In his 1983 now-classic essay Towards a Critical Regionalism, Six Points of an Architecture of Resistance, Kenneth Frampton discussed an alternative approach to architecture, one defined by climate, topography and tectonics, as a form of resistance to the placeness of Modern Architecture and the gratuitous ornamentation of Postmodernism. An architectural attitude, Critical Regionalism proposed an architecture that would embrace global influences while firmly rooted in its context. The following explores the value and contribution of Frampton’s ideas for contemporary architecture.
An influential architectural concept, Critical Regionalism emerged within the context of the first Venice Architecture Biennale in 1980, curated by Paolo Portoghesi and titled The Presence of The Past. That edition of the Biennale sought to discover the direction of the practice after Modernism and, through its Strada Novissima, catalyzed the internationalization of Postmodernism. Part of the curatorial team, Kenneth Frampton, disagreed with this somewhat mimetic interpretation of cultural heritage, arguing that there is a different way for architecture to move beyond Modernism without returning to the architectural language of the past. His counterproposal came to be defined as Critical Regionalism.
What is Critical Regionalism?
First coined by architectural theorists Alexander Tzonis and Liane Lefaivre in the early 1980s, the term critical regionalism was used by Frampton to define an attitude of resistance against a globalized, generic architecture. Not to be confused with regionalism - an architecture specific to a certain region- or a version of vernacular, Critical Regionalism was a mediating position where universality met elements derived from the particularities of a place, in what Frampton, as the leading theorist of the concept, described as "the idiosyncrasies of place" finding "their expression without falling into sentimentality". Citing as examples the work of Alvar Aalto, Jørn Utzon, or Alvaro Siza, and subsequently, Louis Barragan or Carlos Ruis Villanueva, Frampton’s text was also directed at bringing into focus architects at the periphery of the starchitect system.
"Critical Regionalism", Frampton writes in his seminal essay, "necessarily involves a more directly dialectical relation with nature than the more abstract, formal traditions of modern avant-garde architecture allow". As a method, Critical Regionalism argues for an architecture that enhances the qualities of the landscape, in contrast to the superimposition of form on existing topography. At the same time, it involves a reciprocal relationship between the context and the new architectural objects and proposes references to local definitions of space, limits, public and private. More than a postmodernist collage of local elements and global influences, Critical Regionalism seeks to integrate qualities like local light, tectonics into the contemporary architectural framework. In addition, it promotes “a tactile sensitivity”, emphasizing the experiential value of the place.
Its Value for Contemporary Architecture
As it defined a method, an attitude, Critical Regionalism hasn’t come to define a particular architecture, with its interpretations and exponents varying widely. However, its value lies in the fact that it highlighted a practice where architecture is relinked to context and place. Frampton’s ideas of an architecture that is sensitive to tectonics, materiality, to the particularities of a site are equally valid today. Several architects, like Belgian practice BC Architects & Studies, still find the concept relevant for their practice, as it provides a framework for mediating between local and global, between historical, cultural references and contemporary design strategies. What defined a new approach in the 1980s is now fully integrated into the architecture practice.
At the same time, in an increasingly globalized environment where architecture seems to become more uniform, critical regionalism still provides a framework for subtle ways for referencing the local, not only as an act of resistance against the commodification of architecture but as an effort to create a more sustainable architecture. Contemporary bioclimatic design, the use of low-carbon or local materials are paths towards a practice informed by local knowledge, thus towards a form of Critical Regionalism.
While the concepts of Critical Regionalism have become standard practice in recent decades, its seminal text has been mainly relegated to architectural history. In light of current re-readings of other historical architectural moments like Postmodernism, this re-evaluation of critical regionalism provides a framework for positioning contemporary attitudes within the architecture practice.
References
- Kenneth Frampton, Towards a Critical Regionalism. Six Points for an Architecture of Resistance, 1983
- Avermaete, T., Patteeuw, V., & Szacka & Hans TeerdsLéa-Catherine, Revisiting Critical Regionalism, in OASE #103, Critical Regionalism. Revisited, 2019
- De Cooman, K. Beyond Critical Regionalism. Grey Zones and Radicality in Contemporary Practice, in OASE #103, Critical Regionalism. Revisited, 2019
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