ARCHITECTURE THEORY AND CRITICISM
ARCHITECTURE THEORY – VERONIQUE PATTEEUWS
ACCELERATION
1. Architecture theory as a tool
1.1. What is architecture theory?
= thinking, discussing and writing about architecture
Not about how you design but what architecture is.
What kind of architect do you want to be?
A multiple definition:
• Concepts: architecture theory is the body of ideas and concepts
• Positioning: architecture theory reflects on the role of architecture in society
• Quality standards: architecture theory also develops quality standards
There is a difference between theory (concepts, 1 moment in time, how different
architects think about architecture) and history (interested in facts)
Architecture theory gives insights in the roles/positions you can have
1.2. The spaces of architecture theory
- Treaties = traktaten
Like Vitruvius, Alberti, Palladio
They show us what architecture was in their time
- Avant-garde magazines
- Periodicals: OASE
- Anthologies: collecting all those votes from all those architects
1.3. Aims and limitations
Create awareness for the history of architecture in the late twentieth century.
Better understand contemporary practice in the light of recent history.
4 theoretical attitudes:
- Descriptive attitude: how architecture was made in the past
- Prescriptive attitude: how architecture should be made
- Proscriptive attitude: what can not be done
- Critical attitude: evaluates architecture in its relationship to society => how
we can position architecture
Limits of the definition
1. This vision excludes certain forms of architecture or building or, at least, it
is difficult to find a place for them:
Some structures are not architecture, e.g. experimental architecture or
festival architecture. Architecture results from a precise design method
with an author, what about architecture without an author, or multiple
authors?
Normative position: what is not the norm isn’t architecture
1
, 2. Conversely, a number of problems or questions about architecture find
difficult their place in this definition:
How is architecture seen, experienced, interpreted?
This definition thinks from the author’s point of view, is there a link wit the
experience of it?
How architectural theory is in history
3. 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?
The difference between positions
Anyone who delves further into the architectural-theoretical discourse
must be aware of the position he/she occupies and the normative
character of his undertaking.
Just as in criticism, there is a specific judgement, a selection from the
available texts and statements. Each text is a-priori ideologically coloured.
1.4. Focus of this course
Acceleration
Commons
Participation
Critical regionalism
Transformation
Resilience/memory
2. A world in transition
2.1. Acceleration
Thomas Friedman argues that there is a reason to describe the past decades as an
“age of acceleration”.
3 changes:
- Environmental change: population growth, global warming, biodiversity loss
- Economic change: globalisation and digital globalisation
- Technological change: Moore’s law, the cofounder of Intel, predicted that the
speed and power of microchips would double every two years, though their
size would be halved.
Came together in 1 year: 2007, by Friedman understood as one of the greatest
technological inflection points
Stop in 2008: bank crash, financial crisis; at the precise moment of an acceleration
of technology and its impact on the way humans live on the planet, people got
dislocated
Greta Thunberg: “we are in a moment of transition” => what is transition?
2
,2.2. The Limits to Growth, 1972
Blue marble: changed the way we looked at our own planet
The club of Rome published a book
Peccei & King thought about the impact of people on the planet.
Very few people will think about their children’s lifetime in
the world
The world model: systemic thinking
Grafiek: 5 criteria that are still important
Conclusions:
1. If no changes to historical growth trends would appear, “the limits to growth
on earth would become evident by 2072, leading to sudden and
uncontrollable decline in both population and industrial capacity”.
2. Growth trends existing in 1972 could be altered so that sustainable ecological
and economic stability could be achieved.
3. The sooner the world's population started striving for the second outcome
above, the better the chance of achieving it.
2.3. Environmental awareness
1973: pvc balloon, Lode Janssen
What is architecture => how can we think about our designs with the aspect of
the environment
snow on the balloon => dark, rain => loud
1979: president Jimmy carter puts solar panels on the roof
High tech architecture: no foundation possible in the ground
Low tech architecture: serre, architecture that is typical in
the environment
1989 they almost reached an agreement, eventually in 2015 they had an
agreement.
People try to talk about climate change
Architects continue to experiment
1993: climate zones:
3
, 2001: Louis le Roy => design with nature
2005: materials and labour
2006: searching for carbon neutrality
2015: international agreement
All failed futures. People tried to deal with the future, find solutions.
Catastrophy (you don’t change anything) vs. Crisis (moment we change things for a
better environment)
3. Welcome in the Anthropocene
3.1. What is the Anthropocene
New geological era defined by the human impact on the earth’s geology and
ecosystems
We have a choice:
Either we accept long-term chaos for the sake of short-term comfort or make
short-term sacrifices for the sake of long-term comfort
Transition
Optimisation: we tried to do better but in the end it doesn’t change anything (bv
elektrische auto’s maar we bouwen nog steeds evenveel wegeninfrastructuur enz)
Experimentation: people experimented in the past
We could try… => new types of buildings: reuse, recycle, upcycle…
Sometimes we need breakdowns => Phase-out: zoom instead of traveling
(environment)
3.2. The Project of Modernity
The origins of our age acceleration can be associated with the beginnings of
modernity. We need to distinguish between modernisation, modernity and
modernism.
4
ARCHITECTURE THEORY – VERONIQUE PATTEEUWS
ACCELERATION
1. Architecture theory as a tool
1.1. What is architecture theory?
= thinking, discussing and writing about architecture
Not about how you design but what architecture is.
What kind of architect do you want to be?
A multiple definition:
• Concepts: architecture theory is the body of ideas and concepts
• Positioning: architecture theory reflects on the role of architecture in society
• Quality standards: architecture theory also develops quality standards
There is a difference between theory (concepts, 1 moment in time, how different
architects think about architecture) and history (interested in facts)
Architecture theory gives insights in the roles/positions you can have
1.2. The spaces of architecture theory
- Treaties = traktaten
Like Vitruvius, Alberti, Palladio
They show us what architecture was in their time
- Avant-garde magazines
- Periodicals: OASE
- Anthologies: collecting all those votes from all those architects
1.3. Aims and limitations
Create awareness for the history of architecture in the late twentieth century.
Better understand contemporary practice in the light of recent history.
4 theoretical attitudes:
- Descriptive attitude: how architecture was made in the past
- Prescriptive attitude: how architecture should be made
- Proscriptive attitude: what can not be done
- Critical attitude: evaluates architecture in its relationship to society => how
we can position architecture
Limits of the definition
1. This vision excludes certain forms of architecture or building or, at least, it
is difficult to find a place for them:
Some structures are not architecture, e.g. experimental architecture or
festival architecture. Architecture results from a precise design method
with an author, what about architecture without an author, or multiple
authors?
Normative position: what is not the norm isn’t architecture
1
, 2. Conversely, a number of problems or questions about architecture find
difficult their place in this definition:
How is architecture seen, experienced, interpreted?
This definition thinks from the author’s point of view, is there a link wit the
experience of it?
How architectural theory is in history
3. 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?
The difference between positions
Anyone who delves further into the architectural-theoretical discourse
must be aware of the position he/she occupies and the normative
character of his undertaking.
Just as in criticism, there is a specific judgement, a selection from the
available texts and statements. Each text is a-priori ideologically coloured.
1.4. Focus of this course
Acceleration
Commons
Participation
Critical regionalism
Transformation
Resilience/memory
2. A world in transition
2.1. Acceleration
Thomas Friedman argues that there is a reason to describe the past decades as an
“age of acceleration”.
3 changes:
- Environmental change: population growth, global warming, biodiversity loss
- Economic change: globalisation and digital globalisation
- Technological change: Moore’s law, the cofounder of Intel, predicted that the
speed and power of microchips would double every two years, though their
size would be halved.
Came together in 1 year: 2007, by Friedman understood as one of the greatest
technological inflection points
Stop in 2008: bank crash, financial crisis; at the precise moment of an acceleration
of technology and its impact on the way humans live on the planet, people got
dislocated
Greta Thunberg: “we are in a moment of transition” => what is transition?
2
,2.2. The Limits to Growth, 1972
Blue marble: changed the way we looked at our own planet
The club of Rome published a book
Peccei & King thought about the impact of people on the planet.
Very few people will think about their children’s lifetime in
the world
The world model: systemic thinking
Grafiek: 5 criteria that are still important
Conclusions:
1. If no changes to historical growth trends would appear, “the limits to growth
on earth would become evident by 2072, leading to sudden and
uncontrollable decline in both population and industrial capacity”.
2. Growth trends existing in 1972 could be altered so that sustainable ecological
and economic stability could be achieved.
3. The sooner the world's population started striving for the second outcome
above, the better the chance of achieving it.
2.3. Environmental awareness
1973: pvc balloon, Lode Janssen
What is architecture => how can we think about our designs with the aspect of
the environment
snow on the balloon => dark, rain => loud
1979: president Jimmy carter puts solar panels on the roof
High tech architecture: no foundation possible in the ground
Low tech architecture: serre, architecture that is typical in
the environment
1989 they almost reached an agreement, eventually in 2015 they had an
agreement.
People try to talk about climate change
Architects continue to experiment
1993: climate zones:
3
, 2001: Louis le Roy => design with nature
2005: materials and labour
2006: searching for carbon neutrality
2015: international agreement
All failed futures. People tried to deal with the future, find solutions.
Catastrophy (you don’t change anything) vs. Crisis (moment we change things for a
better environment)
3. Welcome in the Anthropocene
3.1. What is the Anthropocene
New geological era defined by the human impact on the earth’s geology and
ecosystems
We have a choice:
Either we accept long-term chaos for the sake of short-term comfort or make
short-term sacrifices for the sake of long-term comfort
Transition
Optimisation: we tried to do better but in the end it doesn’t change anything (bv
elektrische auto’s maar we bouwen nog steeds evenveel wegeninfrastructuur enz)
Experimentation: people experimented in the past
We could try… => new types of buildings: reuse, recycle, upcycle…
Sometimes we need breakdowns => Phase-out: zoom instead of traveling
(environment)
3.2. The Project of Modernity
The origins of our age acceleration can be associated with the beginnings of
modernity. We need to distinguish between modernisation, modernity and
modernism.
4
