Architecture, theory and
criticism
01_Acceleration
Architecture theory as a tool
What is architecture theory?
• “The architect is a mason who learned Latin” – Adolf Loos
• What is architecture theory
o Thinking, discussing and writing about architecture
o Architecture as a theoretical construction
o There is no architecture without saying what architecture is.
• Why is it interesting to know something about theory or history?
o Architecture theory and history provide us with positions
• What will we do?
o Reading and writing about architecture
o Provide terminology, concepts, schemes to talk about architecture
o The slow medium of text wil be central
• Towards a multiple definition
o Concepts
Architectural theory is the body of ideas and concepts
• Provides the architect with a basis for developing a responsible practice
Concerned with the specific components of architecture, its constructive, formal and spatial means
o Positioning
Architecture theory defines what architecture is
• It provides insight into its essential characteristics
Reflects on the role of architecture in society
• It describes its cultural and social significance
o Quality standards
Architecture theory also develops quality standards that architecture worthy of its name must meet.
• In doing so, it also implies standards by which projects and buildings can be evaluated
o Why is something interesting?
Theory vs history
• History
o Facts, year, name, …
o How are these facts following each other in time?
Search for precedents
• Theory
o Concepts
How do different architects think of architecture in a certain time period?
Coherence within one moment in time
, • Three major Challenges of architectural theory
o Design methodology
o A vision of architecture and society
References and priorities
o A socio-professional position
Role
The spaces of architecture theory
• Treaties
o De Architecttura - Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
o I Quattro Libri Dell’ Architecttura - Andrea Palladio
o De re aedificatoria - Leon Battista Alberti
o The seven books on architecture - Sebastiano Serlio
o books to explain how architecture should be made
First form of architectural theory
• Avant-garde magazines
o L’Esprit Nouveau
o De Stijl
o DasAndere
o G
Unrealised project + why it didn’t come true
o made by architects themselves
• Periodicals
o Architectural Design, 1973
o Archithese, 1975
o Casabella, 1975
o L’architecture d’Aujourd’hui, 1976
o Oppositions, 1973
o Assemblage, 1986
o Perspecta, 2010
o AA files, 2013
o OASE, 1981
o Magazines publish texts of architects
• Anthologies
o Theorie de la’architecture
o Architecture culture
o Theorizing a new agenda for architecture theory
o Constructing a new agenda
o Dat is architectuur
Hilde Heynen
Series of texts from end 19th century to begin 20th century0
o The SAGE handbook of architectural theory
o Architectural theory
o books that have been made, collecting all voices of architects
Series of texts by architects and thinkers of architecture theory
Aims and limitations
• Aims and attitudes
o Increase your awareness of the history of architecture in the late twentieth century
Better understand contemporary practice in the light of recent history
, o Develop critical and analytical skil s needed to understand the sociopolitical context in which architectural practice
operates.
o Develop research, writing and speaking skil s, and the ability to write a paper academically or non-academically, to
construct an argument, and to initiate and support group discussion
• Four theoretical attitudes
o Descriptive attitude
Describes a state of affairs in the present or in the past
Offers points of view, explanations of phenomena by linking different elements of history to society
o Prescriptive attitude
Contains new proposals
• Proposals for new solutions or reconsidered answers for a specific problem
The tone is often controversial
• How architecture should be made
Vb. Vitruvius, Palladio, …
o Proscriptive attitude
Is controversial
Difference with prescriptive
• It proclaims: Not what should be done, but what should be avoided
o Critical attitude or critical architectural theory
Evaluates architecture or the built environment in its relationship to society
• What does it mean to make a building today?
Often politically or ethically oriented
Is often intended to stimulate change
• Limits of the definition
o Normative
This vision excludes certain forms of architecture or building or, at least, it is difficult to find a place for them
If theory prescribes a certain quality then invariably some structures are not ‘architecture’, minor or
experimental architecture
The same applies to design tools
• Ex. Distinction between structure and ornament is based on a distinction between essential and less
essential aspects of architecture.
Architecture results from a precise design method with an author
• What about architecture without an author, with multiple authors, with an unknown author?
o Conversely, a number of problems or questions about architecture find difficult their place in this definition
How is architecture seen, experienced, interpreted?
• It is very difficult to talk about experience of atmosphere
This definition thinks from the author's perspective
• This seems to imply that there is a direct link between the author’s intention and the way in which
his/her work is seen or experienced or given meaning.
Very relevant when historizing architectural theory
• Early modern architecture
o Driven by the ambition to stage or enhance spatial experiences
o Finally the close mutual determination of architecture and theory excludes a number of questions about the statute
itself from theory
Who is talking and to whom and why?
Architectural theory is formed by texts with diverse purposes, authors, agendas.
• This multiformity is very well visible in contemporary architectural theory
o What is the context in which the author is writing or designing?
anyone who delves further into the architectural-theoretical discourse must be aware of the position
he/she occupies
there is a specific judgement
,The focus of this course
• 6 words in 6 weeks
o Acceleration
o Commons
o Participation
o Critical Regionalism
o Transformation
o Resilience/memory
• Through different figures
o Jane Jacobs
o Gian Carlo de Carlo : architecture is too important to be left to architects
o Kenneth Frampton : The local
o Herman Czech : Transformation of existing situation
o Aldo Rossi
,A world in transition
Acceleration
• Thank you for being late - Thomas L. Friedman
o Friedman argues that there is a reason to describe the past decades as an “age of acceleration”
The world is being changed by three interacting and accelerating forces
• Environmental change
o Driven by population growth, global warming and biodiversity loss in the developing world
o Climate change
Characteristic of our society now
• Economic change
o Change of the market’s mechanisms is driven by globalisation
More particularly by digital globalisation
• Technological change
o Driven by Moore’s law
Co-founder of Intel
Predicted that the speed and power of microchips would double every two years,
though their size and cost would be halved.
• 3 forces
2007
• One of the greatest technological inflection points
o Introducing iPhone
o Facebook
o Twitter
o Beginning of big data algorithms
o Global expansion of open-source software
o Google bought YouTube
o Microsoft started android
o Kindle launched its first e-book
o Air bnb
o Netflix
• Change became dominated by these
2008
• Acceleration stopped
• Economic crash
• Lot of people get dislocated
o Confused as to whether they believed in the potential of acceleration or started to
critically question it
After: series of crisis’s
“ if one virus can wipe out the entire economy in a matter of weeks and shut down societies, then that is
proof that our societies are not very resilient. It also shows that once we are in an emergency, we can act
and we can change our behaviour quickly.
• Climate = emergency
o Much more important than covid
• In a moment of transition, we should change the way we behave
• What is transition precisely?
,The limits of growth, 1972
• 1968
o Earthrise, Apollo 8
First picture of the earth alone in space
• 1972
o Blue Marble, Apollo 17
First complete image of the earth
• Shows the system (oceans, land,…)
• Fragile planet
• The club of Rome
o Publishes limits of growth
o Aurelio Peccei (1908 – 1984)
Italian industrialist
Worked many years for Fiat S.p.A.
Saw how the earth was impacted bc of industrialisation
• The impact of growth
o Alexander King (1909 – 2007)
Economic conservation and development
o Make a club
To discuss the footprint of humans
Started in Rome during dinner
• Invited 17 researchers from MIT to research the project
o Graphics
What do you think when you think about the future?
• Most people - this weekend, next week - family
• Some people - next year - neighbourhood
• Not many people - lifetime - world
• Very very few people - beyond their life - elsewhere
o State of the world
5 criteria
• Population growth : rising
• Food production
• Industrial output : rising
• Resources : same
• Pollution : rising
• Conclusions
o Around today is a tipping point, the hight of rising
o If no changes to historical growth trends would appear ‘the limits of growth on earth would become evident by 2072,
leading to sudden and uncontrollable decline in both population and industrial capacity’
o Growth trends existing in 1972 could be altered so that sustainable ecological and economic stability could be achieved
o The sooner the world’s population started striving for the second outcome above, the better the chance of achieving it.
Environmental awareness
• Wat we toen al wisten - Geert Buelens
• We waren gewaarschuwd - Jaap Tielbeke
• 1962: Early forms of awareness
o Silent spring - Rachel Carson
At a certain moment, the gas we use to kil insects are damaging the environment and humans
At the end of the year, the government changed the law bc of the book
,• 1968
o The population bomb - Paul R. Ehrlich
We’re with too many
o Seeing earth as a whole
o Whole earth catalog - Steward Brand
We can invent moments on the planet
We need to learn how to survive
• 1970: Save our planet
o Foundation of Greenpeace
First earth day
People decided to stand up, they started to believe in saving the planet
Tried to stop nuclear testing
• 1972 – 73
o Soylent Green - Richard Fleischer
o Silent running - Douglas Trumbull
• 1973
o De Kat
Youth serie
• Person who dresses up as a cat and tries to save the planet
o Oil crisis
Import of oil
o Inflatable architecture
An architecture of lightweight construction and low carbon footprint
Balloon house – Lode Janssens
• PVC balloon
• Different capsules
• Zones between outside and inside
o What is (interesting) architecture?
• 1974
o Autonomous Architecture
Creates own living conditions
• 1979
o Solar Architecture
o President Jimmy Carter, 1979
Made budget available to act on climate change
"A generation from now, this solar water heater may be a curiosity, a museum piece, an example of a road
not taken, or it may be just a small part of one of the greatest and most exciting adventures ever undertaken
by the American people."
,• 1983
o High-Tech Architecture
Hardened Glass House - Benthem Crouwel
• Foundations in concrete + steel trusses + glass house
•
o Low-Tech Architecture
Maison Serre - Gil es Perraudin & Francoise-Hélène Jourda
• All the budget went to the terrain
• Agricultural greenhouse
o Architecture in relationship with its environment
• 1986
o Critique et Méfiance
"Il n'y a pas de limites à la croissance et au progress humain lorsque les hommes et les femmes sont libres de
poursuivre leurs rêves.” - Ronald Reagan
• 1987
o Reaching almost a political agreement
1987 : The Brundtland report
1987 : Montreal protocol
• Signed by 46 countries to stop producing and using CFC’s (chlorofluorocarbon)
1988 : IPCC intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
1989 : Ministerial conference on Atmospheric Pollution and Climate
o “The environmental challenge which confronts the whole world demands an equivalent response from the 1989 whole
world.” - Margaret Thatcher
• 1992
o Skepticism and Denial
o “20 years ago, some spoke of the Limits to Growth. Today we realise that growth is the engine of things and is the
friend of the environment” - George Bush
• 1993
o Climate Zones
Maison Latapie - Lacaton & Vassal Architects
• 2000
o Experimentation
o “Today we are faced with a challenge that calls for a shift in our thinking, so that humanity stops threatening its life-
support system.”
• 2001
o Doing with nature
Mildam – Louis Le Roy
• 2005
o Materials and Labour
Rauch House - Martin Rauch
• Build with the earth we can find
, • 2006
o Searching for carbon neutrality
Huge solar pannels
Failed experiments
• 2015
o International Agreement of Paris
Binding contract between different nations
To lower the emissions
• 2017
o The US withdraws from the Paris Agreement under Trump
• 2018
o Greta Thunberg initiates climate strikes
Younger generations should speak out
• 2020
o Short term crises
Covid
Floodings
Ukraine
o Crisis vs catastrophe
Crisis
• A potential for change
Catastrophe
• Everything goes wrong and nothing changes
Welcome in the antropocene
What is the Anthropocene
• 2011, The economist
o Humans have changed the way the world works
o Anthropocene = new geological era
Defines the geological epoch defined by the human impact on the Earth’s geology and ecosystems
o Defined by
Population growth
• Architects need to find home for more people
Food production
Industrial output
Resource depletion
Pollution
Turbulence and crisis
• “ The world must now either accept long-term chaos for the sake of short-term comfort, or make
short-term sacrifices for the sake of long-term comfort. ” - Jorgen Randers
, Transition
• Optimisation
o Happens in history
o Cars faster cars hybrid cars electric cars
But
• We stil continue to be in traffic jams
o In the end WE need to change our habits
• Experimentation
o There might be an acceleration of these experiments
o Vb. Balloon house, high tech, low tech
• Today
o Chaos
We don’t know anymore where to go
o Hope
Experiments become institutionalised
• stabilisation
o New ways of building (climate neutral)
We have to let go of some of our habits
• Ex. Low emission zones do we need a car?
•
The project of Modernity
• The origins of our age acceleration can be associated with the beginnings of modernity
o We need to distinguish between modernisation, modernity and modernism
• Modernisation
o Social development process
Characterised by
• technological progress and industrialisation
• urbanisation and demographic explosions
• strengthening of the nation-state
• growth of communication facilities
• democratisation and expansion of the global market
o underway in the Western world since the 18th century
o is developing with such tremendous momentum that it has reached unprecedented proportions
• Modernity
o Way of being
o based on the idea of human emancipation
we are no longer dependent on nature or god, we can decide as individuals
o = the belief in the utopia of a better world
It is belief that innovation allows us to build a better world and can lead to the progress of humanity
o Associated with the ideas of innovation and progress as opposed to classical and tradition
A focus on the new, in a break with the past
