Matthew Soules

Icebergs, Zombies, and The Ultra Thin

This lecture presents work from the recently released book Icebergs, Zombies, and the Ultra Thin: Architecture and Capitalism in the Twenty-First Century (Princeton Architectural Press, 2021), which examines the rise of finance capitalism and its effect on architecture. From the cav¬ernous underground “iceberg” homes of the superrich in London to Paris’s owned-but-empty “zombie” housing to the ultra-thin luxury “pencil towers” sprouting in Manhattan, the book demonstrates how investment imperatives shape what and how we build on a global scale.

About Matthew Soules

Matthew Soules is an associate professor of architecture at the University of British Columbia and a graduate of the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD). Soules has been visiting faculty at the Southern California Institute of Architecture, a visiting associate professor at the GSD, and a guest critic at institutions throughout Canada and the United States. He is the founder and director of Matthew Soules Architecture and the author of Icebergs, Zombies, and the Ultra Thin: Architecture and Capitalism in the Twenty-First Century (Princeton Architectural Press, 2021).