Critical regionalism
Critical regionalism is an approach to
The phrase "critical regionalism" was first presented in 1981, in ‘The Grid and the Pathway,’ an essay published in Architecture in Greece, by the architectural theorists Alexander Tzonis and Liane Lefaivre and, with a slightly different meaning, by the historian-theorist Kenneth Frampton. Sri Lankan Architect Minnette De Silva was one of the pioneers in practicing this architecture style in the 1950s and termed it 'Regional Modernism'.[1]
Critical Regionalists thus hold that both modern and post-modern architecture are "deeply problematic".[2]
Kenneth Frampton
In "Towards a Critical Regionalism: Six points for an architecture of resistance", Frampton recalls
Two examples Frampton briefly discusses are Jørn Utzon and Alvar Aalto. In Frampton's view, Utzon's Bagsværd Church (1973–6), near Copenhagen is a self-conscious synthesis between universal civilization and world culture. This is revealed by the rational, modular, neutral and economic, partly prefabricated concrete outer shell (i.e. universal civilization) versus the specially-designed, 'uneconomic', organic, reinforced concrete shell of the interior, signifying with its manipulation of light sacred space and 'multiple cross-cultural references', which Frampton sees no precedent for in Western culture, but rather in the Chinese pagoda roof (i.e. world culture). In the case of Aalto, Frampton discusses the red brick Säynätsalo Town Hall (1952), where, he argues, there is a resistance to universal technology and vision, affected by using the tactile qualities of the building's materials. He notes, for instance, feeling the contrast between the friction of the brick surface of the stairs and the springy wooden floor of the council chamber.
In addition to his own writings on the topic, Frampton has furthered the intellectual reach of these ideas through contributions, in the form of introductions, prefaces and forewords, written for publications on architects and architectural practices that conform with the ethics of critical regionalism.[4]
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Bagsværd Church, Denmark, designed by Jørn Utzon in 1968
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Säynätsalo Town Hall (1952), Finland
William J. R. Curtis and Suha Ozkan
There have been two different perceptions of Regionalism in architecture. One of which is of Western writers, like Curtis, whose definitions are not encompassing enough to analyse architectural styles especially in the last two centuries in the Islamic countries, like Iran. However, Ozkan's definition of Regionalism is more objective.[5]
Alexander Tzonis and Liane Lefaivre
According to
Critical regionalist architects
In addition to Aalto and Utzon, the following architects have used Critical Regionalism (in the Frampton sense) in their work:
Critical regionalism has developed into unique sub-styles across the world. Glenn Murcutt's simple vernacular architectural style is representative of an Australian variant to critical regionalism. In Singapore, WOHA has developed a unique architectural vocabulary based on an appreciation of the local climate and culture.[citation needed]
Criticism
Although supportive of Critical Regionalism's attempt to adapt design to local climate, site conditions, and locally-available materials, considering it an improvement in relation to the
In cultural studies
Subsequently, the phrase "critical regionalism" has also been used in cultural studies, literary studies, and political theory, specifically in the work of Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. In her 2007 work "Who Sings the Nation-State?", co-authored with Judith Butler, Spivak proposes a deconstructive alternative to nationalism that is predicated on the deconstruction of borders and rigid national identity.[8] Douglas Reichert Powell's book Critical Regionalism: Connecting Politics and Culture in the American Landscape (2007) traces the trajectory of the term critical regionalism from its original use in architectural theory to its inclusion in literary, cultural, and political studies and proposes a methodology based on the intersection of those fields.
See also
- Contextual architecture
- Complementary architecture
- Critical theory
- Neo-Historicism
Notes
- ^ Pinto, Shiromi. "Minnette de Silva (1918-1998)". Architectural Review. Retrieved 2019-12-23.
- ISBN 0-941920-01-1
- ISBN 0-941920-01-1
- ^ Leach, Andrew; Sully, Nicole (2019). "Frampton's forewords, etc.: an introduction". Oase (103: Critical Regionalism Revisited): 105–113.
- ^ "The Theoretical Inapplicability of Regionalism to Analysing Architectural Aspects of Islamic Shrines in Iran in the Last Two Centuries" (PDF). The Collection of Articles of the International Congress of Imam's Descendants (Imamzadegan). 4. Esfahan, Iran: The Charity Organisation: 16–32. 2013.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Giamarelos, Stylianos (2022). Resisting Postmodern Architecture: Critical Regionalism before Globalisation. London: UCL Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14324/111.9781800081338
- ^ "Unified Architectural Theory: Chapter 6". ArchDaily. 2014-07-26. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
- ^ "Spivak on Regionalism". Archived from the original on 2009-02-21. Retrieved 2009-11-19.
References
- Vincent B. Canizaro," Architectural Regionalism: Collected Writings on Place, Identity, Modernity, and Tradition," (2007) Princeton Architectural Press.
- Kenneth Frampton, "Towards a Critical Regionalism: Six Points for an Architecture of Resistance", in The Anti-Aesthetic. Essays on Postmodern Culture (1983) edited by Hal Foster, Bay Press, Seattle.
- Stylianos Giamarelos (2022). Resisting Postmodern Architecture: Critical Regionalism before Globalisation. London: UCL Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14324/111.9781800081338
- Alex Tzonis and Liliane Lefaivre, "The grid and the pathway. An introduction to the work of Dimitris and Suzana Antonakakis", Architecture in Greece (1981) 15, Athens.
- Judith Butler and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, "Who Sings the Nation-State?: Language, Politics, Belonging" (2007), Seagull Books.
- Douglas Powell, Critical Regionalism: Connecting Politics and Culture in the American Landscape (2007), University of North Carolina Press.
- Thorsten Botz-Bornstein, "Is Critical Regionalist Philosophy Possible? Some Meta-Philosophical Considerations" in Comparative and Continental Philosophy (2010) 2:1.
- Thorsten Botz-Bornstein, Transcultural Architecture: Limits and Opportunities of Critical Regionalism (2015), Ashgate.
- Tom Avermaete, Veronique Patteeuw, Hans Teerds, Lea-Catherine Szacka (eds), Oase #103: Critical Regionalism Revisited, (2019), ISBN 9789462084865.