The Figure of Knowledge: Conditioning Architectural Theory, 1960s - 1990s

It is a major challenge to write the history of post-WWII architectural theory without boiling it down to a few defining paradigms. An impressive anthologising effort during the 1990s charted architectural theory mostly via the various theoretical frameworks employed, such as critical theory, critical regionalism, deconstructivism, and pragmatism. Yet the intellectual contours of what constitutes architectural theory have been constantly in flux. It is therefore paramount to ask what kind of knowledge has become important in the recent history of architectural theory and how the resulting figure of knowledge sets the conditions for the actual arguments made. The contributions in this volume focus on institutional, geographical, rhetorical, and other conditioning factors. They thus screen the unspoken rules of engagement that postwar architectural theory ascribed to. Contributors: Matthew Allen (University of Toronto), Karen Burns (University of Melbourne), Ole W. Fischer (University of Utah), Philip Goad (University of Melbourne), Hilde Heynen (KU Leuven), Rajesh Heynickx (KU Leuven), Paul Holmquist (Louisiana State University), Sandra Kaji-O'Grady (University of Queensland), Peter Lang (Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm), Andre Loeckx (KU Leuven), Sebastiaan Loosen (KU Leuven), Louis Martin (Universite du Quebec a Montreal), Joan Ockman (University of Pennsylvania), Carmen Popescu (ENSAB, Rennes), Ricardo Ruivo (Architectural Association, London), Andrew Toland (University of Technology Sydney). Free ebook available at OAPEN Library, JSTOR and ProjectMuse

Table of Contents:
INTRODUCTION The Shifting Contours of Postwar Architectural Theory Sebastiaan Loosen, Rajesh Heynickx, and Hilde Heynen SECTION 1: Modernism and its Discontents Meaning and Effect: Revisiting Semiotics in Architecture André Loeckx and Hilde Heynen A Voice from the Margins: Robin Boyd and 1960s Architecture Culture Philip Goad Contaminations: Art, Architecture, and the Critical Vision of Lara-Vinca Masini Peter Lang Architecture Becomes Programming: Invisible Technicians, Printouts, and Situated Theories in the 1960s Matthew Allen Troubled Dialogues: Intellectuality at a Crossroads at the Carrefour de l’Europe in Brussels Sebastiaan Loosen SECTION 2: Projects of Theory Institutionalized Critique? On the Re(birth) of Architectural Theory after Modernism: ETH and MIT Compared Ole W. Fischer Thinking Architecture, its Theory and History: A Case Study about Melvin Charney Louis Martin Dirtying the Real: Liane Lefaivre and the Architectural Stalemate with Emerging Realities Andrew Toland Between Making and Acting: The Inherent Ambivalence of Arendtian Architectural Theory Paul Holmquist Critical Regionalism: A not so Critical Theory Carmen Popescu SECTION 3: The Misuses of History The Historiographical Invention of the Soviet Avant-Garde: Cultural Politics and the Return of the Lost Project Ricardo Ruivo Effete, Effeminate, Feminist: Feminizing Architecture Theory Sandra Kaji-O’Grady Anthologizing Post-Structuralism: Architecture Ecriture, Gender, and Subjectivity Karen Burns Consequences of Pragmatism: A Retrospect on “The Pragmatist Imagination” Joan Ockman CODA A Discipline in the Making Hilde Heynen

About the Author :
Sebastiaan Loosen obtained his PhD in Architectural Theory at KU Leuven, Department of Architecture. Rajesh Heynickx is professor of Intellectual History at KU Leuven, Department of Architecture. Hilde Heynen is professor of Architectural Theory at KU Leuven, Department of Architecture, and former President of the European Architectural History Network.

Review :
“le livre offre une vision précise et ample, à la fois érudite et accessible, de l’histoire intellectuelle de l’architecture de ces décennies de bascule, dont les années 1960 constituent le point d’orgue, qui virent les architectes partir à la reconquête de leur statut d’intellectuel. […] ‘The Figure of Knowledge: Conditioning Architectural Theory, 1960s-1990s’ montre, si besoin était, qu’il est possible, pour peu d’agir avec méthode, d’écrire l’histoire d’une matière aussi intangible que la pensée architecturale.“ Eléonore Marantz, Critique d’art, URL: http://journals.openedition.org/critiquedart/86655 ; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/critiquedart.86655 Combined, 'The Figure of Knowledge' and 'Choosing Architecture' make visible the state of architecture theory today. Even though architecture theory is no longer advanced by polemical manifestos, it remains present in other forms. Either in conversations or design reviews, readings or anthologies, architecture theory continues to reveal and reflect on architecture’s entanglement with historical, societal, cultural and economic concerns. Thinking about architecture remains crucial. - Sergio M. Figueiredo, Archined, 17.05.21, https://www.archined.nl/2021/05/architecture-theory-today-of-theorists-and-theoreticians/