of Berlin (Business Administration and Management), course: Architecture, language: English, abstract: This paper delves into the realm of architectural theory and its implications in the contemporary world, particularly focusing on the concept of architectural luxury. It begins by discussing the historical significance of architecture as a reflection of societal values and progress. The theories of architecture, ranging from Christian Norberg Schulz's Phenomenon of Place to the Universal Space theory and Functionalism, are explored in depth, highlighting their relevance to luxury architecture. Key issues facing architecture today, including the need for inclusivity, material limitations, and preservation of heritage, are thoroughly examined. Additionally, the paper explores the profound effects of architectural sites on individuals and society, emphasizing the importance of well-designed spaces for productivity, mood, and health. Finally, it discusses how changes in architectural trends have positively impacted society, with luxury architecture no longer confined to the elite but embraced as a vital aspect of modern living. Through comprehensive analysis and scholarly references, this paper provides valuable insights into the theories, challenges, and transformative potential of architecture in contemporary society.

This innovative volume brings together contributions from leading experts in the study of luxury to present the full range of perspectives on luxury business, from a variety of social science approaches. Topics include conceptual foundations and the evolution of the luxury industry; the production of luxury goods; luxury branding and marketing; distributing luxury; globalization and markets; and issues of morality, inequality, and environmental sustainability. The Oxford Handbook of Luxury Business is a necessary resource for all students and researchers of the field as well as for forward-thinking industry professionals.

Examine luxury branding on a global scale, with more than fifty cutting edge contributions from the foremost thought leaders in luxury management and marketing. The Management of Luxury, second edition, presents a unique snapshot of best practice insights into the increasing challenges faced in luxury business, with contributions shared by more than fifty global leaders on luxury management. The highly renowned editors draw these together into one essential handbook, ranging from luxury brand strategy, luxury consumer behaviour and market positioning, through to management succession, heritage, counterfeiting and competing effectively as a luxury SME. Fully updated in its second edition, The Management of Luxury explores the newly evolving direction of Asian market trends and how to integrate digitalization into sales and product strategies. Both are crucial for competitive advantage in the luxury market, featured alongside iconic case studies such as Burberry, Louis Vuitton and Leica. The book's value is not only in streamlining management processes and return on investment; but equally for those who marvel at an industry unlike any other, striving to trust both in the conventional and innovate new paths towards the extraordinary. Highly influential, applicable and enlightening, it is a vital addition to every luxury business manager's collection.

A cast of leading writers and practitioners tackle the ethical questions that architects are increasingly facing in their work, from practical considerations in construction to the wider social context of buildings, their appearance, use and place in the narrative of the environment. This book gives an account of these ethical questions from the perspectives of historical architectural practice, philosophy, and business, and examines the implications of such dilemmas. Taking the current discussion of ethics in architecture on to a new stage, this volume provides an accumulation of diverse opinions, focusing on architects' actions and products that materially affect the lives of people in all urbanized societies.

What is a luxury customer experience and how can luxury brands best use emerging technologies in order to create truly unique, high-end experiences for their customers? These are the questions that The Future of Luxury Customer Experience has been designed to answer, as it explores how luxury brands can best utilize human touch and new technologies to deliver experiences that surprise and delight customers in a truly omnichannel environment. Using case studies from world-leading luxury retailers such as Ferrar, Cartier, Audemars Piguet, Mandarin Oriental, Valentino, Bottega Veneta and many others, this book explains what makes a luxury customer experience different. Learn how luxury brands need to evolve in order to adapt to the changing landscape, using data and the latest technology to provide exceptional customer experiences whilst protecting their customer's privacy. Written by experts from the world-leading SDA Bocconi School of Management, this book provides a thorough understanding of how to create and deliver luxury customer experiences that will build long-lasting customer loyalty, as well as how these experiences can build and support brand awareness. Covering topics such as arts and culture, authenticity, inclusivity and social responsibility, the use of AI and virtual experiences, as well as how to set KPIs to evaluate success, this book provides practical advice on how to create a luxury customer experience that will deliver exceptional results.

Remote Luxury: Top Resorts Down Under is the ultimate guide to getting away from it all in Australia and New Zealand. Over the past few decades Australia and its equally spectacular neighbour across the Tasman Sea have established a reputation as two of the most sought-after holiday destinations in the world. This reputation is a result of not only the extraordinarily beautiful and varied landscapes both countries boast but also the inspirational ways in which their architects and designers have used these unique settings to create innovative and memorable places to stay. This beautifully photographed publication takes you on a visual journey through the most remote of these idyllic getaways, from luxurious laidback lodges in the outback to sustainable eco resorts in rainforests and sleek retreats by the sea.

The last five years have seen a major paradigm shift in the role of human factors in product design. Previously this was seen as pertaining almost exclusively to product usability, but new recognition is being given to "pleasure-based" human factors. This emphasizes the holistic nature of the experience of person-product interaction. While traditio

A critique of prominent architects’ approach to digitally driven design and labor practices over the past two decades With the advent of revolutionary digital design and production technologies, contemporary architects and their clients developed a taste for dramatic, unconventional forms. Seeking to amaze their audiences and promote their global brands, “starchitects” like Herzog & de Meuron and Frank Gehry have reaped substantial rewards through the pursuit of spectacle enabled by these new technologies. This process reached a climax in projects like Gehry’s Guggenheim Bilbao and the “Bilbao effect,” in which spectacular architectural designs became increasingly sought by municipal and institutional clients for their perceived capacity to enhance property values, which author Pedro Fiori Arantes calls the “rent of form.” Analyzing many major international architectural projects of the past twenty years, Arantes provides an in-depth account of how this “architecture of exception” has come to dominate today’s industry. Articulating an original, compelling critique of the capital and labor practices that enable many contemporary projects, Arantes explains how circulation (via image culture), consumption (particularly through tourism), the division of labor, and the distribution of wealth came to fix a certain notion of starchitecture at the center of the industry. Significantly, Arantes’s viewpoint is not that of Euro-American capitalism. Writing from the Global South, this Brazilian theorist offers a fresh perspective that advances ideas less commonly circulated in dominant, English-language academic and popular discourse. Asking key questions about the prevailing logics of finance capital, and revealing inconvenient truths about the changing labor of design and the treatment of construction workers around the world, The Rent of Form delivers a much-needed reevaluation of the astonishing buildings that have increasingly come to define world cities.