Architectural Criticism Research Articles

THE HEROIC PERIOD OF ARCHITECTURE IN UKRAINE

This article is devoted to the search for answers to several burning questions: what is the uniqueness of the industrial, civil and residential architecture of Ukraine in the 1920s - early 1930s? Does it need to be preserved? Why did foreign architectural criticism call these years the “heroic period of architecture”, yet the early Modernism of that time is still not appreciated at its true worth in its homeland? What was ‘heroic’ in the architecture of Ukraine and its first capital, Kharkiv? A brief analysis of the political and economic situation in which the newly-born independent Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic found itself is given. The most striking examples of modernist architecture in Ukraine are selected for argumentation. These are industrial giants such as Dniproges and Kharkiv Turbine Plant, the new cities of Zaporizhzhia and New Kharkiv, grandiose metropolitan projects: the ensemble of Svoboda Square—the largest square in Europe, as well as other examples of avant-garde architecture built or developed in those years are presented in the article. The reasons for their loss of authenticity in subsequent decades are revealed. Finally, the problem of preserving the heritage of Modernism in Ukraine in the conditions of a new war is touched upon.

Nationalizing the International Style

Abstract In Nationalizing the International Style: The Formation of British Identity in the Architectural Criticism of P. Morton Shand, Alborz Dianat considers the critical role played by architectural journalist P. Morton Shand (1888–1960) in the debate that took place in the interwar period as British architecture grappled with the seemingly irreconcilable ideas of nationality and modernity. Drawing on an archive of correspondence only recently made public, Dianat shows how Shand assumed a position of leadership in efforts to nationalize architectural modernism in Britain. Shand’s journalistic output contributed to a broader movement calling for a return to Georgian precedents alongside international models, and British architects heeded that call. Shand promoted a new identity for British architecture internationally through his formal and informal networks, and Britain’s leading role in architectural discourse into and beyond World War II was bolstered by his work.

Assessing the impacts of online learning on architectural criticism courses during the COVID-19 pandemic: Case Study Faculty of engineering - Kafrelsheikh University

Assessing the impacts of online learning on architectural criticism courses during the COVID-19 pandemic: Case Study Faculty of engineering - Kafrelsheikh University

The Transformation of Architectural Criticism and its Types over Time

The Transformation of Architectural Criticism and its Types over Time

Reading buildings: The textual turn of architecture as a parallel to the spatial turn in literary studiesi

Abstract This article seeks to explore the parallels between the spatial turn embraced by contemporary literary theory and the so-called textual turn in architecture. More specifically, links between the contemporary developments of architectural theory and practice and literary criticism are established. In order to highlight the nature and origin of the connection between these two contemporary tendencies, this paper draws on a number of authoritative texts of both literary criticism as well as architectural theory, predominantly within the Anglo-American context. Architecture is presented from the viewpoint of the 20th and 21st centuries, which accentuates its liberation from a purely formal understanding by emphasizing the human involvement in its interpretation. The conception and structuring of physical spaces are therefore regarded as conditioned by processes similar to those involved in the construction of meaning in language and literature. Thus, while literary studies benefits from the extension of its field of study through the inclusion (and contemporary primacy) of the spatial point of view, architectural criticism invites active participation in the construction of its meaning, in other words, its reading. The processes of the mutual influencing and enrichment of both the textual turn in architecture and the spatial turn in literary studies is exemplified by means of contemporary architectural works that embody the synergic relationship of the two traditionally separate fields – (literary) text and architecture.

ARCHITECTURAL CRITICISM AS A TOOL IN DEFINING ENVIRONMENTAL AESTHETIC

The attractiveness of physical settings covers from its initial concentration on ordinary settings to anthropogenic environments, including the beauty of everyday life in the late twentieth century. A mosque is a place of worship that tends to be influenced by the legacy of glorious Islamic civilization in Indonesia. The current modern architectural design shows the existence of environmental aesthetics and local culture without losing the essence of the mosque as a place of worship. This study aims to determine the public's perception of architectural criticism of mosques with unique designs based on modernity and local culture. The method used is a descriptive case study scrutinizing respondents' perceptions in criticizing the mosque building through online questionnaires. Twenty respondents with an architectural background and 20 without architectural knowledge were chosen to answer Likert scale-based questions. The questions refer to three architectural aspects: symbols or characters, attractiveness, and functionality of the mosque. The results showed that respondents with architectural education background dominantly perceived an eminent consensus on the three architectural features compared to the ones of non-architectural environment. This indicates that respondents with an architectural education background understood the symbolic facet of the setting's attractiveness of mosque better when viewed from architectural criticism's point of view.

Green Magic

AbstractApple's corporate headquarters in Silicon Valley has become an object of public fascination for its technical marvels and green magnificence. However, architectural critics and urbanists have widely critiqued the campus for being socially retrograde and ecologically injurious. This essay queries this divergence in public responses to Apple's headquarters by examining how the campus has been designed to counter a growing disenchantment with neoliberalism, its technologies, and its environmental defilements. In doing so, the essay argues for the analytical potential of adapting anthropological theories of enchantment and magic to the study of contemporary uses of the built environment for branding and public relations purposes.

A Burst of Architectural Plots: The Diverging Lives of Whipsnade Zoo Estate Bungalows (1933–2020)

In 1933, the construction of two twin bungalows, designed by Berthold Lubetkin, began on a site adjacent to Whipsnade Zoo. From their inception, they have been differently appreciated by architects and historians for their formal, technical, functional, material and environmental conditions. This article reappraises these buildings from broader multiple contexts involving human and non-human actors that have been part of their ecology, prioritizing categories of human wellbeing, pleasure and entertainment, and animal and environmental welfare. Moving through the page and the terrain as spaces for critical analysis of the built environment, I consider the multiple plots – either a piece of ground, a site, a plan or the scheme of a written work – that constitute various valid frames for understanding Whipsnade bungalows. For this purpose, I reconstruct a methodological approximation to architectural criticism from feminist and cybernetic literature on “patterns” – conceived as flows of interconnection enabling associations and analogies.

Financialized Berlin: The Monetary Transformation of Housing, Architecture and Polity

A financialized real estate market is both an abstraction of global capital flows and a localized driver of gentrification. Under this premise, architectural form and urban design become a performance of contradicting value formations. Drawing on the methods of urban history, geography, architectural criticism and performative writing strategies, this paper develops a theoretical perspective on the architecture of financialized rental housing based on a relational understanding of architecture and social space. The paper’s point of departure is the financialization of Germany’s social rental housing stock. Recent housing projects undertaken in the metropolitan region of Berlin by the real estate investment companies Vonovia SE and Deutsche Wohnen SE serve as case studies. The analysis identifies five strategies for cost-optimization that, taken together, outline the characteristics of an ideal city of financialization which promotes the destruction of social cohesion in the interests of shareholders.

Thresholds Revisited: “Asian”: Table of Contents

April 01 2022 Thresholds Revisited: “Asian”: Table of Contents Constance Lai, Constance Lai Constance Lai is the Historic Preservation Manager for Grunley Construction. She is a licensed architect and a LEED AP BD+C accredited professional. She has worked on the Eisenhower Executive Office Building and the Washington Monument and is currently working on the restoration of the U.S. Capitol. Lai holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Rice University, and a Master’s degree in the History, Theory, and Criticism of Architecture and Art at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Nushelle de Silva Nushelle de Silva Nushelle de Silva is a PhD student in History, Theory, and Criticism of Art and Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She received a Master of Science in Architecture Studies from MIT in 2015, and a BA in Architecture from Princeton University in 2011. Her research is broadly concerned with the politics of display; her past work has examined Cold War exhibitions, contentious museum collections, and the fate of monuments in times of crisis. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Author and Article Information Constance Lai Constance Lai is the Historic Preservation Manager for Grunley Construction. She is a licensed architect and a LEED AP BD+C accredited professional. She has worked on the Eisenhower Executive Office Building and the Washington Monument and is currently working on the restoration of the U.S. Capitol. Lai holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Rice University, and a Master’s degree in the History, Theory, and Criticism of Architecture and Art at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Nushelle de Silva Nushelle de Silva is a PhD student in History, Theory, and Criticism of Art and Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She received a Master of Science in Architecture Studies from MIT in 2015, and a BA in Architecture from Princeton University in 2011. Her research is broadly concerned with the politics of display; her past work has examined Cold War exhibitions, contentious museum collections, and the fate of monuments in times of crisis. Online Issn: 2572-7338 Print Issn: 1091-711X © 2022 Constance Lai and Nushelle de Silva2022Constance Lai and Nushelle de Silva Thresholds (2022) (50): 217–224. https://doi.org/10.1162/thld_a_00761 Cite Icon Cite Permissions Share Icon Share MailTo Twitter LinkedIn Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Search Site Citation Constance Lai, Nushelle de Silva; Thresholds Revisited: “Asian”: Table of Contents. Thresholds 2022; (50): 217–224. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/thld_a_00761 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentAll JournalsThresholds Search Advanced Search This content is only available as a PDF. © 2022 Constance Lai and Nushelle de Silva2022Constance Lai and Nushelle de Silva Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Architectural theory as a tool for architectural criticism necessarily employed for the betterment of architectural education

Criticism, or "to criticize" derives from the Greek krinein meant to distinguish, which is to separate, to silt, to make a distinction. The word "theory" comes from the philosophical Latin term "theoria" meaning spectator, while in modern days means the attempt to decide architectural right and wrong on a purely intellectual base. Pedagogically architecture students participating in a review learn from whoever provides useful criticism benefiting from critiques or reviews. This research in comparison to the ones that went through focuses on Architectural Criticism and Architectural Theory and which one stems from the other, their significance in architectural education in form of crit or review and shows a road map of how reviews are to take place by their different constituents. The purpose of the paper is to see whether the architectural theory is stemming from architectural criticism and whether it’s employed in architectural education. The methodology of this paper depends on both theoretical and analytical studies through three major fields; architectural criticism, architectural theory, and the analytical study of architectural education in form of critique or review. Finally, the paper concludes by linking architectural education mostly in its architectural design projects critique or review form with architectural theory and its dependence upon architectural criticism.

Before | After: Thresholds Roundtable: The History and Legacy of Thresholds Journal

Before | After: Thresholds Roundtable: The History and Legacy of <i>Thresholds</i> Journal

ОБРАЗ "СОВЕТСКОГО МОДЕРНИЗМА" В АРХИТЕКТУРНО-КРИТИЧЕСКОМ ДИСКУРСЕ ЖУРНАЛА "ПРОЕКТ РОССИЯ" 1990-Х ГГ.

In the 1990s, a new architectural criticism was born, strikingly different from the previous Soviet examples. From the narrowly professional genre, architectural criticism turns back into journalism, combining the artistic interpretation of architectural works and the socio-political views of the authors, placing architecture in broader cultural contexts, inheriting the practices of the pre-revolutionary period. One of the most representative examples of the new post-Soviet criticism is the “Project Russia” journal. In many articles published in this journal in the 1990s the previous architectural era is represented in different contexts, usually in specific negative ways. This article demonstrates that the particular image of Soviet modernism in the 1960s - 1980s is one of the key components of the new discursive identity of post-Soviet architectural criticism, which is being formed against the backdrop of large-scale socio-cultural and political changes.

Architectural Criticism in Lithuanian Interwar Press: Preconditions of the Phenomenon

Summary The main goal of the article is to find out whether a specific genre of architectural criticism was formed in the public discourse of interwar Lithuania (1918–1940), and if so, to define the main tendencies of this phenomenon. After defining the critique of architecture as a public discourse in which, based on theoretical knowledge, reflections on the essence of architecture or evaluations of ongoing urban development and buildings are popularly presented, the article discusses such texts in interwar Lithuania. The publication will acquaint readers with the most creative reviewers of architecture and the thematic variety of publications attributed to architectural critics. The article will also reveal personalised, unexpected assessments of buildings that have already become objects of heritage.

Review: Presenting Difficult Pasts Through Architecture: Converting National Socialist Sites to Documentation Centers, by Rumiko Handa

Review: <i>Presenting Difficult Pasts Through Architecture: Converting National Socialist Sites to Documentation Centers</i>, by Rumiko Handa

Bias in the Critique of Arab Architecture

The research derives its significance from the importance of the subject of architectural criticism, and what it reflects on the reality of contemporary architecture and local identity in the Arab region in light of the changing political and economic ideas. From this point of view, the research problem can be summarized as: The extent of the comprehensiveness of previous studies of the relationship of bias to architectural criticism and determining its characteristics and types as a mechanism of criticism in contemporary Arab architecture. To address the research problem, the goal of the research was determined by building a theoretical framework to understand how to release critical judgments within the concept of bias, and to access the mechanisms that measure criticism in contemporary Arab architecture based on the research hypothesis that states: The intellectual features in architectural criticism are determined through a set of characteristics and concepts associated with the concept of bias.

CRITICISM CITY SPACE ARCHITECTURE: A CASE STUDY FISH LANDING STATION OF PAOTERE, MAKASSAR CITY

Makassar City as the capital city of South Sulawesi province has the potential and opportunity to develop its fishery industry to become the center of the largest fishery industry in Eastern Indonesia. One of the fishing ports in Makassar City is a Paotere fish landing station. The Paotere fish landing station is in the northern part of Makassar City and is located on Jl. Sabutung I No.3, Kelurahan Gusung, Ujung Tanah District, Makassar City and is the center of a fishing port that has many activities and is related to fish auction needs, such as auction, fish unloading, and ship supplies. This study aims to identify fish landing base areas in the city of Makassar, and in general, can be a reference for the Makassar City Government in determining development strategies in planning and designing fish landing bases in Makassar and Sulawesi cities. This study is based on a rationalistic descriptive paradigm with a normative architectural criticism approach which refers to the urban design elements of Hamid Shirvani's theory (grand concept / grand theory). The results of this study indicate the need for planning and redesigning the Paotere fish landing station area in Makassar city.

When hooliganism and the socialist city melt into one

In the Western Balkans, one can still find many city enlargements produced in the era of socialist Yugoslavia. There is a renewed interest by architectural historians and critics in Yugoslavia's architectural production between 1948 and 1980. However, and more remarkably, we find the images of the former socialist urban utopias back in recent music videos, especially rap videos, where it serves as the backdrop to an unusual mix of violence, drugs, sex, religion, and dance. Somehow the raw beauty of the Brutalism in Novi Beograd and the Modernism of Split 3 crosses over from its socialist ideological origins to contemporary youth culture in unexpected ways. The built environment from the time of Tito gets a different meaning altogether. We do not try to explain HOW or WHY this has happened. This article aims to raise the awareness THAT this happens, and we do so with pictorial means.

Review: Michelangelo, God's Architect: The Story of His Final Years and Greatest Masterpiece

Review: <i>Michelangelo, God's Architect: The Story of His Final Years and Greatest Masterpiece</i>

"Biohaus": The Bauhaus and the Biopolitics of Global Space

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, art historians and urban studies scholars have been pleading for a more nuanced analysis of the Bauhaus in order to divorce from the one-sided affirmative reading of the iconic German art school. Yet, within the prevailing heroic narrative that still dominates contemporary public discourse after the 100-year anniversary of the school, the Bauhaus is praised for its affordable as well as working class-oriented design and it is thus depicted as intrinsically antithetical to today’s neoliberal housing market and bourgeois planning practices. To complicate this somewhat lopsided account, this paper draws on Henri Lefebvre’s critique of functionalist architecture and Michel Foucault’s notion of biopower to examine the late Bauhaus through a biopolitical lens. It first presents the Törten working-class housing estate in Dessau, Germany to scrutinize how biopolitical socio-spatial practices crystalize in Bauhaus urban planning and architecture. The second part of the paper turns to the film screen to discuss how the Weimar-era narrative of bio-functional modernism materializes in Bauhaus artist László Moholy-Nagy’s late 20s, early 30s filmic works on urban life, the so-called “city symphonies.” Considering the postwar afterlives of the Bauhäusler, the Conclusion places these findings in a broader historical perspective and reflects on the contemporary implications of a Foucauldo-Lefebvrian rereading of the Bauhaus. It is within this final contextualization that the paper inquires into the possibilities of people-centered urban dwelling in the age of biopower.