The term "edifice complex"[1] was coined in the 1970s to describe Philippine First Lady Imelda Marcos' practice of using publicly funded construction projects as political and election propaganda.
[1][2][3] Typically built with a Brutalist architectural style,[4] perhaps to emphasize their grandiose character,[5][6] these construction projects were funded by foreign loans,[2] allowing the incumbent Marcos administration to create an impression of progress.
[2] Deyan Sudjic, in his 2005 book The Edifice Complex: How the Rich and Powerful Shape the World, generalizes the term, expanding it outside of the context of Marcos and the Philippines.
Certainly, seeing their worldview confirmed by reducing an entire city to the scale of a doll's house in an architectural model has an inherent appeal for those who regard the individual as of no account.
They grow more and more dependent on it to the point where architecture becomes an end to itself, seducing the addicts as they build more and more on an even larger scale.Building is the means by which the egotism of the individual is expressed in its most naked form: the Edifice Complex.
New York's incurable Edifice Complex blooms mightily in midsummer..." The story was first published in the July 1965 issue of Playboy and later appeared in Shepherd's 1966 book, In God We Trust - All Others Pay Cash.