(Re)considering regionalism
In his essay, what did Lewis Mumford point to to exemplify how such an architecture could provide a “native and human form of modernism”?
the Bay Region style, “a free yet unobtrusive expression of the terrain, the climate, and the way of life on the Coast”
That _______ and ________ were not that irreconcilable was an unspoken truth. The connection with the site and its materiality, the interest in tradition as transmission of an essential architectural thinking was interpreted in various degrees and various manners by several main figures of modern architecture.
“modernism” and “regionalism”
What turned critical regionalism into a real concept?
The Pomona meeting
why was critical regionalism projected onto the international scene?
the global problems “anomy” and “atopy” were most urgent not the superdeveloped parts of the world
Tzoni’s and Lefaivre’s position (bonus for definition)
hagiographers: idolization of biography
What did the most significant actors of the Western architectural scene gather in a symposium organized by the Museum of Modern Art to address?
the question of modern architecture’s crisis, thought to originate in its capacity (or lack thereof) to convey expressiveness and a certain humanism.
Critical regionalism was launched as a concept by Alexander Tzonis and Liane Lefaivre through two texts which were later considered as the founding texts of critical regionalism. What were these?
“Die Frage des Regionalismus” and “The Grid and the Pathway”
important features for defining critical regionalism (bonus for definitions)
relation to place (understood as a complex concept bringing together
context, environment, history, and culture), criticality (both against “meaning-
less modernization” and “vernacular sentimentalism”), and capacity to signify
what was Tzoni’s definition of regionalism
conceptual device used as a tool of analysis
what was the first problem of the historiographies reframing
critical regionalism was not a historiographic category but rather a label forged on the scene of architectural criticism.
“It is a shortcut of modernist historiography to present modernism and regionalism as two opposed stances. Several reasons led to the establishment of this shortcut.. name the apex (bonus for other reasons)
the apex being most probably the clash between the two at the International
Exposition of Art and Technology in Modern Life (Paris, 1937), whereby modernist
architecture was relegated to a secondary position by the monumental neoclassicism
of the main building and the picturesqueness of the Centre régional.
One of the most influential theoretical foundations reconciling modernism and regionalism was Martin Heidegger’s lecture at the Darmstadt Fifth Colloquium in 1951, arguing that…
“... space does not have a value per se if it is not understood as place, that is, in its multilayered physicality and spirituality”
Its impact was instrumental for the development of two architectural directions: regionalism and phenomenology
what's the difference between old world vs. new world?
favored ingrained historical roots vs. privileged natural environment as predominant system
how did Frampton imagine critical regionalism
as a “culture of resistance,” one which is dialectical and fights against
a centric discourse, seeking to “self-consciously … deconstruct universal modern-
ism in terms of values and images which are locally cultivated, while at the same
time adulterating these autochthonous elements with paradigms drawn from alien
describe the effects of the theoretical bubble
contributed to the flattening of architectural thinking through its shift into a highly fashionable phenomenon
According to historian Henry-Russell Hitchcock, what was the logical remedy to the most critical problem of the crisis of modern architecture, the lack of meaningfulness?
to enhance its capacity to convey “expressiveness” Hitchcock singled out several architectural expressions, namely insisting on “monumentality” and “domesticity”
Sigfried Giedion and Sibyl Moholy-Nagy addressed notions of place and dwelling in their writings. Both texts introduced several pivotal elements for the future discourse on critical regionalism including…
the input of the regional diversity, the connection with site, the necessity to understand space as place, and the importance of tradition seen as continuity.
describe/ define the Pomona meeting
aimed to proclaim the new current as the architectural path to be followed
name Framptons series of opposed notions
space-place / typology-topography
/ architectonics-scenography / artificial-natural / visual-tactile
was critical regionalism seen as a success or a failure? Why?
a fail: it didn’t achieve its role of a providential solution
Labeled as “new” or, later, “critical” in order to distinguish it from its (banned) historic form, this rekindled regionalism was to be developed as a “humanized” modernism. What rekindled many of the values of regionalism?
As for what Hitchcock called “domesticity,” it evolved in a straight connection with the concept of site (understood as an inhabited place), rekindling many of the (forgotten) values of regionalism.
Why did Anthony Alofsin write “Constructive Regionalism”?
As a plea for a nuanced understanding of regionalism as composed of a multitude of meanings. He expressed his hope that “an incisive clarity would render regionalism a constructive tool in the production of architecture.”
goal/ expectation of critical regionalism
to leave behind any possible dissonances and go beyond its
natural attachment to identity issues in order to be able to respond to global problems
critical regionalism should be seen as…
an attitude, expanding through the idea of grounding its materiality and spirituality
do you think critical regionalism was a success or a failure at this time? Why?
correct!