Reception Theory of Architecture: Its Pre-History and Afterlife

Abstract

This paper investigates the implications of reception theory for a possible theory of architecture, not so much to construct such a theory for today, but rather to show how we are already beyond reception theory. Looking at the work of Fish, Iser, Jauss, and de Man, an argument is made that an architectural theory could have been formulated on the basis of reader-response criticism: this architectural theory would be that of an affective architecture, an architecture of affect, where the interplay of subject and object becomes the main focus of concern. This theory is shown to be a sub-species of what Meillassoux calls correlationism, and a link is made with the early written and built work of Le Corbusier. The essay ends by considering a radical afterlife for reception theory in the deconstruction of the notions of subject and object, which, according to the thought of Deleuze, become after-effects of the differential movement of architecture.