Architectural Historiography Research Articles

Sussan Babaie. “Chasing after the Muhandis: Visual Articulations of the Architect and Architectural Historiography”

This article pursues the elusive persona of the pre-modern Iranian architect who remains in the shadow of, among others, the more readily identifiable calligrapher and painter, in no small part because the definition of this profession might have differed significantly from our modern concept of the architect (and the modern Arabo-Persian equivalents of the term, i.e., muhandis, mi’mar, etc.). During the period under discussion, roughly coincidental with the Timurid and Safavid dynasties, a f...

»La Sapienza«

Abstract The following article will point out the way in which the roman Città Universitaria (1932 –1935) played a crucial role for the historiography of architecture in Italy. While the debate of the 1930ies was marked by negotiations of a genuine fascist art, essence and appropriate form, important historians and critics of the post-war era were engaged in establishing the master narrative of an ethical and progressive modernity in contrast to a retrograde and reprehensible traditionalism. The endeavor to take the Universities architecture and artwork in for a particular concept of artistic quality exerts a significant influence on todays estimation as well as handling of the building complex. By focusing on the issue of a ›true‹ modernity, architectural historians tend to lose sight of the planning program of the entire building complex, the political content of its spatial organization. Regarding its capacity of embodying ideologies, universities in contrast to government buildings are often underestimated as less telling. The article shows that at least the fascist regime used the university building complex as an important political instrument for performatively actualizing its educational policy, a policy which was indissolubly connected to the idea of forming the fascist ›uomo nuovo‹. Considering its continuous use for educational purposes the author suggests taking account of this aspect when valuing the actual qualities of the Città Universitaria.

Imaginarios sociales y prácticas embrionarias de diseño en la obra de José Rodrigo de Vivero, en las Sabanas del Sur de Bolívar

Se presentan algunos aspectos de la relación entre arquitectura y las primeras manifestaciones del diseño en la construcción de un imaginario de modernización en el contexto de las Sabanas del Sur de Bolívar, lo que se conoce actualmente como el departamento de Sucre, Colombia. Una historia urbana construida a partir del análisis crítico del discurso en prensa de la época y entrevistas semiestructuradas a personajes clave. Se examinan algunas representaciones sociales e imaginarios urbanos identificados en ese contexto histórico, para comprender su relación con la aparición de las ideas de una arquitectura moderna y el incipiente desarrollo de la práctica del diseño, como motor de cambio de dos ciudades del Caribe colombiano. Se destaca la obra del arquitecto José Rodrigo de Vivero, práctica que contrasta con los origenes unívocos planteados por la historiografía oficial de la arquitectura en Colombia. Su ejercicio es evidencia de los planteamientos sobre los orígenes del diseño en Colombia, como fenómeno históricamente motivado, distanciado de aspectos tecnológicos e industriales de la economía del país.

Review: Rebuilding Babel: Modern Architecture and Internationalism, by Mark Crinson

Mark Crinson Rebuilding Babel: Modern Architecture and Internationalism London: I. B. Tauris, 2017, 320 pp., 9 color and 60 b/w illus. $35 (cloth), ISBN 9781784537128 Modernism is still not a closed chapter of architecture's historiography, and Mark Crinson's latest book proves it. In Rebuilding Babel , Crinson addresses modernism from an angle little explored until now: its internationalism. Aiming to deliver a new historiographical perspective, he does so by resorting to the powerful metaphor of the Tower of Babel, which he employs not only for its evocative nature but also for its capacity to open up a more complex discussion. Such a nuanced approach is much needed, given the multiple threads that the book attempts to unravel as it constantly drifts between modernism and internationalism, superimposing and confronting the two phenomena. If this confrontation is sometimes confusing for the reader, for Crinson it reflects the very essence of the twentieth century: as in the biblical story of the Tower of Babel, what is important is the idea of a common endeavor, the aspiration of a united humankind striving to build a shared ideal. How to define this shared ideal? Crinson proposes, in his introduction, two metaphors that encapsulate its meaning and its illusory achievement. The first metaphor references unrootedness—through Adelbert von Chamisso's novella Peter Schlemihl (1814), the story of a man who loses his shadow—as the free transgression of “the borders of disciplines and nations” (2). The second unveils internationalism as a mismatch: the architectural fragments juxtaposed in the Congolese artist Bodys Isek Kingelez's sculpture U.N. (1995) compose a shimmering edifice that is nonetheless deprived of meaning. From this twofold perspective, internationalism appears as a multifaceted notion, prone to ambiguities. Willing to clarify all possible misunderstandings but also aiming to assess the evolution of this notion since the end of the nineteenth century, Crinson offers his readers welcome distinctions in terminology. He parallels internationalism with other apparently similar terms, such as globalization , globalism , …

A arquitetura moderna e o Condephaat no desafio das práticas seletivas

O presente artigo discute a proteção à arquitetura moderna pelo Conselho de Defesa do Patrimônio Histórico, Artístico, Arqueológico e Turístico do Estado de São Paulo (Condephaat) em perspectiva histórica, procurando problematizar a compreensão de modernidade e as atribuições de valor à arquitetura do século XX. Trataremos neste artigo das ações que o órgão estadual paulista fará aos bens imóveis modernos discutindo sua relação com o legado discursivo da historiografia da arquitetura. Entendendo que a arquitetura moderna é parte integrante dos cânones do patrimônio nacional, pergunta-se em que medida o moderno no órgão estadual paulista foi capaz de romper com a lógica do foco na arquitetura olhada a partir da crítica e de seus atributos estéticos ou estilísticos. Debateremos o papel da tradição do grupo de arquitetos modernos nas práticas na valoração das obras modernas paulistas, compreendendo de que maneira as progressivas mudanças no patrimônio nos anos 1970, e claramente 1980, trarão para a preservação da arquitetura moderna na ação do órgão estadual paulista, chegando até os tombamentos mais recentes nos anos 2000.

La struttura che racconta. Come la critica architettonica narra la relazione tra struttura formale e struttura resistente

It is necessary to situate the gaze in the criticism of architecture to throw a certain light on the issues that this discipline deals with. The story, the logos, fulfills a double function both descriptive and constitutive of the reality. The historiography of modern architecture played an active role in conformation of styles, focusing its targets. Some of the main architectural tendences of the twentieth century were consolidated through publications and exhibitions. To show this, it is enough to remark the importance of Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson in the developement of the International Style, and the role of latter in the Deconstructivism. Following this argumental line, the following article tries to highlight how critics of modern architecture have understood the resistant structure in their respective works. Martin Heidegger proposed the tekné as a process to ‘bringing-forth’ the abstraction. Thus, the technique ceases to have the sense of ‘means’. That is, it stands as something necessary to realize an idea. Thus, the study of technology and, therefore, of science turns to be fundamental to understand how architectural projects have been conceived.

Historiography of school architecture in the state of São Paulo: the nineteenth century amidst history and architecture

ABSTRACTThe present article aims to analyse academic production about the history of school architecture in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, concerning the development of research trajectories and dialogue between the areas of architecture and education, sources, analysis methodology and periodisation. The latter was based on research developed in Architecture and led to the depreciation of school architecture in the nineteenth century, especially the imperial period, through the assumed absence of specialised education facilities – a claim echoed by education historiography. However, education studies show us the importance of schools built between 1870 and 1889. The research concerning schools built in Campinas, a countryside city, will be specially featured; it showcases a common context between the builders inserted in the local society in the nineteenth century, who took part in the founding of schools and their public. The comparison of architectural approaches aimed at students of different social strata is central. They are part of national projects of emancipation, eradication of illiteracy and cultural development. Methodologies such as the ones developed by Escolano, Viñao Frago, and Bencostta are discussed as perspectives for the analysis of school facilities, considering that these buildings feature meaningful traits connected with their goals, public and idealiser's purposes.

Inženjer Stevan Savković (1883-1930)

At the time when the Serbian country was experiencing European-oriented transformation, individuals grew and matured without whom this process would never be possible. Primarily, these individuals were engineers and architects educated at the renowned European universities and on their return to the homeland they brought the spirit of European cities that at the turn of 20th century exhibited an ever-growing hunger for modernization. Stevan Savković, as one of the lesser-known engineers in the architectural historiography, was one of them. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to analyse and present in a new light the explorations about the life and work of this significant design engineer, who deserves the credit for the emancipation of Belgrade, and the entire Serbia, as well.

From Ledoux to Le Corbusier… and Back. To the Historiography of Revolutionary Architecture

The article discusses one of the most important aspects of the study of the architecture from the Great French Revolution — its supposed connection with the main trends and representatives of modernism (modern architecture of the 20th century). The once unconditionally postulated influence, or at least the internal affinity of the radical currents of the late 18th and early 20th centuries, in fact, turns out to be a series of random coincidences where any rigidly established relationship is fraught with violence over historical reality. It may make sense to try to revise some of the approaches adopted, finding unexpected similarity where it was least of all expected to be found. For example, using modern language, in the framework of both postmodern and anti-modern, that is in the architecture of the notorious totalitarian regimes. Clearly, the legacy of visionary projects from the time of the French Revolution could be claimed by various trends and creative groups throughout the 20th century. Perhaps the correct conclusion should be that the architecture of a certain period belongs only to its own era and no other. This can be well illustrated by the various disputes over the past century around the heritage of architecture from the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. Starting from the (arbitrarily chosen) name of one of the first studies of architecture at the second half of the 18th century, the book by the Austrian art historian E. Kaufmann, the author shows how the attitude to the so-called revolutionary architecture as well as to the notion of its importance for the present and the future of the culture of the West changed throughout this century.

Evaluating the possibility of using “ZEITGEIST” historiography as a method for studying the history of Iranian contemporary architecture

One of the main approaches in creation of historical narrative of architecture is the“ Zeitgeist” approach. This approach is to expose a general interpretation about the phenomenons of history. The importance of the problem derives from here that the most current researches of the history of Iranian contemporary architecture are descriptive and a general preview based on surveying different backgrounds of architectural events would not exist in them. The aim of research is to create a framework for systematic studies of the history of Iranian contemporary architecture, impressed by“ Zeitgeist” method. The research with concentration on logical argumentation, is to derive a pattern from the writings of “ Zeitgeist” historians and to evaluate how to use it in historiography of Iranian contemporary architecture. The results show that the structure of this method is essentially holistic and comparative, and the historical narrative is composed of three steps: description, explanation and justification.

Los cruces entre el cálculo de puentes de hormigón armado y la arquitectura sismorresistente a comienzos del siglo XX en Chile

Los altos estándares de resistencia sísmica que presenta la edificación en Chile reflejan la eficiencia estructural y arquitectónica alcanzados durante las últimas décadas. Esto se observa en los acotados daños presentes (especialmente en construcciones recientes), con posterioridad a cada evento sísmico significativo. Lo que es menos evidente, sin embargo, son los fundamentos que han dado sustento teórico y empírico para la erección de edificios resistentes a grandes seísmos. Tales fundamentos remiten, a su vez, un proceso histórico desarrollado en el país de forma sostenida desde comienzos del siglo XX, y que explica en buena medida cómo se ha consolidado paulatinamente una edificación sísmicamente eficaz. El trabajo examina los antecedentes que sirvieron de base al cálculo estructural centrado en la estabilidad de las construcciones y resistencia sísmica. Se sostiene que la inclinación por erigir edificios de hormigón armado a comienzos del siglo XX en Chile, se debió en parte a la experiencia previa aquilatada en los estudios, diseño y ejecución de obras de infraestructura, particularmente, en puentes de hormigón armado. Desde un punto de vista historiográfico, el escrito propone contribuir a comprender una parte del desarrollo de la arquitectura del período, a la luz de los cruces y transferencias disciplinares provenientes del cálculo de puentes. Se examinan los antecedentes y fuentes científicas y técnicas que nutrieron las exploraciones teóricas y empíricas de resistencia sísmica en Chile y sus alcances en la edificación, bajo criterios estructurales fundados en el principio de resistencia por rigidez y monolitismo estructural.

Latinoamérica en la historia de la Arquitectura Moderna

El presente artículo se propone analizar el lugar de Latinoamérica en la historiografía de la arquitectura moderna y su evolución a través del tiempo. Los pioneros historiadores que abordaron esta temática construyeron la idea de un movimiento de características universales, que partió en realidad de la consideración de un limitado sector geográfico. Pero progresivamente se hizo más difícil darle la espalda a esta región del mundo cuya arquitectura moderna comenzaba a destacar tanto cualitativa como cuantitativamente. De manera selectiva e inexacta comenzó a inmiscuirse esta región en una producción historiográfica cuyo origen era principalmente europeo y norteamericano.El lugar de América Latina en estas historias creció de manera relevante, después de evidenciada la crisis de la arquitectura moderna como la habían concebido los pioneros. Desde el propio ámbito latinoamericano comenzó a desarrollarse una historiografía que se propuso comprender su arquitectura a partir de la consideración de las particularidades locales y en el ámbito internacional se realizaron revisiones de las historias oficiales que progresivamente fueron mitigando la sesgada mirada centro- periferia bajo la que se había considerado hasta entonces la arquitectura de la región.

Latinoamérica en la historia de la Arquitectura Moderna

<p>El presente artículo se propone analizar el lugar de Latinoamérica en la historiografía de la arquitectura moderna y su evolución a través del tiempo. Los pioneros historiadores que abordaron esta temática construyeron la idea de un movimiento de características universales, que partió en realidad de la consideración de un limitado sector geográfico. Pero progresivamente se hizo más difícil darle la espalda a esta región del mundo cuya arquitectura moderna comenzaba a destacar tanto cualitativa como cuantitativamente. De manera selectiva e inexacta comenzó a inmiscuirse esta región en una producción historiográfica cuyo origen era principalmente europeo y norteamericano.</p><p>El lugar de América Latina en estas historias creció de manera relevante, después de evidenciada la crisis de la arquitectura moderna como la habían concebido los pioneros. Desde el propio ámbito latinoamericano comenzó a desarrollarse una historiografía que se propuso comprender su arquitectura a partir de la consideración de las particularidades locales y en el ámbito internacional se realizaron revisiones de las historias oficiales que progresivamente fueron mitigando la sesgada mirada centro- periferia bajo la que se había considerado hasta entonces la arquitectura de la región.</p>

Corviale Megastructure: Narratives of Utopia and Roman Realism

ABSTRACTCorviale is a linear mass-housing complex of one km length on the outskirts of Rome (Italy), realised between 1972 and 1982. Similar to other megastructures, it underwent social decline and until recently was considered a failed experiment. Outstanding both in scale and design complexity, its genesis spans a crucial turn in the development of mass-housing and urban design. This paper analyses Corviale’s development and conceptual narratives in relation to its architectural fabric. It discusses the project within the context of late modernist large-scale housing, namely the megastructure family. A critical review of the project’s roots in twentieth-century Roman urban planning and architectural historiography provide insight into the conceptual shift from international avant-garde to an allegedly site-specific, Roman identity. Historiographic narratives are compared, addressing the visual versus the societal notions of the term “utopian” in relation to the project. Even before completion, architect Mario Fiorentino revisited his own project, re-proposing it as an as-found structure within a collage of other projects, in order to regain a sense of grounding within tradition, an attempt of recollection of the city within suburbia. Similarly, the term urbatecture shifted from a synonym of megastructure to an historical frame of reference.

RETHINKING INDIAN MODERNITY FROM THE MARGINS: ARCHITECTURAL POLITICS IN THIRUVANANTHAPURAM IN THE 1970s

This paper interprets the context and implications of a little-known but consequential ideological feud that emerged between rival “regionalist” and “modernist” camps of architectural practitioners in the south Indian state of Kerala in the 1970s. Beginning with a comparative analysis of the private residences of the key protagonists—the expatriate British Gandhian, Laurie Baker, and J. C. Alexander, an influential modernist and doyen of the architectural profession in post-independence Kerala—the paper explores the contrasting views of both camps as they debated the idea of the modern house. Turning to the architectural historiography of modern India, the over-representation of one camp and the relative invisibility of the other is then examined in the context of the radical cultural and political climate of the 1970s in Kerala. The paper considers how Baker’s rise to wider recognition and impact by the end of the 1970s can be understood only by understanding the “author function” that Baker satisfied in Kerala society. The paper concludes that the complex network of influences and actors that appear in this specific case study, drawn from the assumed margins of India’s modern architectural history, makes the case for a flatter ontology of history, rejecting the existing “diffusion” model and enabling buildings and context to speak in equal measure.

Megaforma e Mesgaestrutura: categorias entre técnica, território e lugar e sua pertinência na arquitetura brasileira

Este artigo buscará analisar as categorias Megaforma, de Kenneth Frampton, e Megaestrutura, de Reyner Banham, situando-as a partir da abordagem teórica de cada um desses historiadores da arquitetura. Entendemos como fundamental a leitura crítica e historicamente situada dessas categorias, tratando-as em relação a outros conceitos aos quais estas se referem, como as ideias de lugar e território , de modo a trazer a tona também os aspectos de dimensão política implicados em ambos os casos. A pertinência desses termos nas leituras historiográficas da arquitetura brasileira aparecerá também como importante objeto de reflexão.

Seven Views on the Meaning of ‘Europe’

The first part of these field notes consists of three perspectives from Germany, Estonia, and Portugal on the meaning of ‘Europe’ for the historiography of architecture. The second part contains four reflections on the history and role of the EAHN in opening new and inclusive venues of inquiry vis-a-vis the fragile concept of ‘Europe’.

Building history: Historiography of architectural history in South Asia

AbstractArchitectural history informed the colonial government in their creation of an Indian empire, helped the self‐fashioning of the princely states, and eventually became the source of national narratives for the countries of India and Pakistan as they were carved from British India. The historiography of architecture in South Asia is therefore significant as a tool to understand political processes. Several studies on architecture in South Asia are limited to debates about built forms and their chronology, and not as reflections of society at large. The reception of architecture through time is at least as important as the creation of architecture, and the scholarship on architecture is a societal index of this reception. This essay reviews the study of architectural history in South Asia in order to trace the trajectory of the field. South Asia commonly includes the present‐day nations of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives and was largely congruous with British India in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

A Tale of Inconsistency: The Absence and Presence of Australia in the Historiography of Modern Architecture

This essay addresses the following question: How has Australia been portrayed in the historiography of modern architecture? From the early twentieth to the twenty-first century, from Henry-Russell Hitchcock to Jean-Louis Cohen, the presence of Australia in histories of modern architecture is inconsistent, with intermittent periods of absence. The historians’ choices of modern buildings and architects in Australia are similarly inconsistent. This essay investigates the different editions and expansions of the histories of modern architecture with a focus on those published after 1957, the year of the competition for the Sydney Opera House designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon. Just as the different buildings and architects are relevant for the argument of this essay, it is necessary to discuss the differences in the historians’ own first-hand experience in Australia, as well as their inconsistent use of limited sources. It is precisely this inconsistency in references, both built and written, that gives an idea of the lack of connection between the general historiography of modern architecture and the research that has been undertaken in Australia on the history of the country’s modern architecture since 1984.

Introduction: Objects of Architectural Translation

The question of how translation functions in the fields of architectural history, theory, and practice is multifaceted. There is no clearly defined historiography of architecture and translation, a...