The Building’s Discursive Building

Essay, expanding design practices, José Aragüez, No Density

Architect’s role, Architectural theory, Architecture&knowledge, Building, Discipline, Essay, History of Architecture, Knowledge, Practice, Research

Published in the introduction to "The Building", pp. 10-19, by José Aragüez -- https://lccn.loc.gov/2017458412

Over the last few decades, architectural history and theory have done a remarkable and necessary job of expanding their limits and audiences. The flip side of this expansion, however, has been a marked displacement of the object, and with it ultimately a certain neglect of architectural thinking proper. On the other end of the spectrum, discussions centered firmly round design process and outcome have often proved self-referential (e.g. those around “autonomy”) or restricted to the spheres of practice and studio teaching alone. This project constructs a bridge between these two tendencies by mobilizing a topic—“the building”—that typically belongs in the latter while seeking the former’s expansion.