The Collapse of Modernist Utopia Under The Concrete Walls Of High-Rise

J. G. Ballard’s High-Rise, published in 1975, is an important critical work for architectural utopias. This study searches first for the place of high-rise type structures in modernity and modern life, then describe the underlying aesthetic philosophy of the modernist movement by the guidance of Le Corbusier. But his ideas will be evaluated on the basis of the critical perspectives initiated by the thinkers studying on culture and space, especially Henri Lefebvre, Theodor W. Adorno and Max Horkheimer. Then J. G. Ballard’s High-Rise will be located at this critical context. In this novel, we see, erotic and “ludic” features of high-rise, which represented as a sterilized and civilized modernist space, are transformed to barbarian entropy that re-powered by the masculine violence. Looking for architectural triggers of cultural erosion along with the violence and destruction, and analysing the philosophical basis of these architectural aptitudes are the primary concerns of this study