Architectural Contact Zones: Another Way to Write Global Histories of the Post-War Period?

Abstract

This position paper addresses the ways that we historicise architectural modernism, especially within the context of the unprecedented global movements of people, ideas, materials and labour that characterised the post-war period. It suggests an alternative theoretical framing and corresponding historiography of global modernism, based on the concept of cross-cultural “contact zones.” A notion first coined by literature scholar Mary Louise Pratt in the context of colonial studies, architectural contact zones—competitions, exhibitions, congresses, biennales, summer schools—offer the possibility to rethink what innovation in architecture culture entails. Rather than underscoring the originality of the single genius-architect, contact zones offer a conception of architectural development that is based on a more global and multidirectional exchange of knowledge. Scrutinising the mechanisms behind architectural contact zones can result in a reframing of the history of architectural modernism as a cross-cultural, multi-authored and poly-conceptual matter.