Critical Regionalism

CRITICAL REGIONALISM AND TYPOLOGY Raising awareness of the architectural culture

Student: LEC KAO Sandrine Class : ELEMENTS OF ARCHITECTURAL TYPOLOGY Essay texts : The status of man and the status of his objects, Kenneth Frampton / Dieci Opinioni sul tipo, Casabella 509-510 / Frank O. Gehry, Moneo it.

What is the content of architecture? Does it consist of art, can we call it the art of construction? Does it only take in consideration the act of building? How are the materials an important matter? What does architecture convey as a message, as an image, as an object? Thus, how do you, people from all over the world, relate to architecture? Thus, how does architecture relate to the world?

The rise of modern architecture emphasized the objective of production as the fundamental task of the society. That part of modern and postmodern movement is criticized by new movements that demand and fight for the reconsideration of the identity, and the singularity of each work of art. It is today a more important matter to care about the context and the place where the building is being settled.

Robert Penn Warren mentions “Reality is not a function of the event as event, but of the relationship of that event to past, and future, events.” (All the King's Men). It is now the time to raise against the commodification of this global world industry : critical regionalism is the methodology of design which could be used to solve these global issues, while maintaining a design aesthetic in keeping with the regional ideas vital to cultural communication. For instance the Australian architect Glenn Murcutt has exemplified the recent trend to reconcile environmental sensitivity with artistic statement and cultural semiotics.

This essay aims to present the general objectives of critical regionalism based on Kenneth Frampton point of vue, and thus the importance of typology.

“What counts more than style is whether architecture improves our experience of the built world; whether it makes us wonder why we never noticed places in quite this way before” ADA LOUISE HUXTABLE, On Architecture: Collected Reflections on a Century of Change

Architecture is a way to provide the better vision of a place, if the architect takes in consideration the many shades and shapes of the space where it is settled.

Kenneth Frampton stands against the international style to emphasize the importance of the specifications of the spaces and contexts. His first essay “The Anti Aesthetic : Essay on Postmodern Culture” changed architecture-theoretical discussions.

With “The Status of Man and the status of his objects: a reading of the Human”, he claims for a more caring process of architecture, the consideration of the real condition. He introduces the critical regionalism, invented by architect Alexander Tzonis and historian Liane Lefaivre.

The critical regionalism refers to an approach of architecture that claims for identity of a space, the existence of a context of the project, but also the context of the individual life of each human being.

It is an approach of architecture that strikes by its contrast with the lack of identity of the International Style. As a matter of fact, critical regionalism aims to create a deeply rooted architecture to its traditions but most of all to its context (cultural, geographical…). That approach isn’t to be seen all black or white, it is grey by the extent that it is sought to mix the global and local languages of Critical regionalism and typology – LEC KAO Sandrine

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architecture. But the worries now are how can one be regionalist in such a world of global and uniformity?

Kenneth Frampton makes a distinction between 5 dialectical pairs from his analysis of Hannah Arendt’s “The Human Condition”: space/place, typology/topography, scenographic/architectonic, artificial/natural, visual/tactile. For instance, he mentions that Martin Heidegger has two conceptions of space : the latin spatium in extension, and the teutonic raum. It may seem abstract, but it is in fact an opposition between the clarity of the rationalized form and on the other hand the importance of experience by touching, hearing, smelling, soliciting the senses.

The architect and critic thus values the work of Hannah Arendt in the way that it lays emphasis on the building practices of traditional and rooted cultures, giving value to the building which will be “socially integrated”. However he denounces the hegemony of the International Style that founded the idea of homogeneous building conventions for everywhere, Kenneth Frampton accuses also the globalization that strikes the ordinary citizen nowadays. As a matter of fact, this new “concept” of th th society of mass-consumption that raised from the late 19 century/early 20 century, has also stricken the world of architecture. Indeed, the globally operational technology permits modernization to “eradicate” the regional and national tradition, imposing a universal “civilization” for which the slogan “ends transcends means” matters. Efficiency and instrumentality are the keywords of the process of building which strikes by its alienation of architecture becoming an object.

This is the rise of the “human artifice” by the disintegration of values. As a reaction to the process of abstract meaningless architecture, Hannah Arendt claims the rise of the social, saying that we all need an “essential darker ground”. That is to say that we are not to let the “social in collectivized life” invade our private life as well. Luis Baragan denounces that “everyday life is becoming much too public. Radio, TV, the telephone all invade privacy”.

This rationalized production as affected not only architecture but also urbanism in the extent that elements define the configuration of built form (tower cranes, elevators, escalators, stairs, service cores…). Freedom of construction isn’t anymore, but processes norms. Moreover, the space of public appearance is over-run by the circulation of automobiles, such as in Milan. Shouldn’t we be thinking more about ways to improve the way we live the city? Last September 2015, a big pedestrian event was held in Paris, where some neighborhoods and the vast Champ-Elysées Avenue banned cars, and let priority to pedestrians.

The aim of Kenneth Frampton is to raise awareness of a society that has let architecture lose its sense by leading to homogeneity of the form and the structure. By the general analysis of Hannah Arendt and the distinct description of the human condition we can understand how it is now important to think again about the context in which we will settle. More than ever, today is the time to wake up so that our future could be more sustainable. The architect Glenn Murcutt proved to be a great example for today’s generation. When Glenn Murcutt designs the Marika Alderton house for an aborigene artist in the tropical ’outback’ of Australia, he displays a maximum of respect for the climatic conditions, which he attempts to take into account with modern technology and materials. When the building materials are also optimized in terms of durability and strength, a house like this, in terms of resources, must be considered to be the best possible solution at the moment.

Critical regionalism and typology – LEC KAO Sandrine

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As a sequel to Kenneth Frampton’s vision of critical regionalism, the use of typologies as references of architectural treatments and forms can help us reconnect with historical precedents.

Typology is to be thought as changing, always different because of different places taken in consideration.

Indeed, architecture shapes our everyday life landscape, as a living object that interacts with us, for us, by us. Although, many architectures can be found, and depending on where we stand watching, we sometimes get confused and have difficulties regarding whether the building is appropriate or not for its contextual setting.

What makes architectures of the world so different from each other? Context, people, weather, period in time, materials, ambition of its creator… Many criterias are to be taken in consideration.

Typology helps us understanding more this complex world of art and construction. According to Oswald Mathias Ungers, it is not limited to the development of types or basic patterns but it is a way of thinking, having a universal view of the world of ideas. It is a way of defining a basic structure as in the Darwin system.

“For the broken, stretched and diversified contemporary city, the typological vision has proved as generalizable as the classical Renaissance theories of perspectival space or the romantic or pitturesque theories were for industrial cities” – Manvel de Solà Morales Rubio.

It is far fetched to claim that one architecture may be the better one for this place or another.

However, some striking examples of modern (international style for instance) and post-modern architecture showed us that the context has been put aside to provide a rising placelessness th architecture. In the 20 century, “architecture as a decorated hut” slogan led to the loss of architectural culture, by losing the typological wealth of history. How can our era overcome these mistakes of th misconcept and forget about the non-culture of the 20 century?

Typology helps us not to define but for understanding the changes in architecture. It is meant to think about the transformation and constant creation, a constant movement but it also looks for the essence of the project in its history and place. Aldo Rossi emphasizes how great it is to know typologies to understand the world and its context better: “The architecture of the city is a way of studying and understanding architecture in any part of the world”. Rob Krier thoughts join those of Rossi saying that every site demarcates a social and historical meaning which needs to be revealed.

Typology refers not to the age but to the place. I.e the context !

Oriol Bohigas states: “We have to keep in mind that : formal creation is derived from intuitive “leap into the world” rather than from formal hypotheses and the design process consists in modifying these hypotheses following the context”. Thinking of typology as a repertory, easy to repeat, is freezing the impact of our work, and limits the emergence of new formal structures.

As Carlo Aymonino says, we now have to extend the field of classification beyond the historical centers, to modern city expansion areas, in order to find the laws of growth and modes of new urban representation.

“Architecture should speak of its time and place, but yearn for timelessness.” – FRANK GEHRY, attributed, The Quotable Intellectual.

If we were to speak about the work of deconstructivist architect Frank O. Gehry, who revolutionized the architectural culture in the 70s, we would talk about Los Angeles, and the way his reflexion goes forward towards monumental, ignoring typology indeed.

Although his architecture is a renew of the already know forms, it is listed in typology now, as a continuity in time of the evolution of the form. Even though Gehry mostly introduces his work without taking in consideration the pre-existing context, the way he wants to preserve the individuality of each building is opposed to the international style. His aim of non figurative, programmative project results into a dense project conceived as if it were ten in one. The attitude of Gehry is to claim for individual liberty, liberty of the constructor (ex: Progetto per Casa Familian).

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We often get to say that architecture shapes the world and that it is the image of the city.

Although the rhetoric is true, saying that the world also shapes architecture by the many cultures that influence one work of art and architecture.

The modernist vision and most of all the international style resumed architecture to a box without its shape linked to the context in which it is settled. To try to bring back the importance given to the place itself, the critical regionalism tries to raise awareness for this world that has became quite sensitiveness. It can be said as wanting to create space for communities within the globalism and mobility of the nowadays world.

Critical regionalism can serve as the path towards the healing of our global environment as well as a conduit for sustained cultural communication simultaneously. It is important to note that the nature of “critical regionalism is not intended to denote the vernacular, as this was once spontaneously produced by the combined interaction of climate, culture, myth, and craft, but rather to identify those recent regional ‘schools’ whose aim has been to represent and serve, in a critical sense, the limited constituencies in which they are grounded” Kenneth Frampton. In doing so, contemporary architecture can allude to regional semiotics while supporting technological advancement relating to the environment and the artistic expression of the architect.

To help understanding better this world, the use of typology not as models but as references seems to become mandatory in the sense that it brings us a base to extend further and evolve the architecture of the everyday life.

It seems that after twenty years of creative years, we are coming to a more balanced outlook, respecting reality. Which will then be the future of our architecture? Will it go back to a senselessness conception of form or is it going forward to a more caring and contextual conception that today seems to be the most adapted for a world in a constant look for sustainability and respect of the environment.

Critical regionalism and typology – LEC KAO Sandrine

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