ARCHITECTURE, THEORY &
CRITICISM
Véronique Patteeuw & Christophe Van Gerrewey
KULEUVEN – 2025/2026
Chapter 1: Acceleration
1972_Club de Rome
Notions: ecology, acceleration, technology, crisis, ...
Chapter 2: Commons
1961_Jane Jacobs
Notions: non-lieux, commons, bottom-up, capitalism, urban diversity
Chapter 3: Participation
1969_Giancarlo de Carlo
Notions: participation, dialogue, co-conception, the user, ...
Chapter 4: Critical Regionalism
1983_Kenneth Frampton
Notions: regionalism, authenticity, place, topography, tectonics, tactility, being
modern without returning to the past, situated architecture, ...
Chapter 5: Transformation
1989_Herman Czech
Notions: transformation, memory, urbanity, continuity, layered architecture, repair,
care, …
Chapter 6: Resilience
Chapter 7: Housing
2025_Charlotte Grace
Notions: living room, working, dwelling, functionalism, design
Chapter 8: Beauty
2025_Nele De Raedt & Maarten Delbeke
Notions: aesthetics, politics, taste, composition, popular culture
Chapter 9: Chaos
2025_Luc Deleu
Notions: urban planning, sprawl, harmony, public space, democracy
Chapter 10: Transport
2025_Nelo Magalhaes
Notions: cars, trains, infrastructure, emissions, networks
Chapter 11: Materials
2025_Michael Ghyoot & Tom Schoonjans (Rotor)
Notions: re-use, recycling, upcycling, construction industry
Chapter 12: Nature
2025_Antoine Picon
Notions: imitation, ecology, trees, non-humans, greenwashing
P.E. 1
,Chapter 1: Acceleration
In Thank You for Being Late (2016), Thomas Friedman argues that there
is reason to describe the past decades as an "age of acceleration". In his
analysis, the convergence of globalisation, technology and climate change
seems to be at the root of this. In this session, we will explore a number of
ideas and concepts that will serve as the basis for the course: The idea of
acceleration, the crisis of Modernity, the concept of the Anthropocene, etc.
We will also explore the history of the Club of Rome and its famous 1972
report, The Limits to Growth.
1. A World in Transition (Limits to Growth + Environmental awareness)
1.1. The Limits to Growth (Club of Rome, 1972)
This is one of the most important “origin points” for ecological thinking in the
late-20the-century discourse.
The Limits to Growth, Club of Rome: A report commissioned (initiated and
asked) by the Club of Rome, using systems modelling (World Model) to test
what happens if growth tends to continue.
Club of Rome: an international group of policymakers, scientist, economists
and business leaders founded in 1968, created to think about large global
problems.
P.E. 2
, 5 variables they model:
- Population growth
- Agricultural production
- Depletion of non-renewable resources
- Industrial production
- Pollution
Human Perspectives: shows how human concerns vary across time and space
- Each dot represents human concern
- People mainly focus on immediate, local issues (family, near future…)
- Global and long-term people involve fewer people, even though their impact
is much larger
P.E. 3
, 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.
The Limits to Growth, 1972
1.2. Environmental awareness
Timeline of ecological awareness and political response.
- 1962 Rachel Carson, Silent Spring
o Early awareness: industrial chemicals (pesticides) harm ecosystems
- 1968 The Population Bomb
o Fear of overpopulation
- 1971 founding of Greenpeace
o Environmentalism becomes a public political movement; activism +
media pressure enter the debate.
- 1973 Oil Crisis
o Energy vulnerability becomes visible
- 1987 Brundtland Report, Our Common Future
o Sustainability becomes mainstream policy language
- 1988 IPCC established
- 1992 Earth Summit (Rio)
o Denial discourse: environment becomes global diplomacy but also
triggers backlash: “growth is the friend of the environment” = pro-
growth ideology resisting limits.
George Bush - “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”
- 2000 Experimentation
- 2001 Doing with nature
Louis Le Roy
- 2006 Searching for carbon neutrality
- 2015 International Agreement
o Global commitment to limit warming; climate action becomes a
shared international framework affecting policy, cities, and building
standards.
- 2017 The US withdraws from the Paris Agreement Trump L
2. Architecture in the Age of Acceleration (case studies)
This chapter then connects “limits + ecological thinking” to architectural responses
through examples.
Using the case studies as evidence for an architectural attitude
P.E. 4
CRITICISM
Véronique Patteeuw & Christophe Van Gerrewey
KULEUVEN – 2025/2026
Chapter 1: Acceleration
1972_Club de Rome
Notions: ecology, acceleration, technology, crisis, ...
Chapter 2: Commons
1961_Jane Jacobs
Notions: non-lieux, commons, bottom-up, capitalism, urban diversity
Chapter 3: Participation
1969_Giancarlo de Carlo
Notions: participation, dialogue, co-conception, the user, ...
Chapter 4: Critical Regionalism
1983_Kenneth Frampton
Notions: regionalism, authenticity, place, topography, tectonics, tactility, being
modern without returning to the past, situated architecture, ...
Chapter 5: Transformation
1989_Herman Czech
Notions: transformation, memory, urbanity, continuity, layered architecture, repair,
care, …
Chapter 6: Resilience
Chapter 7: Housing
2025_Charlotte Grace
Notions: living room, working, dwelling, functionalism, design
Chapter 8: Beauty
2025_Nele De Raedt & Maarten Delbeke
Notions: aesthetics, politics, taste, composition, popular culture
Chapter 9: Chaos
2025_Luc Deleu
Notions: urban planning, sprawl, harmony, public space, democracy
Chapter 10: Transport
2025_Nelo Magalhaes
Notions: cars, trains, infrastructure, emissions, networks
Chapter 11: Materials
2025_Michael Ghyoot & Tom Schoonjans (Rotor)
Notions: re-use, recycling, upcycling, construction industry
Chapter 12: Nature
2025_Antoine Picon
Notions: imitation, ecology, trees, non-humans, greenwashing
P.E. 1
,Chapter 1: Acceleration
In Thank You for Being Late (2016), Thomas Friedman argues that there
is reason to describe the past decades as an "age of acceleration". In his
analysis, the convergence of globalisation, technology and climate change
seems to be at the root of this. In this session, we will explore a number of
ideas and concepts that will serve as the basis for the course: The idea of
acceleration, the crisis of Modernity, the concept of the Anthropocene, etc.
We will also explore the history of the Club of Rome and its famous 1972
report, The Limits to Growth.
1. A World in Transition (Limits to Growth + Environmental awareness)
1.1. The Limits to Growth (Club of Rome, 1972)
This is one of the most important “origin points” for ecological thinking in the
late-20the-century discourse.
The Limits to Growth, Club of Rome: A report commissioned (initiated and
asked) by the Club of Rome, using systems modelling (World Model) to test
what happens if growth tends to continue.
Club of Rome: an international group of policymakers, scientist, economists
and business leaders founded in 1968, created to think about large global
problems.
P.E. 2
, 5 variables they model:
- Population growth
- Agricultural production
- Depletion of non-renewable resources
- Industrial production
- Pollution
Human Perspectives: shows how human concerns vary across time and space
- Each dot represents human concern
- People mainly focus on immediate, local issues (family, near future…)
- Global and long-term people involve fewer people, even though their impact
is much larger
P.E. 3
, 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.
The Limits to Growth, 1972
1.2. Environmental awareness
Timeline of ecological awareness and political response.
- 1962 Rachel Carson, Silent Spring
o Early awareness: industrial chemicals (pesticides) harm ecosystems
- 1968 The Population Bomb
o Fear of overpopulation
- 1971 founding of Greenpeace
o Environmentalism becomes a public political movement; activism +
media pressure enter the debate.
- 1973 Oil Crisis
o Energy vulnerability becomes visible
- 1987 Brundtland Report, Our Common Future
o Sustainability becomes mainstream policy language
- 1988 IPCC established
- 1992 Earth Summit (Rio)
o Denial discourse: environment becomes global diplomacy but also
triggers backlash: “growth is the friend of the environment” = pro-
growth ideology resisting limits.
George Bush - “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”
- 2000 Experimentation
- 2001 Doing with nature
Louis Le Roy
- 2006 Searching for carbon neutrality
- 2015 International Agreement
o Global commitment to limit warming; climate action becomes a
shared international framework affecting policy, cities, and building
standards.
- 2017 The US withdraws from the Paris Agreement Trump L
2. Architecture in the Age of Acceleration (case studies)
This chapter then connects “limits + ecological thinking” to architectural responses
through examples.
Using the case studies as evidence for an architectural attitude
P.E. 4
