The Loop: Chicago Architecture and the Social Imaginary discusses the social function of architecture. Through close readings of skyscrapers, opera houses and urban parks in Chicago, Kai Horstmannshoff develops a theoretical framework that allows his readers to understand architectural styles as concrete expressions of historically shifting conceptions of the human, matter, space and time. As such, the book appeals to both a general public interested in exploring what architecture means, and experts working in the fields of aesthetic theory, art history and cultural studies.